Wednesday Wings: Horned Larks

Mar7

If you’ve taken any pictures of interesting birds in the Calgary region, you can share them with us by emailing birdscalgary@gmail.com and we may post them on the blog.

We received these amazing photos of Horned Larks from Joe Harley. Horned larks have been returning to the area for the past few weeks and can be seen along rural roads. They can be very hard to photograph but Joe got a few great shots.

Joe writes:

We’d like to compliment the writers of the blog; we enjoy all the articles (and photos). Thought I’d share the Lark family, photographed on Family day [February 20], not far from Kinbrook Marsh. That’s all I was able to get of the Larks. We were in the midst of photographing Pronghorns when the Lark opportunity occurred.

(click photos to enlarge)

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: March 5

Mar6

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 birdscalgary@gmail.com. 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.

February 28
–RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. Present in George Lane Park in High River since Oct.2011; seen recently by Phil Quinn.
–BARROW’S GOLDENEYE(3), Bow River at Carburn park, by Gus Yaki et al.

March 1
–HOODED MERGANSER(1), seen during Elbow River survey, by GY et al.
–SNOW BUNTING(1), N. end of Nose Hill park, by PQ.

March 3
–SWAN (sp), seen at Frank Lake by Terry Korolyk. May be the same bird seen there since Dec.2011.
–GREEN-WINGED TEAL(F). Bow River at Policeman’s Flats SE of Calgary, by TK.
–THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, Griffith Woods park, by Steve Kassai.
–NORTHERN GOSHAWK, Griffith Woods park, by SK.
–PILEATED WOODPECKER, (same as above) by SK.
–HORNED LARK. small numbers seen by TK between High River and Carseland.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday, March 8.

BIRD STUDY GROUP – Meets the first Wednesday of the month, September-May at 7:30 pm, Room 211, BioSciences Building, University of Calgary.The next meeting will be Wednesday March 7. The program is titled “High Science: The The Natural History of Alpine Ptarmigan”, by Kathy Martin.

Sunday Showcase: Rough-legged Hawk

Mar4

Rob English lucked out again with this beautiful Rough-legged Hawk spotted near Sikome Lake in Fish Creek Park on Feb 29. Click to enlarge photos.

Thousands of Snow Buntings

Mar3

Snow buntings are notoriously difficult to photograph, as they’re always in motion. Duane Starr was lucky to run into thousands & thousands of them and managed to get a series of wonderful pictures of these hyperactive little birds. He says when the flock was in the air they were everywhere and when they were on the ground they were everywhere. Click here to view his snow buntings on the fence, in the air, on the ground…

Spring Birding Course 2012

Mar3

The Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society is once again offering a spring birding course which will run for twelve weeks, from April until late June. The course consists of weekly field trips to many parks and natural areas within Calgary. There are sessions offered on almost every day of the week.

For more information or to register, email chris@friendsoffishcreek.org or phone 403-238-3841.

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: March 1

Mar2

February 25
– –MALLARD (leucistic female) Beaverdam Flats in SE Calgary, Rob English
–SPOTTED TOWHEE, farm ca. 5 km. N of Irricana, John Corbin 403-935-4340

February 26
–NORTHERN SHRIKE, Weaselhead Natural Area, SW Calgary, Phil Quinn – February 28
–CACKLING GOOSE, Mackenzie Meadows, Phil Quinn
– –GREATER SCAUP, Hwy 22x bridge E end of Fish Creek Prov. Park, Terry Korolyk
– –SNOW BUNTING (60), N. of Linden, Corinne Griffin
– –COMMON GRACKLE, Lynnwood subdiv., SE Calgary, Pat Bumstead

February 29
–GREAT BLUE HERON (6) Southland Dog Park parking lot, Deerfoot Tr. And Southland Dr., observer unknown
– –KILLDEER, Bow R. S. of Glenmore Tr. Bridge, Gus Yaki,
–
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday, March 5.

BIRD STUDY GROUP – Meets the first Wednesday of the month, September – May at 7:30 pm, Room 211, BioSciences Building, University of Calgary. The next meeting will be Wednesday March 7. The program is titled “High Science: The The Natural History of Alpine Ptarmigan”, by Kathy Martin.

Snowy Owl Action Shots

Mar2

Duane Starr has had some excellent snowy owl luck lately, and sent us a couple of links to his photo galleries.

The first set has some wonderful in-flight and action shots. Click here to view, then click on Slideshow on the right hand side.

His second set of snowy pictures shows the complete sequence of an owl coughing up a pellet, which looks like an extreme amount of hard work! View here.

Griffith Woods – New to me!

Mar2

Posted by Dan Arndt

This week, the Friends of Fish Creek Birding course ventured out to Griffith Woods Park, on the southwest corner of the city. This was a new location for me, as my birding prior to September was limited to a handful of well traveled patches near the center of the city. After spending a few hours here last Sunday, I know that I’d be terribly remiss to not get out there again in the spring and summer.

It was, unfortunately, a relatively grey day, which lately has also meant fairly quiet in terms of both species and populations of birds, but we still got a couple new ones for our little group. As usual, I’ve posted the route we took on our little walk below, with the highlights noted in the captions.

Griffith Woods

Of course, the regulars were in attendance for the walk. The Canada Geese, which I’ve almost started to take for granted, were paddling up and down the Elbow River.

Canada Geese

Common Redpolls were seen at the far east end of our walk, right at the beginning, along with an incredibly distant Blue Jay, which also alerted us to the presence of a Belted Kingfisher, which flew just a little too fast for me to get my camera up before it was gone.

Common Redpolls

About mid-way through our walk, Bob Lefebvre pointed out this beautiful little nest of one of the hummingbird species found in the Calgary area. Thankfully, nobody was home. (Special thanks to hand model Wayne Walker for presenting his world-famous hands for scale.)

Hummingbird Nest

On the far west end, while moving through a stand of very large white spruce, I was alerted to the sound of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Not one, not two, but a flock of six(!) of them flitted amongst the trees while I wheeled and turned to get my lens on just one of them. Sadly, this was the best I got…

Golden-crowned Kinglet

On our trip back, following the power lines that, for some reason were slated to cut directly through the center of the park, we heard the call of this male Pileated Woodpecker, who treated us to a wonderful series of aerial displays and a drumming serenade.

Pileated Woodpecker

And that seemed like the end of the day for us… I was a little disappointed in the number of usable shots I was able to get on the walk, and the light was opening up just a touch, so I convinced Bob to walk back to try for another shot or two of the Belted Kingfisher. Sadly, though we heard it call at least twice, the only thing we were able to find were a whole bunch of rocks.

Nothing here but us rocks

Wait… what’s that in the middle of the frame? When the Belted Kingfisher called for the last time before we left, we happened to spot two smaller birds with white on the underside of its primary flight feathers, which we thought might just have sounded like Killdeer.

Turns out, much to our surprise, we were right. Not one, but two Killdeer on the Elbow River at Griffith Woods. Hardy survivors of a relatively mild winter here in Calgary.

Killdeer

Definitely the highlight of the day was seeing this pair. It is unfortunate that the attendees of our walk didn’t get a chance to see them, but there will definitely be more of these little shorebirds around very soon!

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you soon!

My Backyard Count = Plus One Minus One

Mar1

By Pat Bumstead

The Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place annually in February, is a great way for people to get involved in the citizen science aspect of birding. I’m always keeping an eye on the birds in my yard anyway, so for the GBBC I just count the numbers of little feathered heads, and send in my findings.

The Friday count this year had the normal numbers of the usual suspects – house finches, downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, black-capped chickadees, common redpolls, red breasted nuthatches, house sparrows.

The second day of the count, I looked out of my back window and there was not a bird to be seen. A little perplexed by the lack of activity, I scanned the yard more carefully.

Oh. No wonder all the little birds had flown the coop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W5CUxewPIA"&rel=0″

I watched this sharp-shinned hawk gulp down his lunch for 25 minutes. Initially I thought he had captured one of my little birds, but as I watched, I realized his meal was too big to be a little finch or chickadee. Then I began to wonder about my overwintering and highly spoiled mourning doves.

As I continued to watch his frantic feeding behavior though, I started to see bright blue feathers flying through the air. I know accipiters are very quick, but I was doubly impressed that this bird could catch a clever blue jay. I haven’t seen any jays in my yard for months, and I may have discovered the reason why.

If you put bird feeders in your yard, you will eventually attract crowds of smaller birds. Those small birds will likely come to the notice of the larger predators. Rather than getting upset when the hawk gets a meal, just observe the miracle of nature playing out in your backyard. Appreciate the sight of a magnificent, successful hunter doing what he was born to do.

Wednesday Wings: Leucistic Mallard

Feb29

Rob English has sent us some photos of the leucistic (white) mallard duck that’s been hanging around Beaverdam Flats this winter. Click photos to enlarge.