Backyard Birds: Townsend’s Solitaire

May11

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

A few days ago I had a surprising visitor to my yard in SE Calgary, a Townsend’s Solitaire.

Furry Friday: Fishing Mink

May10

Rob English was lucky enough to see this American Mink hunting in Fish Creek.

There were three or four mink all together. Here are some photos of the others.

Sunday Showcase: Great Blue Heron

May5

Rob English took these amazing shots of a Great Blue Heron in Fish Creek Park in mid-April.

Wednesday Wings: Ospreys

May1

Ospreys have returned and have started to nest on platforms across the city. When this Osprey arrived at the platform at MacLeod Trail and Highway 22x on April 24, he first had to evict a pair of Canada Geese who had thoughts of nesting there too. Photos by Joe Harley.

Joe also got some great shots of an Osprey with a fish south of Carburn Park. This is one of the pair that is nesting at the Lafarge platform along MacLeod Trail just south of Southland Park.

Sunday Showcase: Swans

Apr28

Rob English photographed these Tundra and Trumpeter Swans in the Frank Lake area in the first week of April.

Wednesday Wings: Merlin with Starling

Apr24

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Last month when I was out looking for Snowy Owls, I came across this Merlin feeding on a European Starling.

Sunday Showcase: Young Bald Eagle

Apr7

Rob English saw this immature Bald Eagle in Hull’s Wood, Fish Creek Park, in early February. It got a little tangled up in the branches as it lifted off.

Wednesday Wings: Waterton Park Birds

Mar27

Photos from Marg Matheson and Alan Plumb. Thanks for sending these beautiful shots, folks!

The bills on these Evening Grosbeaks are just starting to turn green. They change from the bone colour of winter to a deciduous-bud green in early spring.

This beautiful gray Gyrfalcon was seen just west of Fort Macleod.

Normally thought of as living only in British Columbia, the range of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee does extend – just barely – into southwestern Alberta.