Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Feb 13

Feb14

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.

January 28
–COMMON GRACKLE, seen off and on in SW Calgary, by Richard Clarke.

February 10
–RED CROSSBILL(F) , Silver Springs area of Calgary, by Gary Malcolm
–AMERICAN KESTREL(M), Grain elevators just S.of 22x, and W. of #797, by Hank Vanderpol.
–LESSER SCAUP, Bow River, just. N. of 22x bridge, by HV.
–HARLEQUIN DUCK, Bow River, IBS, south lookout at N. end, by Howard Heffler.

February 11
–WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, end of Earl Gray Cresc. by Phil Cram.
–REDHEAD(F), Prince’s Island channel, by Bill Wilson.

February 12
–DARK-EYED JUNCO, Queens park Cemetery, by BW.
–TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE(3). Two in Beaverdam Flats, and one in FCPP, east of Raven’s Rock, by Michael Geldorp.
–GADWALL(M), Bow River, near old outfall in FCCP, Burnsmead, by Terry Korolyk.
–RED CROSSBILL(2), High River, at a feeder, by Jill Bhar.
–MALLARD, leucistic female, Bow River, Beaverdam Flats near old RR bridge. by B.Diebolt and J. Gill.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday , Feb.16.

Join The Great Backyard Bird Count

Feb14

From February 17-20, take part in a free, family-friendly, educational activity that is loads of fun and supports bird conservation! Each year, tens of thousands of Canadians and Americans take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), counting birds wherever they happen to be. The possibilities are endless!

The GBBC is a great way for people of all ages and levels of birding experience to learn more about local bird species. It’s the perfect opportunity to connect with nature, from your living room window or by hiking a local trail. Count on your own or as part of a group of family, friends, or classmates. The GBBC is also an ideal way for more experienced birders to introduce others to the wonderful world of birding.

Explore the species seen in your community or province using maps and charts on the Canadian GBBC website, where you can also find out how to take part in the community challenge and view Canadian highlights. Make the birds in your neighbourhood count as part of the big picture in continental bird conservation. You don’t need to pre-register, just start counting and submit your results!

It’s as easy as 1,2,3!

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. You can count for longer than that if you wish! Count birds in as many places and on as many days as you like—one day, two days, or all four days. Submit a separate checklist for each new day. You can also submit more than one checklist per day if you count in other locations on that day.

2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time.

3. When you’re finished, enter your results through our web page. You’ll see a button marked “Enter Your Checklists!” on the website home page beginning on the first day of the count. It will remain active until the deadline for data submission.

Source: Bird Studies Canada

Posted by Pat Bumstead

A grey day at Beaverdam Flats

Feb13

posted by Dan Arndt

Sometimes it doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in a weekend to get a proper update in! It certainly doesn’t help when it seems like such a quiet day with very little bird activity.

Sunday morning walking through Beaver Dam Flats seemed eerily quiet. Despite the sheer numbers of Canada Geese, Mallards, and Common Goldeneye on the Bow River, once we steered away from the eastern bank and into the primarily barren deciduous wooded area, the bird activity seemed to completely quiet down. We were treated to a good number of low flyovers by both juvenile, immature, and adult Bald Eagles, and a great sight of a Common Merganser gulping down an extremely large fish, the highlight of the morning were the Townsend’s Solitaires along the eastern slope of the valley. We counted three separate individuals, one in particular allowed us an extremely close view.

Enjoy the pictures, and I’ll be back to my regular wordy posts next Monday!

Canada Geese and Mallards on the Bow River

Canada Geese

Canada Geese in messy formation

Catch of the day!

Down the hatch

And it's gone...

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle

Townsend's Solitaire

Sunday Showcase: Juvenile Eagles On The Bow River

Feb12

What a year we’re having for juvenile Bald Eagles! Rob English took these shots in the Beaverdam Flats area, and counted 10 juveniles in one trip.

There is an excellent post over at the Birding Is Fun blog on how to tell the age of juvenile bald eagles, complete with some stunning photographs. Check it out!

Postcards from Texas: Galveston and Bolivar Flats

Feb11

Posted by Matthew Sim

This past weekend, I took a trip out to Galveston, Texas, about an hour south of Houston on the gulf of Mexico. Galveston has many world-reknowned birding spots in and around it and is a great spot to observe birds year-round. This weekend was rainy and cool, but that didn’t stop the birds! On a short ferry ride to Bolivar peninsula, home of the famous Bolivar Flats shorebird sanctuary, we saw many birds, including both species of pelicans and Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers, the latter two which winter down here.

Brown Pelican

Upon arriving on Bolivar, we stopped at a small pond and got great looks at many birds, including an American Avocet in winter plumage (a little different than what I am used to seeing up at Frank Lake in Alberta in the summer!) and a Texas specialty; the very bright Roseate Spoonbill.

Roseate Spoonbill

From a distance, the spoonbill is gorgeous, and even from close up its amazing plumage is simply stunning, yet I found that its head was somewhat unnerving. Its face looks almost extraterrestrial, I find!

From the pond, we went to the Bolivar Flats shorebird Sanctuary where we saw some Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and… All I could say to myself was, “What the heck are those little shorebirds?” Why did I ask myself this? Because these little guys ran and ran and ran. They did not quit running! I soon got closer and identified them as Sanderlings, which I had seen before, yet never acting quite as comical. Never had I seen a bird run so much!

Running Sanderling

Ruddy Turnstone

We birded Bolivar for a while longer before returning to the ferry and heading back to Galveston. On the ferry back, we were treated to views of 4 species of Gulls (Herring, Laughing, Ring-billed and Bonaparte’s) and 3 species of tern (Forster’s, Common and Royal).

Bonaparte's Gull

Royal Tern

Birds weren’t the only wildlife seen from the ferry however, as a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins made an appearance towards the end.

It was an exciting trip with close to 70 species seen; this excursion really got me excited for spring migration here, which is absolutely fantastic, from what I’ve heard!

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Feb 9

Feb10

February 5
— SNOWY OWL, Brooks area: Hwy 873 E and SE of Lake Newell (3), Hwy 36 (3), Hwy 539 W of Hwy 36 (3), Ron Kube
— DARK-EYED JUNCO, Southview neighborhood, SE Calgary, Carol Coulter

February 6
— GREY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH, feeder in Abasand area of Ft. McMurray, Simone Marler

– February 7
— REDHEAD (2), Bow River, near Hwy 22X bridge in Fish Creek Park, Andrew Slater
— HARLEQUIN DUCK, Bow River, N end of Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Howard Heffler

– February 8

–BROWN CREEPER, Southview neighborhood, SE Calgary, CC
–GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, same

February (recently)

–WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, Edmonton, feeder, John Zinyk

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday February 13.

Wednesday Wings: Tree Geese

Feb8

A blast of summer among the snowy owls and redpolls! Rob English has sent us some Canada Geese photos that are not your usual view of these birds. He says “This was new to me as I’d seen them in poplars but never fir trees. They were scrapping over some old magpie nest they wanted for a perch and were really causing a commotion until the one drove the other off and it went to another fir tree about 25 yards away. I took these shots in Carburn Park last May.”

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Feb 6

Feb7

This report was prepared on Monday February 6.

February 2
— GYRFALCON, 34 Ave east of Blackfoot Trail, Tony Timmons
— SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 52 Ave & 69 St SE, Phil Cram, Mike Mulligan
— PRAIRIE FALCON, same, PC, MM
— HARRIS’S SPARROW, same, Joan and Malcolm McDonald
— WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, same, J & MMcD

February 4
— CACKLING GOOSE 2, flyover Mallard Point, Terry Korolyk
— VARIED THRUSH, SE Calgary yard, Bob Lefebvre
— HORNED LARK 2, 10 km south of Nanton, PC, MM
— RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 6, 52 Ave & 69 St SE, Bill Wilson

February 5
— WOOD DUCK, Bow River, Tony Timmons & CFNS group
— NORTHERN PINTAIL, same, TT etc
— TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE, same, TT etc
— SONG SPARROW, Carburn Park, TT etc
— NORTHERN SHRIKE, Fish Creek PP, Steve Kaffai(?)
— AMERICAN DIPPER, same, Bob & Dan Arndt
— GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, same, B & DA

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday February 9.

Votier’s Flats – Not as boring as it sounds.

Feb6

Posted by Dan Arndt

Clear skies and warm sun help make any day out in Fish Creek Provincial Park more fun for everyone, and birders are no exception. 3 hours of trekking through Votiers Flats added four new birds to my year list, bringing year total to 43 after a successful previous day that added a Prairie Falcon, Gyrfalcon, and Northern Hawk Owl to the list. I was hesitant to begin “listing” but I can definitely see the appeal to it now, as it not only helps track the birds you’ve seen, but the when, the where, and the numbers seen, which can then be added to a more usable database, such as eBird, for instance, where I’ve been tracking the numbers each week so far for the course.

Votier's Flats

We started off at 9 am, as usual, and walked towards the McLeod Trail underpass, searching for an American Dipper that had been seen earlier in the week, and fairly regularly since December. On our way over Bridge 8, we stopped to pay attention to some Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches who dropped in to pick at some seeds that had been left on the railings.

Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-capped Chickadee

Around the corner and… no sign of the dipper. While there’s a bit of open water, there’s no sign of the elusive swimming songbird. On a lighter note, we did manage to get some great light to show off the always stunning iridescence of one of the most maligned city birds, the Rock Pigeon.

Rock Pigeon

We decided to follow the river bank on the south side, as there appeared to be more open water up closer to the storm water drainage, and after spotting some Mallards splashing about, the mysterious and wonderful American Dipper made its appearance. While it was a bit far off, we viewed it from afar and snapped away, thinking this shy creature would keep its distance.

American Dipper - Keeping its distance

American Dipper making a splash

After it disappeared around a bend, we stopped above the outflow of the drainage pipe to peer across the river at a Northern Flicker, and I just so happened to look down at the right moment, as the light caught it just right… the American Dipper! There it sat, not 40 feet away, and about 10 feet below us, casually sunning itself and searching for insects in the open water. In fact, it behaved as if nothing at all was unusual about fifteen people staring at it for what seemed like an eternity, that it was us that decided it was time to carry on.

American Dipper

The white nictitating membrane over its eyes allow the American Dipper to see under water while protecting its eyes. It also has a pair of scales that close off its nostrils while under water.

American Dipper

Around the curve of the pathway, another sharp-eyed attendee spotted an unknown falcon sitting high up on the slope, and we heard the tell-tale harassing calls of a trio of Blue Jays from an adjacent tree. After considering the field marks and weighing the size, body proportions, and discussing the differences between the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, we ultimately decided that this was in fact a Merlin. Merlins, Coopers Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks all share similar markings, size, and from a distance can be troublesome to identify. Juveniles of all three species are typically separated out on only a few field marks, most of which only apparent from close observation, but adults, such as this one, are much easier to properly ID. Note the faint moustache, brown streaky chest and belly, dark eye with pale eyebrow, and mostly pale and indistinct facial markings. The brown crown feathers indicate that this is either a female or juvenile Merlin, as the male has a light blue-gray crown. Also note that my photo of the Merlin from 400 meters away was so indistinct that I was forced to return later to attempt some better shots of this little beauty. Thankfully, she cooperated.

Merlin

As we were heading out, Bob Lefebvre managed to spot a Golden-crowned Kinglet alighting atop one of the trees near the Merlin, and with that, we headed back into the park. Near Bridge 8 we spotted two of our only Downy Woodpeckers of the day.

Downy Woodpecker

Back into the brush we headed west, and after a quiet bit of walking, we found a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches feeding from a small hole in this spruce, that had been repurposed as a feeding station.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

We continued through the forested area, hearing a call not unlike that of a European Starling, but more steady and higher pitched. It’s a song I haven’t heard in months, and while I couldn’t place it, once again Bob’s expert ear identified it as a Pine Siskin, a good number of which we saw flitting amongst the treetops.

Pine Siskin

Onward to the last leg of our journey – a copse of spruce that was home to a group of Boreal Chickadees, as well as a Brown Creeper seen earlier in the week. The Boreal Chickadees made themselves known fairly quickly, and while we heard the Brown Creeper a number of times, we could not spot it after spending a good twenty minutes searching for it.