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Christmas Bird Count in the Weaselhead

Dec19

This year marks my first ever Christmas Bird Count. As the date approached and the weather forecast flip-flopped from cold and blustery to a warm winter chinook, I was confident that no matter the weather, I’d make the best of it and tough it out. Thankfully, we had a beautiful day. Almost no wind to speak of, and the birds were out in force.

The organizer, Philip Cram, had put me in one of the walking groups by request, with Rob Worona, David Pugh, and Bernie Diebolt, all familiar names to me, but my first time birding with Rob, the group leader, and David, a fellow photographer.

Starting at western-most parking lot at South Glenmore Park, we made our way across the valley wall and westward into the Weaselhead proper. It started out quiet, with the usual suspects making their appearances. The Common Redpoll, the Black-capped Chickadees, and the White-winged Cross-bills we’ve seen so much of lately.

Common Redpoll
Common Redpoll
Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
White-winged Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
As we headed further toward the bridge spanning the Elbow River, we were mobbed by a group of Black-capped Chickadees, and were alerted to the presence of a rarer Chickadee species, the Boreal Chickadee. As the Black-capped Chickadees flocked, the wheezy, higher pitched nasally tones of the boreal species edged closer and closer, until finally it made an appearance. Though not brave enough to hand-feed, it did come close, and finally dropped down to eat some of the black-oil sunflower seed on offer.
Boreal Chickadee

Boreal Chickadee

Continuing down the path we were greeted again by another new sight. Perched high up across one of the smaller tributaries to the Elbow River was this juvenile Northern Goshawk. The bright white eyebrow and the jagged tail-bars were distinct enough for Rob to confidently make the species ID.

Juvenile Northern Goshawk

Juvenile Northern Goshawk

Finally we reached the bridge, and in amongst the Common Redpolls earlier, we thought we may have seen a Hoary Redpoll or two in amongst the flock. We were granted a second, much closer view of one of them, and as we compared it to the others, we became more and more convinced. Another first for me, the Hoary Redpoll:
Hoary Redpoll

Hoary Redpoll

We stopped for lunch to compile our count numbers and to re-energize, but again were mobbed by hungry birds and a Red Squirrel or two, but as we were finishing up, a couple of very brave Red-breasted Nuthatches flew in for a bite.
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Though it was a fairly warm winter’s day, the sun hadn’t really made much of an appearance, but when it did, these Pine Grosbeaks began singing and for the first time, I heard a soft cooing from the females, almost like that of a Rock Pigeon or Eurasian Collared Dove. I was completely unaware that Pine Grosbeaks made sounds anything like this.
Female Pine Grosbeak

Female Pine Grosbeak

 At this point, we stopped once again for a water, coffee, and snack break while this Common Raven vocalized above us with its unearthly and very unusual croaking call. I’m always amazed at the variety or Raven behaviour and vocal range. I’ll have to follow-up with a post on the variety and uniqueness of corvid behaviour among the birds.
Common Raven

Common Raven

Around a bend and over another tributary channel of the Elbow River and we were back to the base of the southern valley wall. At the crossroads of the trail heading back to the top of the southern wall we stopped at a feeding station to where a number of species were found. The White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, and Downy Woodpecker:
Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

The last few hundred meters did turn out productive though, granting us a Ruffed Grouse, a few House Finches, a Pine Siskin, and a very good angle at some close Pine Grosbeaks atop the spruce trees bordering the path.

Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse

House Finch

House Finch

Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin

Male (R) and Female (L) Pine Grosbeak

Male (R) and Female (L) Pine Grosbeak

All in all, a great day both for the birds, and for the hardy birders who were out in Calgary yesterday. Once the numbers are tallied up and made public in the New Year, they’ll be posted here, though I suspect we’ve got a banner year for finches with the huge number of Grosbeaks, Redpolls and Crossbills seen in the last few months.

Posted by Dan Arndt

It’s good to be back…

Dec19

I flew in to Calgary from Houston last Friday night and was greeted by snow on the ground! Something that I haven’t seen since April. Never thought that I would be so excited to see snow. My first day back, Saturday, I took a walk around my neighborhood and was fortunate enough to see most of the locals; no not the neighbors, the birds.

First thing in the morning, I woke to see several Black-billed Magpies jumping and hollering about in the willow. Several Common Ravens flew overhead and 2 pairs of Chickadees visited the feeders. I was very happy to see the Black-capped Chickadees, nothing can compare with this species’ friendliness!

I have been following the reports from Albertabird still and I have seen all the reports of winter finches; I knew what a good year it was for these birds. I just didn’t know how good! In my hour or so walk, I saw more Crossbills then I did all last winter. I must have seen more than 100 crossbills!

Most of the crossbills were White-winged however there were a few Red Crossbills in the mix ( see photo above). I also observed many Pine Siskins that were flocking with the crossbills and feeding on the abundant cones.

My neighborhood, for some reason, never seems to be popular with Common Redpolls, however this year, within my first 24 hours of being back in Calgary, I had already seen 2 in my community. Also, we hosted a Pine Grosbeak, which is unusual for us. At one point, I was privileged to see several crossbills, a redpoll and many siskins on the ground just feet in front of me, licking up some sort of salt or rock from the ground.

Then, later on in the day, I discovered why my feeders were so empty. Three Sharp-shinned Hawks were all together in a tree. When 3 raptors start calling your neighborhood home, there are definitely going to be some songbird declines.

All in all, it’s good to be back!

Posted by Matthew Sim

Sunday Showcase: Muskrat & Killdeer

Dec18

Photos taken in Carburn Park by Rob English on Dec 6/11. Even in the depths of a Calgary winter, there’s always lots to see in our natural areas! Click to enlarge photos.

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Dec 15

Dec16

Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Nature Calgary Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at zoxox@shaw.ca  To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.

This report was prepared on Thursday December 15.

recently
— DARK-EYED JUNCO, Oakridge (Calgary), Margaret Bruner

December 10
— WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL 6, Cedarbrae (Calgary), J. Weldtman

December 12 and succeeding
— RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, George Lane Park, High River, several obs

December 14
— KILLDEER, Hull’s Wood, Fish Creek PP, Terry Korolyk
— AMERICAN TREE SPARROW 2, same, TK

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday December 19.

Juvenile Raptor Identified

Dec16

Thank you all for your comments on my yard hawk!

The juvenile Cooper’s/Sharp-shinned conundrum is one of the greatest challenges in bird watching. The species are so similar that often a positive ID cannot be made when you see the bird for just a few minutes. In the winter months, you can add juvenile Northern Goshawk to the possibilities as well. With the additional help of photographs that can be pored over, feather by feather, it then becomes a matter of working your way through the bird guides.

I write for three different bird blogs, and when I was lucky enough to capture this beautiful hawk in pictures, I posted to all three, leaving the identification up to the readers. Guesses included Merlin, Swainson’s, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, Sharp-shinned and Northern Goshawk.

Consensus is…a Sharp-shinned hawk. Here are the reasons given.

  • Young sharpies have yellow eyes, while young Coopers have light yellow to almost pearly white eyes. Your bird has distinctly yellow eyes.
  • based on size, as compared to the shepherds hook and feeder, the bird seems Sharpie-sized
  • coarse brown streaks on the breast and belly
  • thinner legs than on a Cooper’s and narrow white tip on the tail feathers
  • smaller head and neck than a Cooper’s
  • pale eyebrow, narrow white tip on tail
  • Coopers have thicker white band on tail tip
  • Immature Cooper’s have whiter, more finely streaked breast
  • Sharpie’s have brown upper parts with white spots along scapulars
  • Cooper’s tend to have warmer brown napes, where yours has a darker nape
  • Sharp-shinned Hawk, based on the straight tail bars
  • wing-tips in relation to the length of the tail – Sharp-shinned Hawks wing-tips end just posterior to the hips.
  • undertail coverts on Goshawk have dark streaks

Now that I’ve gone through all this, I have absolutely no confidence that next time I see one of these birds, I’ll be able to identify it! They are just too tricky, but do provide a wonderful challenge for birdwatchers to tackle. However, I did find a fantastic website to help with the Cooper’s Hawk vs Sharp-shinned identification puzzle, so next time I’ll know where to look.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Juvenile Raptor Identification

Dec13

Do you like a birding challenge? This beautiful raptor visited my southeast Calgary yard late in November. I thought I would post these pictures without identifying the species, to give you a chance to test your raptor identification skills. Leave us a comment below, and tell us what you think it is.

This bird isn't injured, he's just wearing some of his lunch.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Walking the Weaselhead

Dec12


As a Calgary native, I consider it a particularly unfortunate state of affairs that it’s only in the last two years that I began exploring the Weaselhead. Accessed from either North or South Glenmore Park, it is quite likely one of Calgary’s most unique micro-environments, in which three species of hummingbird can be found in the summer, and the Boreal Chickadee can be found in winter. Hearing that it would be the location for our final birding walk of the autumn birding course, I was excited at the opportunity to see some new and exciting species.

It began by walking down the winding trail from the 37th Street parking lot at the western entrance to North Glenmore Park. After stocking one of the feeding stations, we briefly left, but rushed straight back when we noticed a robin-sized bird fly in and land on the ground at the feeder. It was another photo first for me to be able to snap some very close-up shots of a Pine Grosbeak. One of the distinctly beautiful birds both for its song and plumage, with a brutally sharp bite.

Heading down to the bottom feeder stations, we were delighted by the number of Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Common Redpolls taking advantage of the free food available at the feeders.
This Downy Woodpecker also was taking an interest in the feeders, and seemed entirely unfazed at how close we were able to get.
Across the bridge we were treated to the sight of a few more Common Redpolls, followed by Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches feeding at the fence-posts along the pathway.
I think our best bird of the day though was this Pileated Woodpecker who made an appearance and actually sat still long enough for us to get some shots of it.
The feeding station where the Boreal Chickadee pair had been seen all week was productive, but unfortunately the Boreal Chickadees didn’t show up. We did get some nice close views of the Red-breasted Nuthatches again, and the more common Black-capped Chickadees and a single Northern Flicker.
Finally we headed back, only seeing the same species at those feeders on the way back, and nothing in particular that really stole the show from the beautiful Pileated Woodpecker.
And that wrapped up the Autumn Birding course for us. In the new year, Bob Lefebvre will be leading a Sunday walk with the same group until mid to late April, and between now and then are a few important outings on my list, the biggest of which being the Christmas Bird Count, which I’ll post my photos and stories from next week.
Posted by Daniel Arndt.

Tips on Bird Photography

Dec12

I think it is safe to say that most of us here have an interest in birdwatching. Some of us are also interested in photographing birds, documenting what we see and also enabling others to enjoy these sightings . Bird photography can be very tricky though and doesn’t always come out the way we want it to. Through trial and error as well as tips from other nature photographers, I have slowly learned different tricks of the trade and am still learning. Here is one trick that I have found helps me a lot.

Take a look at the picture above. Probably doesn’t do much for you, right? Just a killdeer photograph, nothing exciting about the shot itself. What could have been done to make this a better photograph? I have found that getting low can often drastically improve the photo. Get down at eye level with the bird, you can often create better eye contact with the bird, bringing the viewer into a connection with the photo. The Killdeer will then seem more interesting, not only because of the lower angle, but because of the  change in the depth of field of the shot.

Depth of field (also known as DOF), is the term for the amount of distance between the closest and farthest objects that appear sharp in the photograph. In the second picture above, a shallower depth of field (meaning a blurry background) makes the photo less distracting and more pleasing to the eye. In the photo pictured below, I took it one step further, instead of simply kneeling, I lay on my stomach, creating a very shallow depth of field and therefore, a picture that is more likely to catch your eye than the first photo.

Changing the depth of field is a remarkably simple technique but incredibly powerful in the way a photo comes out. By getting low, chances are you can improve your bird photography.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Sorry Folks!

Dec8

If you’re looking for that Sunday Showcase: Pine Grosbeaks post you’ll have to wait until the new year! This is the first time I’ve scheduled anything for 2012, and I completely forgot to change the year. It went up today in error, and I quickly changed it. Here’s just a teaser of what’s coming on Jan 1.

Posted by Pat Bumstead, who does actually know what year it is.