New Year’s Day Bird Count

Results of the January 1, 2024 Fish Creek Park Count.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The annual half-day bird count in Fish Creek Park was a lot of fun and a great success again this New Year’s Day. We had a high number of species, with high counts for several, and some new species for the count. It was another mild day, as it had been for pretty much the whole winter up to then.

Bow River — Sunrise in Fish Creek Park, January 1, 2024. Photo by Matt Wallace.

Forty-three birders went out to eight sections of the park. We found a total of 42 species, up from the ten-year average of 35. There were two new species not recorded before (Cackling Goose and Greater Scaup), and record high counts for six others.

Cackling Goose	10
Canada Goose	2,321
Trumpeter Swan	3
Tundra Swan	4
American Wigeon	7
Mallard	771
Northern Pintail	1
Green-winged Teal	4
Redhead	2
Greater Scaup	1
Bufflehead	179
Common Goldeneye	920
Barrow’s Goldeneye	13
Common Merganser	27
Ring-necked Pheasant	2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	17
Sharp-shinned Hawk	3
Bald Eagle	12
Great Horned Owl	2
Belted Kingfisher	1
Downy Woodpecker	31
Hairy Woodpecker	11
Pileated Woodpecker	5
Northern Flicker	53
Merlin	4
Northern Shrike	1
Blue Jay	5
Black-billed Magpie	133
American Crow	2
Common Raven	86
Black-capped Chickadee	219
Mountain Chickadee	7
Boreal Chickadee	11
White-breasted Nuthatch	42
Red-breasted Nuthatch	33
Townsend’s Solitaire	2
American Robin	1
Bohemian Waxwing	277
House Sparrow	78
Pine Grosbeak	12
House Finch	20
Dark-eyed Junco	1

Our group covered the Hull’s Wood/Sikome Lake/Boat Launch areas. Matt Wallace took some great photos of our day.

Fish Creek near the Bow River. Photo by Matt Wallace.

We found a group of four overwintering Tundra Swans on the Bow. Photos by Matt Wallace.

North American Porcupine — We also count mammals. This Porcupine was snoozing up in a tree. Photos by Matt Wallace.

Despite the Park Rules, someone has been leaving seeds for the birds. This Downy Woodpecker was so used to being fed that it kept comng to our hands briefly even though we had no food. Photo by Matt Wallace.

This count is not an official Christmas Bird Count, but it has a pretty long history now, and it is an important tool to monitor the long-term population trends in the park. If you want to learn more about the count in all areas of the park, come to Birds & Beers this Thursday, February 8, where the Count Organizer Jim Washbrook will present the results and answer questions.

Results of the Calgary and Priddis Christmas Bird Counts will also be presented at Birds & Beers. In case you missed it, here are some of the results from the Calgary Count, showing the species recorded and the numbers of each:

Birds & Beers, February 8, 2024

Feb1

Presenting the Christmas Bird Count Results

Next Thursday, February 8th, we will have another Birds & Beers meeting in Calgary. As usual, we meet in the big ballroom at the Royal Canadian Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW. The event starts at 5 pm.

A Black-billed Magpie seen by a Feeder Watcher on the 2023 Calgary Christmas Bird Count. Photo by Lou Zaganelli.

After some time for socializing, eating, and drinking, there will be a presentation on some of the recent Christmas Bird Counts that took place in the Calgary area. Matthew Wallace will present the results of the Calgary Count, Gavin McKinnon on the Priddis Count, and Jim Washbrook on the Fish Creek Park New Year’s Day Count. The presentation starts at about 7 pm.

A Common Redpoll seen on the Calgary Count. They have been scarce this winter here, but we had almost a hundred on the count. Photo by Lou Zaganelli.

Everyone is welcome at Birds & Beers! See you there!

Birds & Beers Resumes January 11th

Jan2

Featuring a presentation on the birds of Indonesia

From January through June 2024 we will be meeting monthly at the Horton Road Legion in Calgary for a social get-together and birding presentation. Everyone is welcome to attend these events, have some food and drinks, and enjoy a birding talk from one of our many local volunteers.

The first Birds & Beers of 2024 will be on Thursday January 11. We meet in the big ballroom at the Legion, at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. The doors open at 5 pm. At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Bob and Dianne Leonhardt on their recent trip to see the birds and wildlife of Indonesia.

Critically endangered Bali Mynas in West Bali National Park.

Presentation Description by the Leonhardts:

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.

Here are the dates for the upcoming 2024 Birds & Beers events:

Thursday January 11.

Thursday February 8.

Thursday March 14.

Thursday April 11.

Thursday May 9.

Thursday June 13.

July and August is a summer break, and Birds & Beers will resume in September.

Birds & Beers, November 23/23

Nov16

Thursday November 23, 5-9 pm

Next Thursday we will meet at the usual place, the Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. Doors open at 5 pm. Once again we will meet in the big ballroom. At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Roland Dechesne on The Impacts of Light Pollution on Birds.

Earth's City Lights — *Earth’s City Lights* from Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Light pollution has both hormonal and behavioral negative impacts on birds. Though pervasive in our modern world, outdoor artificial lighting is a pollutant that is relatively easy to control, if we can get past some of our irrational attachment to our beliefs that more light at night is better.

Roland Dechesne, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), is a member of the RASC Light Pollution Abatement Committee (LPA Committee) as well as a Past President of the Calgary Centre of the RASC and an amateur astronomer with over 40 years’ experience. He has been a popularizer of astronomy to the public for much of that time. His interests are astrophotography, meteorites and light pollution abatement. He ‘moonlights’ as an oil and gas geologist during the day. He was recently honoured by having asteroid #10087 named for him. He runs the Society’s @RASC_LPA twitter account that focusses on light pollution and the health impacts of light at night on health and the natural world.

Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers. See you there!

Birds & Beers, 12 October 2023

Oct6

This coming Thursday is the second B&B of the season.

We have a short turnaround time for Birds & Beers this month. The next one will be Thursday October 12 at the usual place, the Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. Doors open at 5 pm. Once again we will meet in the big ballroom.

At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Dianne and Bob Leonhardt: Birding In Southern Mexico.

Birding in Southern Mexico

January 12-30, 2023

By: Bob and Dianne Leonhardt

In January of 2023 we flew to Oaxaca, Mexico to go on a fourteen-day birding tour with Eagle Eye Tours. The tour began in the city of Oaxaca on January 15^th. This small group tour then travelled by van southward and eastward ending up in Villahermosa on January 28. Along the way we travelled through an assortment of environments, including deserts, high alpine forests, jungles, coastal estuaries and more. This allowed us to encounter approximately 350 species of birds as well as seeing some spectacular scenery in a part of Mexico that is unfamiliar to the majority of tourists. We also experienced the Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban and the Mayan ruins of Palenque. It was a very enjoyable experience, and we wish to share some of it with you.

Everyone is welcome at Birds & Beers! Come early if you can but if not, come for the presentation!

Birds & Beers, September 28/23

Sep17

Thursday September 28 from 5-9 pm

The new season of Birds & Beers will begin with a presentation by Gordon Sick about his trip to Newfoundland.

Atlantic Puffin with Capelin. Photo by Gordon Sick.

Newfoundland is for the Birds: It’s an Aukward Province
We spent 3 weeks of the summer on the Newfoundland coasts and viewed a variety of nestlings, fledglings and adults of species including Puffins, Murres, Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets, Shearwaters, Kittiwakes, Black-backed Gulls, Terns, Sandpipers and Plovers. We searched New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland for a Piping Plover, which was an interesting exercise, with results to be disclosed at the presentation. We’ll also show an iceberg and a whale breaching to prove that we were in Newfoundland.

Birds & Beers meetings are held at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. This year we have the big ballroom, which is a very large space with excellent sightlines for presentations. We have the room starting at 5 pm, which should give many attendees more time to have a meal and socialize. You can arrive later if needed, and the presentation will begin at about 7 pm.

Everyone is welcome to attend, including children if accompanied by an adult. See you there!

The October Birds & Beers will be on Thursday October 12, again from 5-9 at the Horton Road Legion. Dianne and Bob Leonhardt will do a presentation on their recent trip to Mexico.

Birds & Beers, Friday June 9

Jun4

This Friday will be the last Birds & Birds before the summer break. We meet, as usual, at 6 pm at the Horton Road Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW.

There will be a presentation after 7 pm by Liz Goldie, about our native bees.

Hunt’s Bumblebee (I think!). Photo by Bob Lefebvre

Come and join us as we get the “Buzz” on our native bees. Our guest speaker, Liz Goldie from the Calgary and District Beekeepers Association, will take us on a closer look at these industrious and necessary critters. Most of us are aware that bees support the growth of trees, flowers, and plants, provide food and contribute to complex ecosystems. But did you know that at least 24 species of bird, including Blackbirds, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and European Starling, prey on bees? Come and learn about these fascinating creatures!

To help Liz with travel expenses, a small contribution would be appreciated.

Everyone is welcome!

Birds & Beers, Friday April 14, 2023

Apr1

The next Birds & Beers is on Friday April 14. We meet at the Horton Road Legion in Calgary starting at 6 pm. Everyone is welcome, and there is good food and drink available. The Legion is located at 9202 Horton Road SW. We have the rooms starting at 6 pm, and you can eat and socailize for about an hour and a quarter before we have our presentation. This month will feature Gordon Sick again, with part two of his trip to central America: The Birds of the Galapogos Islands. Just as in last month’s talk about the birds of the Ecudorean Cloud Forest, there will be many great photographs of birds, and there is no overlap in the species shown in the two talks at all!

Birds of the Galapagos Islands: This presentation covers migratory birds (Waved Albatrosses, Boobies, Magnificent and Great Frigatebirds, for example), as well as endemic birds (Darwin Finches and Mockingbirds, for example). We will cover some of the 51 species that were photographed. Some non-avian flora and fauna will also be included.

See you there! We will ask for a donation of $1 per person to go to the Legion to cover the cost of the room.

Birds Calgary

A birding blog for Calgary, Alberta and area

Archives

New Year’s Day Bird Count

Results of the January 1, 2024 Fish Creek Park Count.

Results of the January 1, 2024 Fish Creek Park Count.

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Presenting the Christmas Bird Count Results

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Featuring a presentation on the birds of Indonesia

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Thursday November 23, 5-9 pm

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Thursday September 28 from 5-9 pm

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The fall season begins on Thursday September 28.

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