Sunday Showcase: Winter Waxwings, Kinglet, and Chickadee

Tony LePrieur photographed these birds in Fish Creek Park on December 15, 2013.

Bohemian Waxwings:

Golden-crowned Kinglet:

Boreal Chickadee:

Wednesday Wings: Saw-whet Owl

Harris Toth had this little Northern Saw-whet Owl visit his yard in the Parkland neighbourhood of SE Calgary on December 15. The same night, another (or the same one) was seen in Queensland, only about 2 km away. These owls are quite common in the summer and there are always some around here in the winter, but they are strictly nocturnal so they aren’t often seen.

Sunday Showcase: Three-toed Woodpecker

Dec15

Tony LePrieur found this male American Three-toed Woodpecker, and other birds, in Fish Creek Park on December 8.

American Three-toed Woodpecker (male)

Boreal Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Woodpecker (female)

Downy Woodpecker (male)

Refinery Park and Lower Beaverdam Flats – An Eagle’s Paradise

Dec9

Posted by Dan Arndt

Well… maybe paradise is overselling it a bit, but we did a good show from a few Bald Eagles on our outing this past Sunday! Three days this week the outings had been cancelled due to extreme weather and extreme cold. Unheard of for the hardiest of our leaders, but everyone has their limits! Unfortunately, the weather early this morning kept most of our participants away, so we headed off with three leaders and one hardy participant into the cold and the wind.

Refinery Park and Lower Beaverdam Flats

What started off as a cold, blustery and grey day turned into some amazing blue skies, much warmer weather than we’ve seen all week, and some great opportunities to get some action shots. Needless to say though, it took a little bit for everyone to get going, including some of the first groups of birds we saw. This backwater along the Bow River was completely full of mostly Canada Geese and a few Mallards for good measure.

Canada Geese in the backwater
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/400sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 500

Even the Bald Eagles looked completely unimpressed in the cold and the wind. The expressions of utter contempt for both us, and the hundred or so waterfowl just below them in the water, have led me to nickname these two as Hekyll and Jekyll.

Hekyll and Jekyll (immature Bald Eagles) Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/400sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

As we turned back to follow the river bank southward, things started to pick up. The sun was making a serious attempt to break through the meager cloud cover to the south and east, and some of the birds began to show a few more signs of life. A third immature Bald Eagle was being chased (but not quite harassed) by the Common Raven keeping a keen eye on it from below.

immature Bald Eagle and Common Raven
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/500sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 200

As the wind picked up a little, it caused the birds to begin to fly up-river, allowing some half-decent flight shots. Along with the wind picking up, the sun finally began to break through, and provided some great light for the remainder of our walk. First up, a male and female Common Goldeneye, flying by within a few minutes of each other.

male Common Goldeneye
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/500sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 400

female Common Goldeneye
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

A moment later, a female Barrow’s Goldeneye flew by, and a male of the same species broke away from the Canada Geese at the far shore and made his way into the middle of the river shortly after.

female Barrow’s Goldeneye
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/500sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 500

male Barrow’s Goldeneye
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

This group of Buffleheads touched down in the water about halfway into the river, showing off their bubble-gum pink legs. That’s one lucky male Bufflehead getting the pick of mates this winter!

male and female Buffleheads
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

And last but not least, this male Common Merganser flew by quite close, showing off his bright red bill and a hint of green in the head as the sun began to shine.

male Common Merganser
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 800

We continued south along the river without seeing too much else of note, but shortly after we turned back on one of the inner pathways, this subadult Bald Eagle flew by behind us and alighted in a tree, closely tailed by a flock of scavenging Common Ravens, looking for whatever scraps they could manage to steal from the wary bird of prey.

subadult Bald Eagle with Mallard for brunch
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 500

subadult Bald Eagle with Mallard for brunch (plus a harassing Common Raven)
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 800

A couple of Black-billed Magpies even came in for a piece of the action. Or maybe just a piece of the Mallard.

subadult Bald Eagle with Mallard for brunch (plus a few scavengers)
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@150mm
1/1000sec., ƒ/5.6, ISO 500

subadult Bald Eagle with Mallard for brunch
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

If there’s one thing I love most about winter birding in Calgary, I’d have to say that above the Snowy Owls, above the winter finches, and even above the odd vagrants we’re gifted with every couple of years, I certainly love seeing the influx of Bald Eagles the most. One of the groups this week in Beaverdam Flats recorded no less than ten (yes, 10) Bald Eagles in a single outing. While it’s not quite the same as the incredible numbers seen on both east and west coasts in the height of the season, it’s still an incredible treat to us landlocked city-slickers to have such unrestricted access to these regal and immensely powerful raptors.

That brings us to the end of our Autumn Birding Course for 2013. We’ll be picking back up in January again, but between now and then I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on the Christmas Bird Counts I’m taking part in, as well as the various travels that I happen to find myself on this holiday season!

Thanks again for reading, and good birding!

Sunday Showcase: Pileated Woodpecker

Dec1

Bernard Tremblay got these amazing close-up photos of a male Pileated Woodpecker feeding on a fallen log yesterday, November 30, 2013, in the Weaselhead Nature Area in SW Calgary. After a few minutes the woodpecker was scared off by a Merlin.

The camera used was a Nikon 7000 + AF-S Nikkor 300 mm lens + Nikon AF-S teleconverter TC -14E 1.4 x. The camera settings were: 420 mm 1/1600 sec f5.6 ISO 2000.

Male Pileated Woodpecker. The red crest extends all the way to the base of the bill; on the female the red doesn’t reach the bill. There is also a red mark from the bill to the throat, which is black on female birds.

Here you can see the long tongue which it uses to extract carpenter ants from trees.

Wednesday Wings: Winter Birds of Bragg Creek

Nov20

Kim Selbee photographed these early-winter visitors in her yard in the Bragg Creek area.

Mountain Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Mountain Chickadee

Black-billed Magpie

Sunday Showcase: Birds and Mammals of Fish Creek Park

Nov17

All of the photos below were taken by Tony LePrieur in Fish Creek Park on November 3, 9, and 11.

Wednesday Wings: Mergansers and More

Nov13

These great photos were taken by Larry Doucet in Fish Creek Park in September. They were taken along the creek in the Glennfield area, just east of Macleod Trail.

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus. This one was taken through some trees to see if I could get a blurred frame around the bird. She came right into a spot of sunlight just as I was ready for her.

Black-capped Chickadee, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 180mm. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f5.0, ISO 200, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Black-capped Chickadee, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 180mm. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f5.0, ISO 200, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

White-breasted Nuthatch, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 800, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Travel Tuesday: Fall Migration in Confederation Park

Oct29

Posted by Dan Arndt

Now here’s a post that’s a major blast from the past.

I originally started this post over a year ago, with the plan of getting out as often as I could during the height of warbler and vireo migration to the titular hotspot in the Calgary area, or at least, the one I see the largest number of people at the most often. While I didn’t get out nearly as much as I wanted last year, with my current employment situation I had more than enough time on my hands, and was out visiting Confederation Park at least three days a week for four weeks straight. While it was a lot more birding and a lot more challenging than I was prepared for, I was quite happy to nab a handful more life birds and as wide a variety of warblers and vireos as I have ever seen in my life.

Confederation Park is located between 24 Ave. & 14 St. N.W. and 30 Ave. & 10 St. N.W.. and covers over 400 acres. It contains stream channel whose banks are covered with water willow, aspen, and a wide variety of small shrubs which are perfect for insects to roost on in the evening and overnight, and even more perfect for the vireos and warblers to hunt in the early morning light. As the insects warm and begin to fly, so do the warblers, allowing brief, and rarely satisfying views of each and every one of them. Another advantage to the park is that is is a fairly continuous green belt, which is the last major park before the Bow River Valley, and following the expanses of relatively poorly vegetated communities and grassed over parks, perfect for warblers to end a night of nocturnal migration.

The attached map shows the three primary locations where the majority of the warbler activity is localized, but since they’re birds, and they do have the ability to fly, just about anywhere in the park can be a hot spot. That said, about 75-80% of all the warblers, vireos, thrushes and the like that I have seen in this park have all been at one of these three locations.

Confederation Park

One major advantage to birding this area in the fall, especially during warbler migration, are the huge number of other birders around, some of which are incredibly experienced and know their warbler IDs pretty much spot on every single time. I’ve learned a lot just by tagging along with some of them on some of the more productive days!

One of the most amazing things I noted this year, while keeping track of both my own sightings and those of others, is that it appeared that just about every species that breeds in the boreal forests of Alberta, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon were found on their way through at this magical place.

Here are just a few of the warblers, vireos and sparrows that I’ve managed to find here at Confederation Park in the past few years.