The Calgary May Species Count is next Weekend, Saturday May 27 and Sunday May 28. There are a few routes still uncovered this year. You have a choice of several small city areas or some larger rural routes. You can do the count either day. Simply cover the area as well as you can, while recording all species of birds you can identify, and the numbers of each. While eBird is the preferred way to do this, you will still be able to participate and submit your observations for the count if you don’t use eBird.
The count organizer, Andrew Hart, will be able to give you more details on each route and on the procedure for the count. If you are interested, contact Andrew by email at andrewhartch@icloud.com, or by phone at (403) 608-8918.
Red-tailed Hawk with Garter Snake, Longview Area, 2017 May Species Count. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
City Routes Available:
Confluence Park. This is the area along the two branches of Nose Creek just north of Beddington Trail and west of Deerfoot Trail. There are paved paths throughout and it is a great area for birds.
Nose Hill North. This part of Nose Hill has never been covered so if you know the area, you can really contribute.
Twelve-Mile Coulee. A really nice area on the eastern side of Tuscany in the far NW.
Paskapoo Slopes. A significant wild area of the city near Canada Olympic Park. It has many hills and ridges and can be tough walking.
Nose Creek Valley. Another area along Nose Creek.
St. Patrick’s Island and Princes Island. Two adjacent parks in the downtown on the Bow River. I know many people have been attending all the birding walks on St. Patrick’s Island, so one of you should be able to cover this!
I spend one of the two count days doing a large rural route, and the other day going to a few small city areas. If someone wants some nice city routes or is familar with the areas, I would give them up so I could help on a larger rural route. The city routes are:
Bridlewood Pond. A really nice set of two small ponds where you can get up close and personal with the birds. Located on the SE edge of Bridlewood, just north of 22X near Spruce Meadows.
Strathcona Ravines. Two adjacent ravines in Strathcona in the west end. Really nice area to walk.
Rural Routes – refer to the numbered map areas below:
Area 15 – Water Valley South. Quite a different habitat than you find in the city.
Area 18 – Kananaskis – Mount Lorette. This is the spot where the Golden Eagle count is conducted.
19b – SW of Cochrane. Not too far out of the city.
30 – Didsbury East Bluebird Trail. The far northeast edge of the circle.
32 – Strathmore North. The eastern edge of the circle.
37 – Acme/Carbon. A large rural area, also in the northeast near the Didsbury area.
We want to cover the count circle as completely as possible. Please contact Andrew if you have any interest in this count, or if you may be interested in future years.
More birders needed to help to monitor bird populations in the area, May 27-28.
From organizer Andrew Hart.
The Calgary Area May Species Count is held on the last weekend of May. Teams of observers will count birds in about 80 count areas in the 80 km circle centered on Calgary. There are still some areas that need to be covered. Some of these may be parks within the city, or larger rural areas.
Eastern Kingbird, Longview area, May Species Count 2022. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.
We are always in need of new participants. If you would like to participate this year please reply to the email address or phone number below confirming your availability and also whether you would prefer to team up with an established group or try an area on your own. Could you also confirm if anyone else will be in your team, or if you would like me to try and find you some additional participants to join you.
To register or if you have any questions please contact me by email (andrewhartch@icloud.com) or at (403) 608-8918.
Planning for the May Species Counts is already under way. There are two southern Alberta counts besides the Calgary one that many Calgarians take part in – Brooks/Lake Newell, and Milk River/Writing-on-Stone. The Brooks count is in its 24th year and MR/WOS is in its 22nd. The organizers would like to get more people participating in both counts. Since birders from the city have to arrange accomodation for these, you have to start your planning now. (Note that the Calgary count is May 27-28, the same weekend as Writing-on-Stone, so you will have a choice to make.)
Below is the information about the counts and booking camping. There is more information in the attached brochures. If you have questions, please contact the count organizers.
Lark Sparrow. Photo by Bob Lefebvre, May 31, 2020.
_____________________________________________
Hello Alberta Bird Counters! We are pleased to announce that the 2023 Brooks and Writing-on-Stone Bird Counts will take place on the following dates:
· Brooks-Lake Newell Bird Count: Sat. May 20 and Sun. May 21
· Milk River – Writing-on-Stone Bird Count: Sat. May 27 and Sun. May 28
If you plan on camping we highly recommend booking early!
Tillebrook Provincial Park: general reservations for May 19-21 will open at 9 am on Saturday February 18. www.reserve.albertaparks.ca or 1-877-537-2757
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park: general reservations for May 26-28 will open at 9 am on Saturday February 25. www.reserve.albertaparks.ca or
1-877-537-2757
Note: a small non-refundable fee of $12 per person will be charged to all Brooks participants to help cover the rental of the Brooks Legion meeting room.
Please indicate interest in participating to Debra Hornsby in advance of registration. Registration forms will be emailed by March 27. The 2023 count brochure provides further information and a draft count schedule.
We look forward to seeing all of you — and thousands of migrating birds — at the end of May!
To indicate interest contact: debra.hornsby.banff*@*gmail.com
More information: Donna Wieckowski astolat*@*shaw.ca
In early December I posted about the start of Winter Birding season. As usual, we picked up almost all of the commonly-occcuring winter species pretty quickly for our list. Before last weekend’s Calgary Christmas Bird Count, we were at 87 species. But we added four new species on the Calgary Count on December 18 (Varied Thrush at Queen’s Park Cemetery, Northern Shoveler at Bonnybrook waste treatment plant on the Bow River, Gadwall at a couple of locations on the Bow, and a Common Grackle seen at a feeder in SE Calgary). So, as of December 20, we were at 91 species for the Calgary region.
Common Grackle, photographed in mid-December in SE Calgary by Jennifer Howson. (Yes, I have spoken to her about the bread!)
The extreme cold weather we have been having is keeping birders from going out, and the birds are often sheltering, so one might think we would have a low number of species this year. But it is in line with the past few years:
Year
Total on Dec. 20
Final Total
2019
89
109
2020
98
119
2021
92
118
2022
91
???
(Data courtesy of Caroline Lambert. Caroline has done most of the work on the Calgary list again this year, as well as maintaining the Bow Valley list.)
There are several other Christmas Bird Counts in the region in the next ten days, so we should get a few more species on those. (Nature Calgary’s site has some information on some of the other counts if you wish to take part. There are also some Long-term Foothills Counts that may need addditional participants.) And then there is the long stretch from the beginning of January to the end of February to find more species. So we might end up with a total of well over 100 species again.
Northern Pygmy-Owl, Calgary, February 2008. We haven’t yet had a report of one in the 80-km circle. Some winters they are right in the city. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.
Some of the species that haven’t been reported yet this year but that we are still likely to find include Wild Turkey, Northern Pygmy-Owl, and Short-eared Owl. Those have all been seen in the five previous winters. American Kestrel and Red-winged Blackbird have also been seen in each of the last five winters, but I wonder if it is now less likely at this point that they will turn up. We have a good chance to get Clark’s Nutcracker (seen in three of the past five years but known to winter in nearby areas) and Black-backed Woodpecker (seen in four of the past five). Hoary Redpolls have also been seen in four of five years, but the low numbers of Redpolls around this year will make it a real challenge.
If you see somethig that is not yet on the list, please report it on the Albertabird site.
Meanwhile, over in the Bow Valley near Canmore and Banff, they have 55 species so far. They may not get to the record of 74 for the season, but should have a respectable total in the 60’s. You can follow the Bow Valley Birding Group on Facebook here.
Check out the Alberta Winter Bird List site to see the lists for Calgary, the Bow Valley, Edmonton, and the overall Provincial list.
The winter birding season is from December 1 to February 28, and once again I will be helping Caroline Lambert to keep a list of species seen in the Calgary region during that time period. Caroline also maintains a list for the Bow Valley, while Gerry Fox keeps track of the Edmonton region list. Andy Ross compiles the Alberta provincial list.
All four lists, with some previous years’ lists for comparison, can be found on the page albertawinterbirds.org.
Great Horned Owl, photographed in Calgary in late November by Patrice O’Brien.
Already there have been 58 species reported on the Calgary list. We usually get between 100 and 120 species by the end of February, so there are plenty more out there to find. Have a look at the list and report your finds on Albertabird or eBird.
Calgary’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) takes place on Sunday December 18, 2022! CBC began in 1900 and is the world’s longest-running citizen science event. The count has been going on in Calgary since 1952 and is a valuable resource for understanding species and population trends of birds found in Calgary and around the world.
Matthew Wallace will once again be organizing the count and compiling the results. Lara Fitzpatrick and I will assist once again.
Please take a minute to fill out the Registration form here. Unless you are a Feeder Watcher who has already been assigned to a FW Captain, we are asking everyone to register, even if you have participated last year or in many past years. This helps to ensure we have the correct and most up-to-date contact information for each person and reduces the thousands of emails down to a more manageable size. It also helps Matthew to organize the required participant information that is submitted to Audubon and confirm that feeder watcher residences are within the count circle.
Calgary CBC Circle, from Google Earth.
Completing the form will ensure that you will receive information that will follow in the next few days. The form is required for both feeder watchers and field participants. It can be shared with anyone who may wish to take part this year. Please share widely. If you are not sure that you can participate, or if you would like more information about the count, please fill out the form so we can contact you.
Great Horned Owl photographed by Matthew Wallace on last year’s Calgary CBC. December 19, 2021, Tsuut’ina Nation, Calgary.
Count Week Birds: If you come across any interesting birds during count week (December 15-21), please send information to citynatureyyc@gmail.com including any notes, counts, or photos you may have.
The next Calgary Birds & Beers meeting will take place this Friday, June 10th. There will be a presentation about eBird by Gavin McKinnon.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Friday June 10, 2022, 6:00-9:00 pm
Horned Grebe. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
After 7 pm, Gavin McKinnon will give a presentation on “eBird: The Review Process and How to Make Better Checklists.” Gavin will discuss all of the features that eBird has to offer. He will give regular eBirders a better idea of how observations are reviewed, and will talk abut how to make your checklists more valuable.
This information should prove to be useful for all birders, whether they use eBird or not. Gavin will also allow lots of time for questions and answers.
Everyone is welcome; food and drinks are available. We meet in the back rooms at the Legion at 6 pm. If you can’t make it at 6, the presentation will be at about 7:15.
The event continues until midnight on Monday May 2.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
The first two days of the City Nature Challenge are complete and so far we have over 400 species reported from over 2,500 observations. I’m sure many observers (like me) have taken quite a few photos that they haven’t had time to post to iNaturalist yet, so the numbers for the first two days will increase, and we still have two days to go. Participants have until 9am on May 9 to upload their photos, so please don’t think you can’t participate because you won’t have time. Try to take a few photos of each organism so it is easier for the iNaturalist AI and for other participants to identify.
Eurasian Collared-Dove I photographed in my yard on April 30. It may take a few days before I get a chance to upload this and other photos to the project, but I have until May 9 at 9 am to do so. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.
You can take photos of any living thing – birds, other animals, plants, even bacteria if you are able to! Good quality photos are important, but for many birds and animals the photos only have to be good enough to identify, which is often easy even with distant or blurry photos, so don’t hesitate to capture a bird’s photo because you can’t get a perfect shot. Common species like House Sparrows and dandelions should be recorded as well as more “interesting” species.
A centipede I photographed in my yard yesterday using my phone. Based on the iNaturalist Artificial Intelligence I believe it is a Brown Centipede, but if it is another species the worldwide network of iNaturalist users will correct me. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
This is a planet-wide event with hundreds of cities taking part. There are forty-two Canadian municipalities participating this year. Of course every city has a different set of species, but we can “compete” to see how many people take part, how many observations we make, and how many species we record – even if it’s not a level playing field. In Calgary we have taken pride in leading the country in the number of observations we have made during past CNC’s.
This year, we have a little work to do to catch up to Toronto for total observations. The stats at the top of the page are for the whole country. (See the iNaturalist project page for Canada.)
The Canadian cities with the most observations as of Sunday morning, May 1, 2022.
You might also like to see how the worldwide challenge is going – some incredible numbers from La Paz, Hong Kong, and (as always) Cape Town. See the page here for a complete list of cities and their progress.
In case you have any questions about how the challenge works, here is a quick FAQ from the City Nature Challenge main website.
Please get out and help to log the biodiversity of the Calgary area!
For the past five years Caroline Lambert and I have been keeping track of all species reported in the Calgary region in the winter months (December 1 to February 28). This is something that Gerry Fox has done for the Edmonton birding community for many years. Caroline also keeps a list for the Bow Valley birding area in the Banff-Canmore area. There is also a long-standing list for the whole province that is maintained by Richard Klauke.
Northern Flicker puffed up at -30 Celcius. We may get a little more weather like that yet! Photographed in Calgary on January 2022 by Ray Turner.
It’s interesting to see how many species and how many rarities we can find in the winter, and many birders like to keep a personal winter list so that they have incentive to get out during these slow birding months.
The Calgary region is the 80-km diameter circle that is also used for the May Species Count:
The Calgary birding region.
Here are the numbers of species we have recorded:
In the first two years we only accepted sightings that were posted to Albertabird but since then we have included any confirmed sightings we can get. So, although it is a small sample size, 110 to 120 species seems to be what we get in the winter.
We are currently at 113 species. The most recent additions, since January 15, are Red Crossbill, Purple Finch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Clark’s Nutcracker.
As always seems to happen when you keep a list, we have had some great rarities this year, but we have also missed on some species we usually get. But there is still a little over a week to go, so maybe we can find two or three more.
The three species that have been reported in all four previous years but not this year are American Kestrel, Harris’s Sparrow, and American Goldfinch. It seems a long shot that these will be found at this point, but it’s surprising that none have been seen.
Harris’s Sparrow, photographed NW of Cochrane, October 4, 2021. Photo by Steve Dyke
Spruce Grouse is definitely a species we should be able to find. It was reported in three out of the four previous winters. Although their range is restricted to the western edge of the circle, there should be some around.
The other possibilities are the three local “hard-to-find” owls, Barred, Long-eared, and Boreal. And sometimes we get California Gulls or even Ring-billed before the end of February.
My personal winter list is now up to 44 species, which is still very low. I have only six species that are only or primarily seen in winter, plus a lot of resident birds and seasonal rarities. So I have nine days to go find Snowy Owls, Snow Buntings, Pine Grosbeaks, Northern Shrikes, and many others!
My best “winter” bird this year, a seasonally rare Fox Sparrow. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
Here is a link to the page that Caroline maintains with all four winter lists. If you’ve seen any of the species that haven’t yet been reported this winter, let me know.
Previous posts on Albertabird about the 2021-2022 Calgary winter list:
The counting and correcting is done, and here are the final results of the 2021 Calgary Christmas Bird Count (CBC). I helped out with the Feeder watchers again this year. Matthew Wallace coordinated the count and finalized the results. Lara Fitzpatrick created the spreadsheets that organized the data. It was a fun learning experience for us, and many emails were exchanged and many hours spent in Zoom meetings.
First, watch this summary video of the count results presented by Matthew:
The 2021 count was held on Sunday December 19. The temperature ranged from about -13 C to -10 C, with some light snow and winds of 10 to 20 kph. So the conditions were pretty good.
We had good participation this year, with 136 people out in the field (pretty much as many as we could manage with Covid protocols and the number of leaders we had) and 177 Feeder Watchers counting in their yards at 125 addresses (we can definitely add more Feeder Watchers).
Bohemian Waxwings seen on the 2021 Calgary CBC. Photo by Arthur Wieckowski
The final total on count day was 73 species, plus another four species seen during Count Week (December 16-22) but missed on Count Day. The total number of individual birds recorded was 71,468. (All numbers have been corrected to account for possible double-counting.)
Field Observers
Feeder Watchers
70 species
36 species
65,640 birds
5,828 birds
Great Horned Owl, December 19, 2021, Tsuut’ina Nation, Calgary. Photo by Matthew Wallace
Below is the bird list and the number of each species reported:
Cackling Goose
4
Canada Goose
18,954
Trumpeter Swan
5
Tundra Swan
1
Wood Duck
3
Gadwall
1
Mallard
17,251
Green-winged Teal
1
Canvasback
2
Redhead
18
Ring-necked Duck
5
Greater Scaup
2
Lesser Scaup
5
Harlequin Duck
4
Bufflehead
144
Common Goldeneye
554
Barrow’s Goldeneye
3
Hooded Merganser
2
Common Merganser
86
Ruddy Duck
1
Sharp-tailed Grouse
3
Gray Partridge
58
Ring-necked Pheasant
11
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
1,450
Eurasian Collared-Dove
2
American Coot
1
Wilson’s Snipe
1
Sharp-shinned Hawk
4
Northern Goshawk
6
Bald Eagle
55
Rough-legged Hawk
6
Great Horned Owl
9
Snowy Owl
1
Northern Saw-whet Owl
1
Belted Kingfisher
3
American Three-toed Woodpecker
2
Downy Woodpecker
264
Hairy Woodpecker
41
Pileated Woodpecker
4
Northern Flicker
419
Merlin
24
Gyrfalcon
1
Northern Shrike
8
Blue Jay
138
Black-billed Magpie
2,529
American Crow
65
Common Raven
649
Black-capped Chickadee
2,218
Mountain Chickadee
7
Boreal Chickadee
7
Golden-crowned Kinglet
2
Red-breasted Nuthatch
199
White-breasted Nuthatch
114
Brown Creeper
17
American Dipper
3
European Starling
326
Townsend’s Solitaire
18
American Robin
82
Bohemian Waxwing
15,676
Cedar Waxwing
11
House Sparrow
7,394
Pine Grosbeak
79
House Finch
2,015
Common Redpoll
294
Hoary Redpoll
2
White-winged Crossbill
41
Pine Siskin
50
American Tree Sparrow
3
Fox Sparrow
1
Dark-eyed Junco
91
White-crowned Sparrow
1
White-throated Sparrow
9
Song Sparrow
2
Other: Sp./Slash/Hybrid
5
The four Count Week birds were Varied Thrush (a continuing backyard bird that failed to show on Count Day), a Killdeer seen in Griffiths Wood Park, a Prairie Falcon seen in the east end on December 18th, and a Greater White-fronted Goose reported and photographed on the Elbow River at Sandy Beach, also on December 18.
Some of the notable birds this year were the two swan species and the Ruddy Duck (all continuing at Carburn Park), the three Sharp-tailed Grouse seen in the Tsuut’ina Nation in the SW, a Wilson’s Snipe and Snowy Owl at Carburn, a White-crowned Sparrow in the Weaselhead, and a Gyrfalcon.
We also had one species that had never been reported in the 69 previous Calgary counts – a Fox Sparrow in the yard of one of our Feeder watchers. This brings our cumulative total of all species reported on Calgary CBC’s to 143.
Fox Sparrow, Calgary. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
Matt Wallace, the count coordinator, has used the data to create some very interesting maps. (The maps below, and many more, will be posted on the Nature Calgary site when they are all complete.)
The Count Circle is divided into Sections, and here you can see how many species were found in each Section, and how the geography of the city influences species density.
Number of Species seen in each Section.
Due to the open water here, we get a lot of Mallards and Canada Geese overwintering. We also often have big flocks of Bohemian Waxwings in the winter. As a result, we tend to get really high numbers of total individual birds reported. This year, 71,468 individual birds were counted. This is one of the highest totals (and possibly the highest) of any of the CBC’s in Canada this year. It is far higher than the totals for the Edmonton or Toronto counts, for example.
Total number of individual birds seen in each Section.
Below is a map that shows all the Feeder Watcher addresses (the white dots). Some areas have quite a few, but we can definitely use more!
Distribution of Feeder Watcher addresses within the Count Circle.
A Black-capped Chickadee photographed by a Feeder Watcher, Calgary, December 19, 2021. Photo by Raman Brar
It’s interesting to look at some individual species. Bald Eagles:
The 55 Bald Eagles reported on the Calgary CBC.
Bald Eagle, Calgary, December 19, 2021. Photo by Arthur Wieckowski
The Eagles are concentrated along the lower stretches of the Bow River, where they feed mostly on sick or injured Mallards.
Here is the Mallard map:
Mallards on the Calgary CBC.
Note how closely the Mallard distribution mirrors that of Bald Eagles. Mallards rest on the river, and go out to farmer’s fields to feed. There was also a huge concentration of 6,000 birds in the bit of open water at the northeast corner of Elliston Lake. Perhaps this is a safe place for them to rest, where there are fewer eagles around to prey on them than along the Bow.
The Canada Goose numbers were even higher than the Mallard numbers, with a similar distribution.
Canada Goose distribution on the Calgary CBC.
Black-billed Magpies are probably the most visible bird in Calgary, as they are found in all habitats and are very vocal. Many residents find them too aggressive and noisy to be likeable, but they are fascinating, beautiful, and intelligent birds. Like other urbanophiles (American Crows, House Sparrows, House Finches, and Rock Pigeons for example), they are doing very well in the urban environment.
Black-billed Magpie distribution.
The total number of Magpies reported on the CBC continues on a long-term upward climb:
As in the Magpie example above, we can use the CBC data to produce graphs of long-term trends of the overall results and of the numbers of individual species. The next graph shows that the number of participants and party-hours has steadily increased over time, as has the total number of birds recorded, but the number of species seen each year has plateaued.
The 73 species we had this year is the third-highest total ever, but it is line with a pretty flat graph since the mid-1980’s:
Below is an interesting graph that shows the number of Sharp-tailed Grouse reported. We had three this year, and three in 2016. But that’s it for the last twenty-plus years. They used to be found on Nose Hill and other areas at the city’s edge. But Nose Hill is now surrounded by development and the city has expanded to most edges of the Count Circle.
Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tsuut’ina Nation, Calgary, December 21, 2021. Photo by Chris Durtnall
The results of the Calgary Count and several other nearby CBC’s were presented at the January meeting of Nature Calgary’s Bird Study Group. The meeting was recorded, and a replay will soon be available on the Nature Calgary site here.
The next Calgary CBC will be on Sunday December 18, 2022. If you haven’t taken part before and are interested in participating, either as a Field Observer or a Feeder Watcher, email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com.
Many thanks to Matt Wallace for all his hard work in organizing the count and producing the maps, to Lara Fitzpatrick, who created the spreadsheets that captured all the data, and to the photographers.
Here is a link to an article about the Calgary Count results on CBC news, including a video interview.
Be sure to subscribe to Matthew’s Citizen Blitz channel on YouTube to keep informed about upcoming citizen science events in Calgary – and to see more great nature videos!. You can also follow him on Twitter (atcitynatureyyc) and on Instagram (atcitizenblitz).
