Most Calgary birders know of Barb Castell’s home in the foothills SW of the city, near Priddis. Many have been there, and it is a great place to see birds, including some uncommon species, that come to her feeders and bird baths. It’s one of the most reliable places in the area to see Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, and even Black-headed Grosbeaks.
Of course this is private property with restricted access, but there is a YouTube Channel which has a daily live stream from three cameras set up on the property. You can watch the birds live, and participate in the chat about what is being seen. There are also many archived past live streams, and clips of highlights on the site.
Here is the YouTube page: Foothills Birds.
They also have a web page with more information and a link to the YouTube site: foothillsbirds.com
Below is one of the clips from YouTube, featuring some brave Blue Jays.
With fall migration now under way, as many as 26 species have been seen in a day recently, including migrating warblers and hummingbirds. Archived streams feature birds like Northern Goshawks, Northern Saw-whet Owls, Ruffed Grouse, and Mammals like Red Squirrels, Northern Flying Squirrels, and Bats. It is very entertaining and educational to watch!
I’d like to urge you to go to YouTube and subscribe to this channel. It’s as simple as clicking on the “Subscribe” button if you are a regular YouTube user. If not, to get your free subscription,
1. Go to: https://www.youtube.com/foothillsbirds
2. Log into your Google Account, if you aren’t already logged in, top right corner.
3. Click on the red SUBSCRIBE button on the right side.
4. It should change from red to gray and say UNSUBSCRIBE.
Being subscribed to a channel is not obtrusive. For you, it just means that the site appears in your feed as a suggestion from time to time when you are already on the YouTube site. Any new clips that they add will appear in your suggestions. It will also be easy for you to re-find the site since there will be a link to it under your subscriptions.
But it is very important for Foothills Birds to get more subscribers! Even if you do not plan to visit the site much, please subscribe so that it will be suggested to more and more YouTube users and seen by more people. There are currently about 444 subscribers, and if they get to 1000, it will allow them to get more advanced features from YouTube and allow them to do more to support the birds.
Some photos of birds seen at the feeders, from the web site:
The best time to view the birds is when they are hungry early in the
morning. The camera is usually on from from dawn to dusk.
This location is now an eBird HotSpot, so you can go on eBird and see what has been reported there every day. There have been 105 species observed at the location this year, and 140 species all-time!
If you are on Twitter, follow them @FoothillsBirds. They regularly post photos of birds that are at the feeders and in the area.
So visit the site, watch some clips and live streams, and subscribe. Let’s help them reach their goal of 1000 subscribers!