Posted by Dan Arndt

Last weekend the Sunday morning birding group from the Friends of Fish Creek was diverted from our scheduled course of exploring Lafarge Meadows, south of the Boat Launch at Fish Creek Provincial Park, and instead explored the always amazing Mallard Point. This is one area of Fish Creek Park that I have rarely visited, but am always surprised at the diversity and splendor of the entire range of environments it includes, and the expanse of the Bow River along the protected Poplar Island is always a great spot to see, and hear, a wide variety of both waterfowl, shorebirds, and other assorted wildlife.

Here is the route we took:

Mallard Point Route

On the west bank, we were greeted by large numbers of European Starlings and Canada Geese searching for, and preparing nest holes and cavities in order to rear their young. Some preparing new ones, others, like the European Starling below, re-using older holes.

European Starling emerging from nest hole

On the river were a huge number of Common Goldeneye as well, still displaying and competing for females. It seems like they’ve been competing and displaying forever! On our first outing of the winter course we viewed others competing in the same way, so it had been at least 10 weeks!

Male Common Goldeneye displaying for females

Across the bridge and through the poplars we heard White-breasted Nuthatches and numerous Northern Flickers calling and displaying for their potential mates as well.

This Northern Flicker came in close for some great views of the bright plumage. Many birds possess a nictacting membrane, such as the one covering the eye of this Northern Flicker, to protect them from debris while flying, diving, or drumming, while still allowing the bird to see.

As we crossed a smaller second bridge, a group of nine Lesser Scaup came into view on one of the back channels off the Bow River. Slightly behind them was a trio of American Wigeon, again much closer than expected.

Female (l) and male (r) Lesser Scaup

Female (l) and male (r) Lesser Scaup

Females (l) and male (r) American Wigeon

As we followed the pathway south, we took a look at some feeders in one of the yards adjoining the park, when one of the most elusive birds of this winter birding course was spotted pecking its way along beside, and behind the house. Some people search for good close views of this bird for weeks or months, but it appears that this lucky homeowner gets them in the yard fairly regularly. Some people are luckier than they know!

Male Ring-necked Pheasant

Heading further south along the Bow, we spotted an extremely mangy Coyote at least twice before we watched it digging at a cache and coming away with the wing of a Mallard that we suspect it had cached away under this log.

Extremely Mangy Coyote - this coyote had very little hair on its face, tail, and legs, and most of its underside also lacked hair. It was followed by 6-10 Black-billed Magpies until it was chased up the hillside.

And that’s where the path turned to go up the hillside, so we opted to turn around at that point and head back, which gave us the opportunity to see a few birds being flushed down river by an approaching fishing boat, being pushed down the river by the current. First was this American Wigeon, followed by some near-shore Common Mergansers and an inquisitive Ring-billed Gull.

Along the south edge of the path, another male American Wigeon offered very close views.

Male (l) and female (r) Common Merganser

Ring-billed Gull

As we neared the back-channel of the river again, a flock of European Starlings flew up harassing this Merlin, which paused for a brief photo-op.

Merlin

The last, but not least new species of the day was this beautiful pair of Hooded Mergansers right beside the bridge. I believe I shouted VERY loudly “Hooded Merganser!” which probably should have flushed them, but thank goodness that they were more than understanding of my excitement!

Male Hooded Merganser coming in for a landing.

Female (l) and male (r) Hooded Mergansers

I did mention there was no false advertising at Mallard Point. We spotted nearly 400 Mallards in our walk up and down the river, but none really close or accessible enough to get any decent shots of!

One more post this week will finish off the blogging for the Winter Birding course, and while I’ll be away for the first two weekends of the Spring course, I’ll be more than happy to share some of my other photos in the coming weeks!

Posted by Dan Arndt

The last few weeks have been filled with preparations, failed attempted, botched attempts, and finally a successful and soul satisfying observation of the Northern Flying Squirrels in the Weaselhead. You may remember that back  in November, Bob Lefebvre and I made an attempt to view these little critters. Well, given our success, we felt that given a couple weeks of lead-up, and a few nights leading up to it of concerted effort, we’d stand a very good chance of leading a larger group down there, on behalf of Nature Calgary. Two weeks before the big night, a few of us headed out and spent a few hours waiting, watching, and waiting again, but ultimately, we chalked up the failure to the constant, though relatively low wind keeping the animals down, paired with the fact that it seemed that the regular folks who fill the feeders down there hadn’t been keeping it up over the winter.

That week, a couple of runs were made down to the feeders to fill them, and the following Saturday, two of us headed down to the feeders to set up a bit closer, but with better views, and hidden from view off the main pathway. While we weren’t entirely successful that night either, we did get a few brief glimpses, and I managed to get my best photo of the squirrels so far.

Arguably, the best shot I've ever taken of one.

Unfortunately, I took the shot too early, which spooked it, and the next two times we saw the squirrels were almost an hour later, but they were still incredibly flighty.

That week, I took a few excursions out to fill the feeders. Wednesday, Thursday, and just as I was heading down on Friday, Bob called to tell me that there was a Barred Owl spotted just on the south side of the Glenmore Reservoir, not 10 minutes from the Weaselhead. Given that it is one of the rarest of owls in Alberta, and another life bird for me, I couldn’t say no. I’m just happy that the home owner whose spruce tree the beautiful little owl was roosting in was so accomodating, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get these shots:

Barred Owl

So peaceful.

Such an intimidating stare!

The last shot was taken just after sunset, and from there I headed straight over to the Weaselhead parking lot. There, with 15 others in tow, we headed down to the pathway to the feeders. Once there, we waited. And waited. And waited. The patience of those with me was incredible, as was the silence we were able to keep for nearly an hour before many began to get restless. The sky conditions were perfect. There was no wind, no moon, and quiet overall, except for the geese on the Elbow River, just down the pathway. We decided to head down there to take a look at them, so we would at least see something for the night, and there were easily 20-30 Canada Geese on the river. We played a few Northern Saw-whet Owl calls, and didn’t hear any replies there either, so dejectedly we began heading back to the feeders for one last glimpse before heading out.

It was then that we heard the first Northern Saw-whet Owl calling back to us. Then a second, further up the hill, followed by a third behind us. We were so caught up in trying to track where the calls were originating that, before we realized it, we were incredibly close to the feeders. And then we saw them. Not one, but two Northern Flying Squirrels at the feeder. One, frozen on the trunk in front of me, and the second further up!

We backed off, letting them get to the feeders, and get a little more relaxed before we turned the red lights on them. The theory is that the Northern Flying Squirrels can’t see certain wavelengths of light, so putting filters on flashlights at, or below that wavelength makes the light essentially invisible to them, but makes them clearly visible to us. The only downside to this is that the red light is completely overwhelming to the camera’s sensor, so the only way to make the photos usable is to convert them to black and white. Here are a couple that I shot that night:

Flying Squirrel on trunk

Flying Squirrel at feeder

They glided, and fed, and climbed, and scrambled around for a good half hour before disappearing again into the night, and as we left the valley, we were once again serenaded by the “hoot hoot hoot” of the Northern Saw-whet Owls all around us.

Like the authors of this blog, many of our readers are huge owl fans. We’ve been sent the following photos in the last little while, and wanted to share their excitement.

From Pierpaolo Storino  “I’m an Italian Ornithologist and I stay in Calgary now because I’m studying for my Ph.D. Project. Today (Mar 18), while I was walking with my binocular in the Fish Creek Provincial Park, I saw Great Horned Owls Bubo virginianus. I was struck by that beautiful bird and I’d like to share with you a picture I took. I think I found the nest in a hollow tree near the lake; I saw the tail of the second bird (female?) brooding in the cavity.

From Kirsten Phillips of Didsbury “I was out for a drive this morning (Mar 21) and spotted this small creature near Carstairs.”

The American Birding Association announces the Evening Grosbeak as the 2012 Bird of the Year.

Evening Grosbeaks are avian firecrackers. Everyone notices them, and most people adore them. They are colorful, noisy, gregarious, and conspicuous. When they’re around, you know it. Their brash behavior is winning rather than wearing, except perhaps for the inflated sunflower seed bill that often accompanies their visits. Most of us would gladly pay the price for such scintillating company.

This species is an excellent choice for the ABA to spotlight for many reasons: its disconcerting decline in various regions; its beauty; its embodiment of both the exotic and the familiar; and its great appeal to both neophyte and veteran birders. We at the ABA have been drawn most to the Evening Grosbeak because of its ability to generate excitement and spark new birders.

There’s something else. The more we thought about Evening Grosbeaks, the more we realized the species is a fitting totem for the ABA we are working to create. The ABA Bird of the Year program is all about birders being more conspicuous, and drawing attention to the excitement of birding and the fellowship of birders.

ABA members enjoy acting as leaders of the flock, sounding the cries that bring our community together, making it bigger, stronger, and more effective. We believe Evening Grosbeaks are perfect emblems for the ABA in 2012.

Evening Grosbeaks are featured on the cover of the March 2012 issue of Birding, the flagship publication of the ABA. The amazing artwork is by author, naturalist, musician, and artist Julie Zickefoose. Her artwork is also featured on the official 2012 Bird of the Year logo, which you will see in the form of stickers on binoculars of enthusiastic ABA members and as a badge on websites and blogs of ABA supporters.

For interesting facts about Evening Grosbeaks and a list of activities, please visit the 2012 Bird of the Year website.

We invite everyone interested in birds, nature, and wildlife to come celebrate the Evening Grosbeak with us. Please join the American Birding Association. Contact: Robert Mortensen – ABA Bird of the Year Coordinator boy@aba.org 801-390-7555