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The Road to 300: June

Aug5

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

I was away quite a bit in July so there’s lots to catch up on here. First of all, here is an update on fifteen-year-old Gavin McKinnon’s effort to find 300 species of birds in Alberta in 2019.

Gavin had 216 species at the end of May, and as I mentioned last time, you need to get to at least 240 by the end of June to have a good shot at 300. Gavin had a great month in June, and finished the first six months of the year with 278 species. Here are photos of some of the new species he added in June, along with his descriptions of where he saw them and some of the other notable species. Gavin did quite a bit of travelling with his dad looking for rarities, which sometimes necessitated camping in the back of their car.

Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl

“On the first of June we were out at Winchell lake and Horse Creek Road marshes where I got half a dozen new songbirds plus Great Gray Owl. The following day We went to Dinosaur Provincial Park where we heard Yellow-breasted Chat. I also added Rock Wren and Lark Sparrow there. The following weekend we went up to Cold lake where I got 35 year birds, the highlights being Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, lots of Connecticut Warblers and a Great Crested Flycatcher. The next day I was able to see a flock of five White-rumped Sandpipers along the rocky shore of Lower Kananaskis Lake as well as a singing male Townsend’s Warbler. A few days later I got the chance to see a Black-chinned Hummingbird that was visiting Pat Lucas’ feeders near Hillcrest Mines.

Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird

“Between then and Cypress Hills I got to see Clark’s Grebe and Great Egret. On our way to Cypress we made two stops, one for McCown’s Longspur and another for Burrowing Owl.

Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl

“I got three year birds within my first hour at Cypress Hills: White-winged Scoter, Dusky Flycatcher, and a pair of Eastern Bluebirds that have been nesting along the southern border of the park.

Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird

“In the afternoon I was able to see a pair of Bullock’s Orioles and after about an hour of checking the Bullock’s Oriole tree I found a nest with two chicks.

Bullock's Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole at nest

“There were also three Common Nighthawks roosting nearby. On our way back to Cypress we found three Greater Sage Grouse.

Greater Sage Grouse
Greater Sage Grouse

“At night we were driving around the Graburn Road area and we were able to detect two Common Poorwills, one heard only, but the second one swooped in front of our headlights.”

Below is a photo of the car where they camped on some of these trips.

Camping in the car for birding.
The camping setup in the car.

Here are more photos of some species Gavin added to his list in June.

Calliope Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Cassin's Finch
Cassin’s Finch
Cassin's Vireo
Cassin’s Vireo

I will do another update when Gavin Gets to 300 species. Not to keep you in suspense, at the end of July he had 291 species. Of course, as the year goes on it becomes harder and harder to add new birds to the list, but Gavin hopes to reach 295 by the end of August.

You can also follow his progress on eBird by viewing the list of top 100 eBirders in Alberta on the “Explore” tab. Here is a link to that page. You can also check out the top 100 in Canada, where Gavin is at an amazing 362 species, the second-highest total in the country!

You can see previous posts with photos and updates of Gavin’s Big Year here:

January and February

March and April

May

Global Big Day, Saturday May 4

May3

Tomorrow is eBird’s Global Big Day, during which birders all over the world are encouraged to submit their sightings on eBird to create a one-day snapshot of the state of the world’s birds. All you have to do is go birding anywhere and submit your sightings on eBird! Even a few minutes of birding will help to contribute to the Big Day. Click the link above to read all about it.

Global Big Day 2019

Last year over 30,00 people submitted lists, recording over 7,000 species of birds. Let’s see if we can top this!

The Cornell Lab has also started doing an eBird Big Day in the fall. The first one was on October 6, 2018. Over 6,000 species were recorded, including these rare Greater Sage-Grouse photographed by Gavin McKinnon. Gavin was the only birder to report this species on the Big Day.

Greater Sage-Grouse
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Greater Sage-Grouse
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Greater Sage-Grouse, undisclosed location. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

You can see a band on the leg of the bird in the second photo. These birds are part of a program by the Calgary Zoo to try to at least help this species hang on to its very restricted range in Canada. Here is a news article about this program.

Not everyone will see a rare bird tomorrow, but every sighting of any species counts!

Global Big Day 2019

Swan Season

Nov11

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Here is a great photo taken by Kenneth Johnson on November 3 near the Jumpingpound Gas plant, west of Calgary.

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swans west of Calgary, November 3, 2018. Photo by Kenneth Johnson.

The darker birds with the pink on their bills are juveniles. I’m not positive that the big bird with its wings outstretched is a Tundra. It could be a Trumpeter (no yellow on the face, long bill) but the shape of the area between the eyes suggests Tundra. Comments welcome.

Trumpeter Swans migrate though the area up to about the first week of November, and Tundras a little later. Most will be gone by mid-month. The majority of Trumpeters tend to pass to the west of Calgary, and many are seen on the Glenmore Reservoir. To the east of town, far more Tundras are seen. But both can be found on any large body of water in the area, or in flocks flying overhead.

Here are eBird maps of reports of the two species during the first week of November. Each red teardrop shows a location where at least one swan was reported.

Tundra Swan

Above: Tundra Swan reports on eBird in the Calgary area, early November 2018.

Trumpeter Swan

Above: Trumpeter Swan reports on eBird in the Calgary area, early November 2018.

 

October Global Big Day This Saturday

Oct4

For the last four years, eBird has held a Global Big Day in May to try to count as many of the world’s bird species as possible in one day, with citizen scientists counting birds all over the world. May is the height of spring migration in the northern hemisphere, and the count has been extremely popular and successful. This year eBird is holding another Big Day on Saturday October 6th, when many birds in the northern hemisphere are on migration, and spring is under way in the southern hemisphere.

Global Big Day

Image from the eBird Global Big Day page.

All you have to do to participate is to submit an eBird list from any birding you do on October 6. There is information on the Global Big Day page on how to set up an account if you haven’t already done so. You can also watch the results come in from all over the world during the day on this page.

Get out on Saturday and participate in this event! If you can’t get out, send a list from your yard. Every little bit helps!

Take Part in Global Shorebird Counting

Sep7

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The fall shorebird migration through the Calgary area is now underway. Thursday September 6 was World Shorebirds Day. Every year for a week around this date you can take part in Global Shorebird Counting. This program allows birders to contribute, as citizen scientists, to knowledge of the distribution, population trends and abundance of shorebird species. The count this year began on September 5 and continues to the 11th.

Shorebirds

You can count shorebirds anywhere in this time period. You could find a good shorebirding hotspot, but you can also go to any local park where you usually bird and just make sure to count the shorebirds you see there. There are usually some anywhere along the Bow River and at places like the pond at Confederation Park.

You have to register your location (see this page) but reporting is easy if you use eBird since the programs are linked. Once you submit your checklist to eBird, you have until September 30 to share it with the Global Shorebird Counting account.

Try to help out with this project, and follow the results on their web page!

Great Crested Flycatcher in Bearspaw

Jul19

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

On July 6, 2017, this Great Crested Flycatcher was photographed by Caroline Brooks in her Bearspaw yard, just west of Calgary. This is a local rarity.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Bearspaw, July 6, 2017. Photo by Caroline Brooks.

Interestingly, Caroline had seen and photographed another Great Crested Flycatcher in her yard almost exactly a year earlier, on July 13, 2016. That bird (very likely the same one) was there for the first two weeks of July.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Bearspaw, July 13, 2016. Photo by Caroline Brooks.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Bearspaw, July 13, 2016. Photo by Caroline Brooks.

After photographing the bird this year on July 6, Caroline did not see the bird again. But on the morning of July 11 one was seen in Carburn Park in SE Calgary by Bob Storms. Carburn Park is about 10-12 km due east of Bearspaw. It’s possible this was the same bird.

Here are a couple of screen shots from eBird that show the range of the Great Crested Flycatcher. As you can see, this bird is seen only occasionally west of Regina. Apart from a few regular spots in the Edmonton and Cold Lake areas, it is not often seen in Alberta. It does nest in a few spots from north of Red Deer up to east-central Alberta. Having this bird show up here at this time of year in two consecutive years makes one wonder if they are breeding (or trying to) in the Calgary area.

Great Crested Flycatcher sightings, Year-round, All years, from eBird.

Great Crested Flycatcher sightings from 2017, from eBird. The teardrop in Calgary is a bird that was heard by Michael Harrison in South Glenmore Park on June 25.

Another Great Crested Flycatcher was photographed in Carburn Park by a Friends of Fish Creek birding group on September 14, 2013. Possibly there are a few of these around here every year, so this is a bird that local birders should be aware of, and be on the lookout for.

Global Big Day, May 13, 2017

May12

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.

eBird Counties of Southern Alberta

Feb8

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

If you are a birder in the Calgary area who uses eBird, you may be confused about where the boundaries for the eBird Counties are. As you enter sightings from various locations in the region, you will see that some are assigned to Calgary County, and some to Drumheller, Banff, Lethbridge, or others. It is not clear at first what these counties represent. Even when we were doing the 2015 eBird Competition we were not sure what to make of the eBird Counties.

It turns out that the boundaries for eBird Counties in Canada follow the federal government’s Census Geographic Units. This is not a well-known political or geographic entity, and the boundaries are not marked anywhere as you travel around. (In the United States, where eBird started, the eBird Counties are the same as the political Counties, which are well-known and have well-marked boundaries.)

However, it is possible to see a map of our County boundaries by going on Google Earth. If you don’t have Google Earth you should download it. It is free, and very useful for birders. You can see satellite maps of the entire world down to a very fine level.

When you are on Google Earth, zoom into the region you want to see, and turn off all the layers except “Borders.” The fine green lines on the map are the county boundaries. (Thanks to Dan Arndt for finding out what the counties are, and how to see the boundaries.)

Southern Alberta, showing eBird County boundaries in green.

Southern Alberta, with eBird County names in yellow and boundaries in green.

Feel free to copy this map as a reference, but I do recommend downloading Google Earth, so you can zoom in to see the boundaries at a finer scale. You can also turn on other layers such as “Places ” and “Roads” so you can see where the towns and highways are.

Below are four detail maps of the north, east, south, and west edges of Calgary county.

The north end of Calgary County.

The east side of Calgary County, along the Trans-Canada Highway. Drumheller County begins immediately east of Weed Lake, and actually includes part of Dalemead Reservoir.

The south end of Calgary County.

The west side of Calgary county.

The eBird Counties do not correspond well to any particular geographic birding region. Many of you may keep track of sightings within the 80-km circle centered on the Centre Street Bridge in Calgary, which is used for the annual May Species Count (and for both the 2005 and 2015 birding competitions). Here is the relevant map for that:

The 80-km circle of the Calgary birding region (red), with eBird Counties in green.

If anyone would like to be able to draw the 80-km circle on Google Earth on their own computer, just email me at birdscalgary@gmail.com and I will give you instructions.

Tonight, Wednesday February 8, 2017, Mike Harrison will speak at the Bird Study Group of Nature Calgary on The Ins and Outs of eBird. If you are an eBird user or want to learn about it, please come out. See this page for details.

World Shorebirds Day September 6

Aug25

The third annual World Shorebirds Day is September 6, 2016. Birders are encouraged to count shorebirds from September 2-6. You can register a location where you intend to go birding that week, and then make a careful count of the shorebirds (and other birds) you see there and submit the results to eBird or to the official website of World Shorebirds Day.

Long-billed Dowitchers Frank Lake - September 12, 2013 Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500 + Tamron 1.4x Teleconverter 1/1000sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 400Long-billed Dowitchers, Frank Lake. September 12, 2013. Photo by Dan Arndt

You can read more about this project on the official website.

There are plenty of great shorebird locations in the Calgary area so register your spot and help this citizen science project. Only with better knowledge of the numbers and distributions of these long-distance migrants can we help to conserve them.