Falcon Identification

Jan3

We received some absolutely stunning, stupendous photos of a falcon from Jim Walling. These were taken on Dec 30, mid afternoon along the Bow River at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. He only managed to capture these three shots before the bird was gone.

Two of us here at the blog identified it as a Prairie Falcon, based on the moustachial line and the dark bar on the wing lining. However, neither of us have even seen a Prairie Falcon that is this light in colour. Some web research turned up a number of similar pictures of a Saker Falcon, a European bird used in the art of falconry.

Do we have any falconers reading this blog?! Or is this an unusually white Prairie Falcon? Your comments, please!

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Update January 9

What a dearth of comments on this bird. None of us are confident enough in our raptor ID to take a stand, but fortunately we have birding experts to give us a hand. Gus Yaki said this is a second year Prairie Falcon, and Gord Court also said this is a juvenile Prairie Falcon. Firm identification, for sure!

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Jan 2

Jan3

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This report was prepared on Monday Jan 2.

Bird Sightings:

–RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (1) – seen by many observers in High River’s George Lane Park or coming to Karen Scott’s feeder at 506 – 4 St (bordering the park)

Sunday, JANUARY 1
–SNOWY OWL (many) – 18 seen by Ron Kube on a trip to Rockyford and return to Calgary (route was E on Hwy 564 to Rockyford then return W on Hwy 9 and back roads, S on RgeRd 253 to NW of Strathmore, then returning to Calgary on Hwy 564 and RgeRd 262; 4
owls seen by Terry Poulton on TwpRd 262 between RgeRds 242 and 254; another owl seen independently by both Terry and Eddy
Matuod on Country Hills Blvd and Barlow Tr in NE Calgary; and finally a Snowy seen by Eddy on Symon’s Valley Rd, 800 m S of Big Hill Springs Rd
–PRAIRIE FALCON (1) – corner of 144 Ave NW and RgeRd 15 by EM
–NORTHERN HARRIER (1) – Calgary Zoo’s private facility SE of Calgary by Dwight Knapik

Saturday, DECEMBER 31
–SNOWY OWL (7) – between Beiseker and Drumheller by David Pugh
–NORTHERN HAWK OWL (1) – Hwy 596 just W of Turner Valley by Daniel Arndt

Friday, DECEMBER 30
–PRAIRIE FALCON (1) – Inglewood Bird Sanctuary by Jim Walling
–AMERICAN DIPPER (1) – Fish Creek PP just east of Macleod Tr by Bob Lefebvre
–NORTHERN GOSHAWK (1) – Fish Creek PP, just S of Bebo Grove by Bill Wilson

Thursday, DECEMBER 29
–LESSER SCAUP (1f) – channel on W side of Bow River just SW of Glenmore Tr bridge by BW
–NORTHERN PINTAIL (1m) – S of Deerfoot Tr, N of Beaverdam Flats by BW
–DUCK sp (1) – unusual duck somewhat like an American Black Duck but with a white speculum and white throat with few markings seen near the footbridge to Prince’s Island Park by K O’Connell

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday, Jan 5, 2012.

BIRD STUDY GROUP – Meets the first Wednesday of the month, 7:30 pm, Room 211, BioSciences Building, University of Calgary. The next meeting will be Wednesday January 4. The program will be a review of local Christmas Bird Count results.

19th Annual Fish Creek Park New Years Day Bird Count

Jan2

Last week I was asked by Bob Lefebvre if I would be interested in participating in the Christmas Bird Count for Fish Creek Provincial Park, and I immediately jumped at the chance. I always look forward to the walks in Fish Creek Provincial Park, and I was very glad to be grouped once again with Gus Yaki, Bob Lefebvre, along with 11 other participants to do the count in the Marshall Springs area of Fish Creek.

If you’re not familiar with the area, Marshall Springs is located between Bebo Grove and Votier’s Flats, on the west side of Fish Creek Park, just south of the Bow River. I started up the GPS on my phone and mapped out our walking route, to explain a bit more graphically the route we took. I’ll be experimenting with this format in future posts, so let me know how you like it!

Walking route taken through Marshall Springs

Starting at the parking lot to Bebo Grove, we trekked south through the woods, then crossed the river into the Marsall Springs area proper. On the whole, I didn’t end up taking as many photos as I would have liked to, mostly due to the relatively quiet morning we had in terms of both species present, and population. One of the first birds seen all morning was this Pine Grosbeak, along with one other, in the trees just north of the base of hill at the southern boundary of the park.

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak

If there was any bird that I felt best described the walk though, I would have to say it was the Downy Woodpecker, the first of which we spotted shortly after the Pine Grosbeak, tap-tap-tapping away at the trees for some food.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Followed shortly by our first sighting of a Hairy Woodpecker, also searching for food under the bark of the poplars and birch.

Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

I don’t know whether it was the company, the conversation, or the lack of birds present, but most likely a combination of all three that found my next photos taken near the end of the walk, when this Pine Grosbeak called from a nearby treetop, and across the banks of Fish Creek this White-Tailed Deer grazed on the edge of the slope.

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeak

White-tailed Deer

Mule Deer

We convened later with the larger group near the main office of Fish Creek Provincial Park to collaborate data and share any interesting finds. Our group though had a fairly small number of species and individuals, and aside from a large overflight of Bohemian Waxwings, we had less than 100 individual birds among 12 species in our count area, detailed below:

11 Downy Woodpecker

1 Hairy Woodpecker

45 Black-capped Chickadee

4 Red-breasted Nuthatch

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

2 Common Redpoll

2 White-winged Crossbill

100 Bohemian Waxwing

11 Common Raven

8 Black-billed Magpie

1 Brown Creeper

8 Pine Grosbeak

One bird did stand out from the crowd at the reporting though, which Bob and I  went in search of shortly after. I leave you with a (relatively bad) photo of a rare Winter Red-tailed Hawk, seen on the east end of Fish Creek Park.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Posted by Dan Arndt

Sunday Showcase: Pine Grosbeaks

Jan1

Rob English took these shots in December right outside his house, resulting in some great pics and a life bird for himself!  Rob says, “the pictures on the ground are of one who had crashed into the neighbor’s window. The first one is right after she hit and the last one was just before she was flying again. I watched her for about 45 minutes before she flew just to make sure the cats didn’t get her. The robin was hanging out in the tree with these guys. There must have been about 15 female grosbeaks and only one male.” Click to enlarge.

A Canada Big Year

Dec30

Four Calgary birders – Ray Woods, Brian Elder, Mike Mulligan and Phil Cram – are planning to do a Canada-wide Big Year in 2012.  A Big Year is an attempt to see or hear as many species of birds (and mammals in this case) as possible in a calendar year, in a specific geographic area.  Our four local birders are going to confine their activities to Canada, but they intend to see as much of Canada as possible, travelling to all the provinces and territories.

Their goal is to get 500 birds and mammals combined, and of course each of them has individual goals as well about extending their life lists or Canada lists, or seeing particular species.

They have started a blog to track their progress, and it’s going to be fascinating to watch their quest unfold.  They will begin here in Calgary on New Year’s Day with the Fish Creek Park bird count.

Northern Pygmy-Owl, one of the birds they hope see in the                             Calgary area in early January.             

There are already some posts on their blog giving details of their plans and itinerary.  Check it out at Fur & Feathers 500 – it will definitely be a blog worth following in the coming year.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Dec 29

Dec29

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This report was prepared on Thursday December 29.

Bird Sightings:

Dec. 26:

–NORTHERN PINTAIL(M), Bow River, north end Carburn Park, by Bill Wilson.

–GREEN-WINGED TEAL(F), Bow River, near storm-water outfall S.of the Ivor Strong bridge, by BW.

–PILEATED WOODPECKER, Bebo Grove, Fish Creek PP, by BW.
Dec. 27:

–CINNAMON TEAL (possible female), Bow River, below the weir at Wyndham-Carseland PP. Not positively identified as such, but the bird seems to have all the right ID features, by Terry Korolyk.

Dec.28:

–AMERICAN ROBIN(5), centre of the Weaselhead , west end of Glenmore Park.

–DARK-EYED JUNCO(5), in a yard in the Southview area in SE Calgary.

–GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET(1), same as above.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday, January 2, 2012.

Wednesday Wings: Varied Thrush

Dec28

On of my favourite Christmas presents this year was an adult male Varied Thrush that arrived in our front yard on Christmas Day, just as we were opening our gifts.

When it first flew across our front yard, I thought it was a robin, a bird it is closely related to.  I saw a robin in the neighbourhood as recently as December 17.  But the male Varied Thrush has unmistakable orange and black markings.

These beautiful birds are not too common in Calgary, with just a few reports every year on migration, and the occasional one overwintering here.  This one appears to be trying to overwinter in our neighbourhood, as it has now been seen feeding in our yard for three straight days.  This is the first time we’ve had one in our yard, and only the second one I’ve seen in Calgary.  We didn’t have one reported on the recent Christmas Bird Count, so I wonder where this bird was then?

Here is a video of the Varied Thrush feeding on niger and sunflower seed.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Dec 26

Dec27

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This report was prepared on Monday December 26.

Bird Sightings:

October – December 26:  –RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER: Around since October 2011, the woodpecker continues to be seen in the same location as previously reported, in High River.

Dec. 24:

–NORTHERN HAWK OWL: Just west of Turner Valley along Hwy.546. Seen previously on Dec. 19.

–NORTHERN SHRIKE: Glenmore Reservoir, south escarpment W.of yacht club. By Bill Wilson.

–EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE: Deer River Green, SE Calgary, by Dave Breckon.

–PEREGRINE FALCON: W. of Black Diamond.

–TUNDRA SWAN(1): Frank Lake. Previously reported from the High River CBC.

Dec. 25:     –VARIED THRUSH:(1), seen in yard of Bob Lefebvre in SE Calgary.

Dec.26:      –SNOWY OWL(3), east of Calgary, by Terry Korolyk.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday, December 29.

Christmas Bird Count in East Calgary

Dec26

It’s been a busy week, but now I finally have time to post about my Christmas Bird Count experience.  This year I was assigned to cover route E8 with Andrew Hart.  This area is a narrow strip along the eastern edge of the count circle, bordering 84 Street at the extreme east edge of the circle, and reaching to McKnight Boulevard in the NE and Shepard Road in the SE.  It is an area that requires a lot of driving, scanning the open areas for raptors.  We had high hopes of finding a Prairie Falcon, or perhaps even a Snowy Owl.

The only open water is in the northeast corner of Elliston Lake, but this can harbour a lot of waterfowl at times.  We went there twice, and unfortunately there were very few birds on the water.  We did find four Hooded Mergansers, which were only reported on one other route, and also the only Lesser Scaup of the day.  Other than that, there were only Mallards, Canada Geese, and Common Goldeneyes.

Although we failed to find a Snowy Owl or a Prairie Falcon, we did find three Rough-legged Hawks on the day, two of which I managed to photograph.  Here is one with typical markings.

 

The other one, pictured perched below, had much darker underwings when it flew (which I failed to photograph).

The highlight as far as raptors went was a Northern Harrier, which was the only one reported on the count.  We didn’t get a picture, but after it flew, we saw something else in the shrubs along 50 Avenue and 68 Street SE, so we got out to investigate.  We flushed ten Ring-necked Pheasants out of the ditch, 7 males and 3 females or immatures.  Then we noticed that there were flocks of small birds all along the shrubs there, which proved to be upwards of 200 Common Redpolls (we tried to find a Hoary Redpoll among them, but no luck).

Common Redpoll (photo by Andrew Hart).

When we were checking out the redpolls, one bird stood out as much larger than the rest.  It was clearly a sparrow of some kind, but with the sun behind it we couldn’t initially see the colours or markings very well, and we weren’t sure what it was.  We lost track of it for a while, and I went around to the other side of the bushes.  We found three American Tree Sparrows among the redpolls, and although that wasn’t what our mystery sparrow was, they were good birds for the count, since only six were reported altogether, an unusually low number.

American Tree Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Finally the large sparrow reappeared, and with sun behind me I could see it well enough to see that it was a first-year Harris’s Sparrow.  These aren’t common here at any time, and only two were seen on count day.

Harris’s Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Harris’s Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Also nearby, on 51 Avenue near 68 Street, we saw a dozen Gray Partridges.  I got a poor photo of one.

We spent some time checking out the residential areas in the northeast, where we turned up a few new species.  The highlight was a pair of American Crows.  Terry Koryluk, who usually covers this route but was unable to this year, told us that there were two hanging out near Lester B. Pearson High School on 52 Street.  As soon as we pulled up there, the crows appeared and perched in a tree right in front of us.

We saw a lot of magpies, and the biggest concentration was at this deer carcass.

As for mammals, we saw a dozen (living) Mule Deer in all, and a few Eastern Gray Squirrels, but surprisingly, we saw no Coyotes.

Altogether we recorded 20 species of birds for the day, and although we missed a couple that we hoped to see, we saw a couple of others that were pleasant surprises.  The mild weather and the excellent wind-up at the Flynns’ made it another very enjoyable Christmas Bird Count.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Christmas Weekend Birding Road Trip!

Dec26

Merry Christmas, dear readers!

This weekend I had the opportunity to seek out some of the gorgeous birds seen around Calgary that are a little rarer than usual. On Saturday, I took a circuitous route down to High River, but first stopped in Bragg Creek, and Turner Valley before reaching High River, then headed south to the small town of Azure, then finally up to Frank Lake before returning to my family’s place in High River for a pre-Christmas get together.

The route itself was beautifully scenic, and was an incredibly warm day thanks to a Chinook arch that hung over the Rockies. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t die down until early afternoon, keeping much of the activity down until I reached Turner Valley. I had a few birds on my list that I was searching for, but unfortunately had little luck with any of them. First and foremost was one of the many Snowy Owls that have been seen recently thanks to a record irruption this year, possibly due to a crash in the arctic lemming population. Secondly was a Northern Hawk Owl seen just west of Turner Valley, which unfortunately was nowhere to be found, despite being recorded just a week before. Driving back through Turner Valley and over to Black Diamond, three Rough-legged Hawks were seen on power poles and fence posts, but were far too wary for me to stop the vehicle and get my camera leveled before they flew off.

Black Diamond, Alberta

Black Diamond, Alberta

Two more were seen on the eastern edge of Black Diamond and again flew off before I could take a photo. I was becoming a little disheartened until I saw a slightly unusual form atop a power pole less than two hundred meters from the last Rough-legged Hawk that had flushed.

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

I’ve convinced myself that this is a Gyrfalcon, based on the general size, thick moustache bars, black hood, and presence of a prominent eyebrow not seen on a Peregrine Falcon, and it certainly does not display the streaking or barring on the chest one might see in a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk.

Continuing on to High River, another three Rough-legged Hawks were spotted along the route, which ended up at George Lane Park, the location reporting the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it on this trip down, though it was getting a bit later on in the afternoon, but I will be back to find it again soon.

I headed down to Azure, where another Snowy Owl had been reported, and again I came up empty handed.

I decided Frank Lake would be a worthwhile destination despite the waning sunlight, and I got there with just a little over an hour of daylight left. Walking in from the main gate of Basin 1, it seemed eerily quiet, with the feathers from a recently killed pheasant or grouse littering the road. I thought for sure I would return empty handed from this location as well as it appeared that the entire lake had frozen over. I’m not sure if I would have been more upset had the entire lake been empty, but I did get a little bit of a twinge at my heartstrings when the only bird I found on the entire lake was this lone Tundra Swan. A little disheveled and dirty, it appears that this swan missed the larger flocks migrating south, or for some reason decided to attempt to winter here. I certainly hope that it survives.

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

I returned to High River to visit with my family, and vowed I’d see a Snowy Owl before Christmas was through, and I was not disappointed when I headed out on the afternoon of Christmas Day.

Just two days prior, Gus Yaki had reported that 8 (yes, 8!) Snowy Owls had been seen along Highway 9 between Drumheller and Irricana, on their return trip from the Drumheller Christmas Bird Count, so I thought for sure if I retraced their steps that luck would be in my favor.

The first Snowy Owl was just before we reached Irricana on Highway 9. In fact, I almost missed it as I was coming up to a turn, but just happened to glance up and see this female high up on a telephone pole. After turning around and getting my camera set, she flushed, and set down a little further away near an operating gas well, but decided to flush once again and lighted atop a fence-post on the west edge of is well site.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

The second was found a short while later, just off of Highway 21. This female flushed once from near the highway off to the nearby township road, and then returned to the Highway as I turned to head back to Calgary, affording a few choice views.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

All in all, I consider the weekend a success, with three more species to add to my life list, and a few decent photos to remember them by.

Posted by Dan Arndt