Archives

2025 City Nature Challenge Events

Take part from Friday April 25th to Monday April 28th.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

This coming weekend is the 7th annual City Nature Challenge in the Calgary area, organized by Matt Wallace. During this four-day event, particpants will document urban biodiversity on the iNaturalist app and website. Anyone can take part anywhere within the competition area:

City Nature Challenge Map
The Calgary CNC area.

Although this is a fun and educational activity, and a friendly competition between hundreds of cities around the world, recording our biodiversity is critically important to the cause of conservation. As birders, many of us record our sightings on eBird, which is great for research into bird populations. But when it comes to governments and industry making changes to the environment, iNaturalist is the database that is most often used, as it provides a critical understanding of our complete biodiversity so that we can make responsible development decisions. In the first six years of the Calgary CNC, over 40,000 observations have been made. This is a great start, but we can do much more to fully document our species and to fill in the map with observations. Go to the Calgary CNC website for more information, and watch the video below:

Anyone can use the iNaturalist app on their smart phone or the iNaturalist website on their computer at any time of year to contribute to our biological knowledge. But the CNC is a great time to learn how to do this. There are many resources on the CNC website about how to use iNaturalist, how to take good identifiable photos, and how to upload your observations (you have until May 4th to upload your observations for this project, so you can use this weekend to just make as many observations as possible, and upload them later). See the detailed page about iNaturalist too.

There are many events planned for the upcoming weekend as well:

Friday April 25 – Frank Lake Bird Walk, Nose Creek Bioblitz Walk.

Saturday April 26 – Nature Walk at North Glenmore Park, Guided Photo Walk in the Weaselhead, Bragg Creek Bioblitz, Documenting Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

Sunday April 27 – St. Patrick’s Island Nature Walk, Nose Hill Community Pollinator Walk.

Monday April 28 – The Plants of Britannia Slopes.

Please see the CNC Events page here for more information and to register for any of these events. Bring your camera and phone, learn about our natural areas, and help us reach our goal of 15,000 observations this weekend.

Birds & Beers, February 13, 2025.

Featuring a talk on the Birds of Indonesia.

Thursday, February 13, is the next Birds & Beers in Calgary. Join us from 5 to 9 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome.

At 7 pm there will be a presentation by Dianne and Bob Leonhardt on The Birds of Indonesia.

Bali Myna
Critically endangered Bali Mynas in West Bali National Park. Photo by Bob Leonhardt.

Note: This is a repeat of the talk given in January 2024, with some changes. If you missed it, make sure to attend this time!

Indonesia is the fourteenth largest country in the world by area.  It consists of over 17,000 islands.  By population it is the fourth largest country in the world with approximately 279 million people.  This may seem like an odd choice for a birding tour; however, Indonesia also contains approximately 1800 species of birds, including 786 endemics.  So in September of 2023 we flew from Calgary to Vancouver to Tokyo and on to Jakarta to participate in a 20 day birding tour with Naturalist Journeys.  On this tour we visited five islands, including Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores and Komodo.  We experienced several different types of environments and ended up seeing approximately 270 species of birds, the majority of which were lifers for us.  Some of the most notable species were the Javan Trogon, the Javan Banded Pitta, the Bali Myna, Red and Green Jungle Fowl, and Milky Storks.  There were many more, some of which will be shown in this presentation.  A final highlight of the tour was a trip to Komodo National Park on Komodo Island to see the infamous Komodo Dragons.

Birds & Beers Reminder and Update

Kenya Birds Presentation, Christmas Bird Count, Calendars for sale, Bird Book Exchange – Thursday November 28

Tomorrow night (Thursday the 28th) at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW, is our last Birds & Beers of the fall. I wrote about this before but here is an update on some of what you can expect tomorrow evening.

The main presentation, after 7 pm, will be on Birding in Kenya in the summer of 2024, presented by Gavin McKinnon. His presentation will feature many photos of Kenyan birds and mammals, plus information on future tours that he will be leading through his company Meadowlark Birding Tours.

Red Bishop
Red Bishop. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

Before the main presentation, Matthew Wallace will speak about the upcoming Calgary Christmas Bird Count (on Sunday December 15). Find out how you can take part in this long-running Citizen Science project! Read more about the CBC here.

Once again this year, Daniel Arndt has produced a beautiful 2025 wall calendar featuring some of his best bird photos of 2024. He will have calendars available at Birds & Beers for $20 (cash or eTransfer). For those of you who are interested in purchasing a calendar but can’t make it to Birds & Beers, they are available at the Wild Bird Store in Calgary, or you can email us here at birdscalgary@gmail.com and we will put you in touch with Dan. (There is a $5 shipping charge for mail orders.)

calendar
calendar

Finally, we have talked about having a birding book exchange at Birds & Beers, and thanks to a generous donation by a long-time Calgary birder, we will have several books available to kick it off tomorrow! Feel free to bring a few books if you’d like to exchange them. We don’t want to take any books home after, so please help yourself until they are all gone!

If you haven’t been to Birds & Beers before, Thursday would be a great time to start!

Birds & Beers, November 28, 2024

Gavin McKinnon will have a presentation on his recent birding trip to Kenya.

Everyone is welcome to join us for the last Birds & Beers meeting of 2024 next Thursday, November 28, from 5 to 9 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW.

Birds & Beers
Birds & Beers (AI version).

At about 7 pm, Gavin McKinnon will present a talk with many photos from his trip to Kenya in the summer of 2024. The presentation will focus on birding in Kenya, and an overview of the route he took this past summer that resulted in seeing 450 species of birds and nearly 50 mammal species in 14 days. He will also have information on future opportunities to visit Kenya.

See Gavin’s web page for Meadowlark Birding Tours here.

Variable Sunbird
Variable Sunbird. Photo by Dominic Sherony from Wikimedia Commons (Licencse here).

See you there!

Birds & Beers, Thursday September 12, 2024

With a presentation on Birding in Northern Tanzania and the Serengeti, by Gordon Sick.

Grey Crowned-Crane
Grey Crowned-Crane, photographed at night by Gordon Sick.

Our monthly Birds & Beers meetings resume next Thursday, September 12. All meetings take place in the big ballroom at the Horton Road Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome to attend these free meetings (we have to collect a small fee for the room, but this amounts to less than a dollar per person and it is optional to contribute). The Legion has food and drinks available for reasonable prices, so you can come early, anytime after 5 pm, if you want to eat or just to spend more time socializing. It is a completely informal social gathering for birders.

We will have a presentation at each meeting on a birding or nature topic. These begin just after 7 pm, so it is fine to arrive at 7 if you can’t make it earlier. This month, Gordon Sick will present on birding in northern Tanzania and the Serengeti.

Here is Gordon’s summary of the talk:

In February, 2024, a group of us took a 12 day Safari in Northern Tanzania. The group included two photographers, whose pictures we will present. We had two 4×4 safari vehicles, each with an African guide who was knowledgeable about birds (most African guides aren’t), and a Canadian naturalist, who was also knowledgeable about birds. We photographed 186 bird species, and 37 mammal species. People who go to this area to see the famous mammals have a lot of quiet time when they see nothing, so looking for birds makes the safari much more interesting. The trip started at the town of Arusha and proceeded to Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, and finally using the Ndutu Lodge as a base to visit Serengeti National Park.

Saddle-billed Stork
Saddle-billed Stork (female). Photo by Gordon Sick.

Please join us for another fun and informative year of Birds & Beers!

Upcoming Meetings:

Thursday October 24: A presentation by Myrna Pearman.

Thursday November 28: John Gapp will present on Trees in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

After the December break, we resume with meetings from January through June. The dates have not yet been set.

Birds & Beers, June 13th, 2024.

With a presentation on a trip to Belize and Guatemala, by Bob and Diane Leonhardt.

Limpkin
Limpkin. Photo by Bob Leonhardt.

The final Birds & Beers of the 2023-2024 season is this coming Thursday, June 13th. As usual, we meet from 5 to 9 pm in the big ballroom at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. We will feature a presentation by Diane and Bob Leonhard about their recent trip to Central Amercia.

Here is the presentation description:

Between January 28 and February 7, 2024, we spent ten days with Eagle Eye Tours in Belize and
Tikal National Park, Guatemala. During this time we saw approximately 270 species of birds,
including 75 lifers. After starting in Belize City, our first few days were spent at The Jungle
Lodge in Tikal where we encountered some incredible birds, such as the Ocellated Turkey, Boat-
billed Herons, several wood-creepers, the rare Orange-breasted Falcon, the spectacular Agami
Heron and numerous others. We then returned to Belize, where we spent three nights at the
Jade Jungle Lodge in the hills of western Belize. Here the highlights included the fabulous food
and an incredible look at a spectacular Spectacled Owl. In the Mountain Pine Ridge area we got
a good look at the huge King Vulture and excellent views of a very co-operative Rusty Sparrow.
Our final few days were spent at Birds Eye View Lodge in the Crooked Tree area north of Belize
City. Here we got great looks at many new birds including, Yellow-lored Parrots, Yucatan Jays,
Yellow-headed Parrots, Aplomado Falcons, Black-collared Hawks, Snail Kites and many more. A
real treat was the excellent look at the scarce and secretive Yellow-breasted Crake. It was a
wonderful tour with two excellent guides and a nice group of participants.

This presentation, with many photos of the birds, will begin at about 7 pm. Come early if you want to visit or have a meal and a drink. Everyone is welcome!

Support Birds Calgary at “Buy Me A Coffee”

Osprey in the City

By Cathy Warwick

Osprey
Sending shivers down a fish’s spine! Photo by Rodney Campbell, via Wikimedia Commons.

Our sports fans are back in town. There is a pair of Osprey in Calgary’s southwest that have a nest overlooking an athletic centre and parking lot. The hustle and bustle of sports surrounds them and they appear to be used to it. I went and checked them out on a spring morning and watched one eat some fish while perched on top of a pole. As I watched the big bird with my binoculars surveying her territory, she was probably counting the breakfast crumbs on my sweater, her eyesight is that good.

Osprey
Counting the crumbs on someone’s sweater. Photo by Diane Stinson.

The Osprey is also called a fish hawk because of its strict diet of fish. The pair of Osprey I visited fly over to Sandy Beach and patrol the river. For every hunting trip an Osprey makes it is estimated that they are successful 70% of the time. According to Cornell, the Osprey spends an average of only twelve minutes hunting per trip! Human anglers should take note of their tactics. 

They spot a fish and then dive in with their sharp talons, which have a ‘opposable thumb’ type of claw at the back. Their talons also have scales going in a direction that snags the fish onto them. This feature, coupled with their strong grip, means they can be dragged under the water by a larger fish, if they get too greedy. They have also been known to dive under the water to get a fish, then to get out they ‘swim’ with their wings. These skills, coupled with their amazing vision, make them fishing machines. It’s enough to make the average angler throw their little pole and string in the bushes and march off in disgust.

Osprey
The fishing machine at work. Photo by Diane Stinson.

Ospreys are often used to illustrate the effects DDT and PCBs had on our ecosystems, since they are the pinnacle of their food chain. Being at the top, they end up absorbing all the bad stuff in our waterways and DDT causes their eggs to have thin shells. This had catastrophic effects back in the 70’s – Ospreys were actually endangered in some areas. It’s heartening to see how they have rebounded and now have a status of ‘Least Concern’. Ospreys are all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica, and who would want to live there and hang out with a bunch of silly penguins. 

During nest building the male Osprey usually gathers the materials and the female arranges it to make a nest. Last year the male had brought his mate a pair of black athletic shorts and they were acting more as a flag, hanging from the bottom. Perhaps from their favourite team? This year it looks like they are making use of a rope and an unidentified piece of cloth. I couldn’t really tell, with all the sticks and extras making up its nest, but it looked like there was no actual nesting platform for this pair. It brings up the question of why the Osprey don’t like the very sturdy nest platforms in Weaslehead. I have never seen an Osprey nest on those ones in all the years they have been there. Perhaps it is about the fishing opportunities down there? Maybe we need to organize some sporting events for them to watch?

Below are some photos of Osprey from another well-known nesting site in the city – the art sculpture on St. Patrick’s Island by the zoo downtown. The photos were taken by Onkar Kadim in summer 2023.

Osprey
Osprey
Osprey

Great Horned Owlets

Happy Mother’s Day from Birds Calgary!

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Great Horned Owl
Mother Great Horned Owl with nestling. Photo by Ramona Casault.

A pair of Great Horned Owls have nested on Ramona Casault’s acreage west of Calgary for several years. Ramona calls the adults Winnie and Waldo. There are three chicks this year, the last of which hatched just last week.

Great Horned Owl
The female (Winnie). Photo by Ramona Casault.
Great Horned Owl
The male owl (Waldo). Photo by Ramona Casault.

According to Ramona, both parent owls have taken turns brooding the chicks, and now sometimes will both be outside the nest tree and leave the chicks for a while.

Great Horned Owl
All three Owlets. There’s quite a size difference! Photo by Ramona Casault.
Cuteness overload! Happy Mother’s Day!

Video by Ramona Casualt.

Bob needs birdseed!

Or coffee. Thanks for your support!!

Calgary May Species Count

Volunteers needed for May 25-26, 2024

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The May Species Count covers a huge area in the Calgary region. Volunteers go out to their designated routes on either the Saturday or Sunday (or both) and record all the bird species they see, and the numbers of each. There will likely be several routes available in the city and in rural areas. You should have a choice of a small or large city area, or a large rural territory or a part of one.

The birds above were seen on the 2023 May Species Count in the Longview Area, May 28, 2023. Photos by Bob Lefebvre.

Results are submitted by eBird and you are encouraged to get some photographs too. If you are inexperienced and not confident to go out on your own, you may be placed with an existing group.

May Species Count
The 80-km radius Calgary Count Circle with the rural territories numbered. There are numerous different habitats represented, including prairie, parkland, urban, boreal forest, and foothills.

The routes available will be known soon and I will post updated information. If you are not already slated to take part and are interested to join us, or for more information, email the organizer Andrew Hart at andrewhartch[at]icloud.com. Andrew is out of the country right now so if you just want more information about the count, email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com.

The photos above were taken on the May Species Count in 2021 on the Bridlewood Pond in Calgary. Photos by Bob Lefebvre.

Birds & Beers, May 9th, 2024.

Featuring a presentation by Stephen Boucher on winter birding in the Ebro Delta, Spain.

Birds & Beers continues next Thursday, May 9th, from 5 to 9 pm at the usual location, the Royal Canadian Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Stephen Boucher on a trip he made in November 2023 to the Ebro Delta and the Catalan Pyrenees in N.E. Spain.

Everyone is welcome at Birds & Beers. We meet in the large ballroom. Come early if you want to have something to eat or drink, or just come for the presentation if you wish.

Photo by Stephen Boucher.