Tony LePrieur photographed this Great Gray Owl hunting near Priddis, SW of Calgary, on Christmas Eve 2017.
Great Gray Owl, Priddis area, December 24, 2017. Photographed by Tony LePrieur.
Great Gray Owl, Priddis area, December 24, 2017. Photographed by Tony LePrieur.
To see more of Tony’s photos, go to his Flickr page.
Michael Kim took these photos of a Great Gray Owl and a Snowy Owl in early winter.
Great Gray Owl, Bow Valley Parkway, November 2017.
Great Gray Owl, Bow Valley Parkway, November 2017.
Great Gray Owl, Bow Valley Parkway, November 2017.
Snowy Owl, Airdrie, December 2017.
Snowy Owl, Airdrie, December 2017.
Northern Cardinal photographed in Cranbrook, BC, November 2017, by Tony LePrieur.
Below are White-tailed Ptarmigan photographed at the Highwood Pass, November 2017, by Tony LePrieur. Note the “snowshoes” in the second picture.
Here are some winter birds photographed by Gavin McKinnon. You can find the first two in the city, but you have to go up in the mountains to find the third.
Black-capped Chickadee.
Downy Woodpecker.
White-tailed Ptarmigan.
Read Gavin’s blog Canadian Birder here.
Michael Kim photographed this beautiful American Kestrel on Grand Valley Road NW of Cochrane in September 2017.
American Kestrel, Grand Valley Road, September 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
American Kestrel, Grand Valley Road, September 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Here are some photos of waterfowl taken by Michael Kim in the Canmore area this spring.
Hooded Merganser, Exshaw, May 1, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Hooded Mergansers, Exshaw, May 2, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, May 6, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, May 6, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Ruddy Duck, Exshaw, May 1, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Red-necked Grebe, Exshaw, May 1, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Bufflehead, Exshaw, May 3, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Northern Shoveler, Lac des Arcs, May 22, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Horned Grebe, Exshaw, April 1, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Barrow’s Goldeneye, Canmore, April 2, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Barrow’s Goldeneye, Canmore, April 4, 2017. Photo by Michael Kim.
Correction: The unfortunate rodent is a Northern Pocket Gopher, not a Meadow Vole. Pocket Gophers are the ones that make mounds of loose soil above their underground burrows. The soil mounds are commonly seen, but the animals themselves rarely venture above ground. When they do, it is usually at night and they don’t go more than a few feet from the mound. Hence they are rarely seen – this is the first photo of one from the Calgary area that I’ve seen. – Bob Lefebvre
Tony LePrieur got this great shot of a Great Gray Owl with a captured Northern Pocket Gopher recently near Calgary.
Great Gray Owl, Turner Valley area SW of Calgary, July 3, 2017. Photo by Tony LePrieur.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
In May, Ethan Denton completed his 2017 Great Canadian Birdathon to raise money for bird research and conservation. He was part of a team with Gavin McKinnon, called the Saw-it Owls. Here are just a few photos of birds the team saw on their birdathon.
Harlequin Duck (male), Lake Minnewanka, May 20, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Harlequin Ducks (female on left, male right), Lake Minnewanka, May 20, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Common Loons, Vermillion Lakes, May 20, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Sharp-tailed Grouse (male) on lek, southern Alberta, May 14, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Sharp-tailed Grouse (male) on lek, southern Alberta, May 14, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
You can read about Day One of their birdathon on Ethan’s blog, Bird Boy.
The Great Canadian Birdathon (formerly called the Baille Birdathon) is a program of Bird Studies Canada. Participants are sponsored to count as many birds as they can every May. You can contribute to Ethan’s personal donation page here. Gavin McKinnon’s page is here. Please help them to reach their fundraising goals!
Gavin McKinnon photographed this Western Meadowlark singing on a fence post at Weed Lake, SE of the city, on April 30.
Western Meadowlark, Weed Lake, April 30, 2017. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Unfortunately, Meadowlarks are hard to find in the city, but a trip a short distance out of town on the prairies will usually produce some of these beautiful singers. Weed Lake is immediately east of Langdon, 26 km east from Stoney Trail on Glenmore Trail.
Like Ethan Denton, Gavin is another accomplished young birder. He has a blog at Canadian Birder. Gavin has teamed up with Ethan to raise money for the Great Canadian Birdathon. You can sponsor him here.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Tomorrow, Saturday May 13, is the third annual Global Big Day, organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The hope is that birders all over the world will go out that day and report as many species as they can.
Can you find a Long-eared Owl on the Global Big Day? Fish Creek Park, November 7, 2010. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.
In 2016, 15,953 birders in 145 countries contributed 43,848 checklists, and recorded a total of 6,263 bird species. Your individual contribution this Saturday is important in preserving a record of our local bird life. Here’s how to make your sightings count.
There will also be a random draw from everyone who submits at least three complete checklists on May 13, with the winner getting Zeiss Conquest HD 8X42 binoculars.
The results are already coming in from the Eastern Hemisphere, and you can watch the worldwide results as they come in here.
The Cornell Lab’s team of birders is raising money by trying to find 300 species of birds in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in twenty-four hours. You can sponsor the Cornell Big Day team here.
Locally, many birders are making a special effort to get out and put in their three checklists. Dan Arndt and a few others are actually doing a Calgary Region Big Day, trying to see as many species as they can within the local 80-km radius birding circle. You can follow Dan’s progress and see how many species they have (and perhaps learn where some really good birds are located) by following him on his Twitter account. Dan’s handle is @ubermoogle, so follow him, or go to his page on Twitter to see what he posts.