Registration is open for the popular Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society Autumn Birding Course.
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Archives
Nature Calgary’s Big Week of Birding
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
For many years Nature Calgary has held a Big Day on the Victoria Day holiday – an attempt to find as many species as possible in one day, in this case all of them inside the Calgary city limits (we had 116 species this year). During the 2015 Calgary Birding Competition we decided to add a Big Day in the Calgary Region–the 80-km diameter circle centred in Calgary. We did the trip again last year. In both cases we saw lots of good birds (151 species in 2015, and 132 in 2016) but it is a long day with quite a few dead stretches of driving.
Great Gray Owl, one of two seen on our 80-km Circle Big Day in 2016. Horse Creek Road, June 18, 2016. Photo by Saravana Moorthy.
For this year, we decided to try something new: A Big Week instead of a Big Day in the 80-km circle. There will be a series of field trips offered from June 4 to 10, and we will try to reach a cumulative total of 175 species on these trips.
Most of the trips will be led by myself, Andrew Hart, and Rose Painter. We will kick it off with a day-long trip to the northwest corner of the circle, around Water Valley, on Sunday June 4. The final day will feature another long trip to the south and southwest. Both of these trips require registration because car-pooling will be required and spaces will be limited.
There will also be several field trips offered during the week, including trips inside the city to the Weaselhead and Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. A couple of other trips will be Twitch ‘n’ Tours, our term for for a field trip with a known starting point but for which the destinations are not decided until the last minute, so that we can chase rare birds or ones we have not been able to find so far.
If you want to see how many species you can find in the Calgary region in one week in June, join us for some or all of these outings. See the Nature Calgary field trip page for details and to register.
Birds of Burnsmead, Fish Creek Park
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
For the week of April 10-16, the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park birding course groups explored the Burnsmead area of Fish Creek Park, along the river just east of the park headquarters, near the wastewater treatment plant. There are some ponds in this area, as well as a wooded area and the river itself.
Max Ortiz Aguilar went with the group on April 16 and got these photos of some of the birds there.
Ring-necked Pheasant (male), Burnsmead, April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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Canada Goose, possibly guarding a nest site, April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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Common Mergansers (female in front, male behind), April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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Franklin’s Gull, April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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This photo and the next shows the pinkish hue these birds have when they arrive here from their wintering grounds off the coast of Venezuela, where they feed on shrimp that contain red pigments. The colour often fades by fall.
Franklin’s Gulls, April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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House Finch (male), April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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Red-winged Blackbird (male), April 16, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
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To see more of Max’s photos, visit his website here.
Canmore Bird Walks, and Birds of Banff and Canmore
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Ethan Denton is an accomplished young birder who lives in Canmore, an hour west of Calgary at the entrance to Banff National Park. We have birded together and it has has been a pleasure to get to know him and his family. Ethan has had a blog for a few years already called Bird Boy. Although he is just thirteen years old, he has organized the Canmore Christmas Bird Count for the past two years. He also takes part in the Great Canadian Birdathon, and you can sponsor him at this page.
Lincoln’s Sparrow, April 27, 2017, West Banff Townsite. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Now Ethan has begun to lead birding field trips in Canmore every week. Every second Sunday morning, there will be an informal birding walk along Policeman’s Creek in Canmore. This is one of the best locations in Canmore. Ethan had recorded over 100 species there.
Below is the information poster. Use the scrollbar on the right-hand side to see the whole page.
Click to access Canmore-Bird-Walk.pdf
The next walk is on Sunday May 21. The walks are free and everyone (children included) is welcome. So if you are a Canmore-area birder, or an interested Calgary-area birder, please join Ethan and see some birds like these:
Wood Duck pair, Canmore boardwalk, April 9, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Pileated Woodpecker, Canmore boardwalk, March 18, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Hammond’s Flycatcher, Canmore boardwalk, April 27, 2017. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Hammond’s Flycatchers are uncommon in Canmore in the summer, so an early spring record is almost unique. This is a bird we don’t see in Calgary.
Cassin’s Finch (female), April 27, 2017, West Banff Townsite. Photo by Ethan Denton.
Cassin’s Finch is only rarely seen in Calgary.
Ethan will post about each walk on his blog afterwards, so check back there to see what they have spotted and to see more of Ethan’s photos.
If you are out in the mountain parks this summer, note that there are also twice-weekly bird walks held at the Cave and Basin in Banff, run by the Bow Valley Naturalists. If you are out there on Saturday or Monday mornings, join them. Information here.