Archives

Bird Profile: Western Kingbird

Jun17

A large flycatcher with a yellow belly, pale grey head and breast and a black tail with white stripes down the sides, the Western Kingbird is one of my favorite birds. Eating mostly insects, the Kingbird is always ready to snatch its next meal; whether from a perch or on the ground.

Nesting in tall cottonwoods along river valleys, the Western Kingbird can be difficult to find in Calgary. Probably the best spot in the city to look for this neat bird is Lafarge Meadows, in Fish Creek, south of 22x where they nest.

More social than other kingbirds, at times, several pairs of Western Kingbird may be found nesting in the same tree. They readily attack crows, ravens, hawks and other larger birds that can be potential predators to them and their young.

The Western Kingbird has a distinguishing lemon yellow belly.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Backyard Birds: Yellow Warbler

Jun7

Have you seen a flash of yellow in your yard lately?

The Wood Warbler family is famous for their diversity in plumage, song, feeding and breeding biology. All of them are small birds with long, thin bills used for snapping up insects and larvae. Perhaps one of the easiest to identify is the Yellow Warbler, which has more yellow in its plumage than any other member of the family.

In spring breeding season, males have rusty streaks on the breast and flanks, a bright yellow face with conspicuous black eyes, and yellow upperparts. They are known to build another nest on top of an old one when Brown Cowbird eggs appear in it, which can result in up to six different layers.

Yellow Warblers can be seen around the city from mid May to mid September. These birds are widespread in most shrubby and second-growth habitats in North America, where they can be seen quickly hopping from branch to branch. This bird was busily flitting from the saskatoons and lilac shrubs to the poplar trees in my yard.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Backyard Birds: Tufted Finches

May31

House Finches are the ‘new kids on the block’ in Alberta, and a favorite of many back yard bird watchers.

These colourful little birds were originally found only in the southwestern United States and Mexico. In the 1940’s a small number were imported to New York, in an attempt to sell them as caged birds called “Hollywood Finches.” The business venture failed, and the birds were released on Long Island. They quickly started breeding, and now the two populations have spread across almost all of the United States and southern Canada.

The first Alberta birds were reported from the mountains in the 1960s. Sightings expanded to Calgary in the early 1970s, but significant populations did not develop until the late 1990s. Now these melodic singers are found throughout the city.

House Finches have received a much warmer welcome than the introduced House Sparrows or European Starlings. People love the cheerful red head and breast of males, and their long, twittering song brightens up any rainy day. These birds have also managed to survive Canadian winters, and are common feeder birds throughout our cold months, bringing a welcome splash of colour to the yard.

Most of the males are red, but House Finches can also come in orange…


Or yellow…


And a few times a year, they come with tufts!

House Finches have two or more broods each year, and each clutch has 4 or 5 eggs. This not only explains why they have colonized the continent so quickly, it also accounts for the appearance of the tufted juvenile finches in my yard throughout the year. Most birds feed their young insects for the protein content, but House Finches feed their chicks vegetable matter and seeds. Backyard bird feeders with their regularly available seeds have also helped them conquer the continent.

It’s no wonder bird watchers like House Finches – they’re an ongoing challenge to identify. The female looks like a member of the sparrow family, the males come in a variety of bright colours depending on their diet, and the tufted juveniles look like a separate species altogether.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates the current House Finch population to be somewhere between 267 million and 1.4 billion individuals. It seems safe to say we will have these colourful singers in Calgary for the foreseeable future!

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Yellow House Finch Picture by Bob Lefebvre

Bird Songs 101

May14

Ever heard that beautiful song coming from deep inside a dense bush, but don’t know what exactly is the source of that amazing sound?  You can check out this great site to help you match the song with the bird.

http://www.natureinstruct.org/dendroica/

The Blackpoll Warbler gives a very high-pitched song that can be inaudible at times.

Dendroica.com is a great site; whether you are a novice and just learning the songs, or you are a seasoned pro and brushing up for the spring migration. Photographs of the bird are provided on this site, as well as a description of the song or call and then the song itself. Once you have gotten familiar with the sounds, you can go out into the field with this newly-found or rediscovered knowledge, and be able to identify that beautiful song coming from deep inside the bush.

 

Posted by Matthew Sim

Backyard Birds: White-crowned Sparrows

May10

It’s a sure sign of spring in my yard when I see the White-crowned Sparrows are back.

A fairly large sparrow at 5 1/2-7″ (14-17 cm), White-crowns don’t fit the miscellaneous sparrow category of LBJ’s – little brown jobs – that are hard to distinguish from one another. These dapper little sparrows are always in bright white and black, and easy to identify.

The white crown has two black stripes, they have a black eye line (a line going to the back of the head from the eye), and a yellow-orange bill. They have white streaking on a brown back and wings, and their underparts are pale grey. Males and females look alike.

Small flocks of White-crowned sparrows pass through Calgary in late April to May, and then again in Sept-Oct. Their spring visits to our city are just a stopover for their trip to their breeding habitat in the northern boreal forest. They prefer open environments with shrubby meadows, alpine and willow shrubs, and build cup nests in shrubs or small conifers.

These sparrows are tireless singers, and are known to even sing under the light of a full moon.

Sparrows forage on the ground, usually in fairly open areas, and fly up into a small tree or hedge when flushed. We have a dedicated bird area at the back of our yard, and spillage from the hanging bird feeders provides an excellent sparrow feeding ground. Like other sparrows, the hyperactive White-crowns make quick jumping back and forth movements, scratching the ground to expose insects and seeds.

If you have White-crowned Sparrows in your yard right now, enjoy them while you can. They won’t be here for long, and then we’ll have to wait for their re-appearance in the fall.

By the way, the bird singing in the video background is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which I’m still attempting to capture with my camera.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Photo Feathers: Pine Siskin

May6

The Pine Siskin is a familiar, tame little finch. They are often very approachable, enough to see their beautiful feathers. They are quite noisy, even while they feast on niger, black oil sunflower seeds and the seeds of pinecones, among other foods. Pine Siskins are common in Calgary and can be seen year round.

The Pine Siskin is a very curious bird; the bird in this photo is curious as to who is bothering him.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Matthew Sim