More great raptor photos from Rob English, taken in Carburn Park in July. Click to enlarge.
Willet (or won’t it)
As colder weather begins to descend upon Calgary, it can be nice to reflect a little bit on some birds that we were familiar with during the summer months.
Many species of birds vary greatly from region to region. The Willet is one of these birds that are highly variable with two distinct subspecies, the eastern semipalmata darker, browner and thicker-billed than the western subspecies inornata that we see both in Calgary, and down here on the Gulf Coast.
A western inornata Willet
A large shorebird with a flashy black-and-white wing pattern seen in flight, the willet was given its name thanks to its territorial call: pill-will-willet. A very vocal bird, the Willet, as biologist William Vogt wrote many years ago, has another call, a ringing kaaaty. When William Vogt studied a breeding pair of Willets back in 1938 he couldn’t help but call them Will and Kate, thanks to their calls.
Another western Willet
Several years ago, before I was a big birder, I traveled out east for vacation. I observed my first Willet out there and now I have the chance to compare photographs of eastern and western Willets.
While the shots of the Western Willets are winter plumaged birds, you can still see the smaller size, darker color and stouter bill in the eastern Willet pictured above.
I always find regional variations in birds intriguing and the Willet is a bird with an easily visible difference, making it a good subject to view and compare from the east to the west.
Posted by Matthew Sim
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 23
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 September 22.
September 18
— BLACK-NECKED STILT (20), Weed Lake, Terry Korolyk
September 21
— COOPER’S HAWK, Hull’s Woods, Fish Creek Provincial Park, TK
–AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, Weed Lake, Ilya Povalyaev
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday September 27.
BIRD STUDY GROUP:
Bird Study Group meets 1st Wednesday of the month, Room 211, BioSciences Building, U of C
October meeting is Wednesday, October 5. Birds of Prey – presented by Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation. Meeting time is 7:30pm.
Bio-Blitz: Volunteers Needed
If you’re free this Friday, September 23, you couldn’t find a better way to spend the day than to help Andrew Stiles of the Nature Conservancy of Canada conduct a bio-blitz in the Bragg Creek area. A bio-blitz is an intense biological survey that attempts to record all the species of flora and fauna in a designated area. Naturalists and volunteers will try to identify all the birds, animals, insects, and plants on the Connop Estate. Volunteers are needed to help with this, and no particular experience is needed. It’s enough to be able to point out a bird or mammal, or a plant species that hasn’t yet been recorded.
The last time the area was studied, many raptors were observed, as well as Elk and wild horses.
Typical forest scene in the Bragg Creek area – in this case, in Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, not at the Connop Estate.
How many species?
If you’d like to take part, or to get more information, please call Gus Yaki at 403-243-2248. The group will carpool from the south side of the Canadian Tire parking lot on Richmond Road SW in Calgary (just east of Sarcee Trail) at 8am, or meet at the Cinnamon Spoon, at the south end of the shopping centre in Bragg Creek at 8:30am, on Friday, 23 September 2011. But please call Gus first so he knows who to expect, and in case there is a change of plans due to rain.
Bring suitable clothing for the season, as well as a lunch and drinks.
American Three-toed Woodpecker in the Bragg Creek area.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 19
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 Bird Albert was recorded on Sep 19, 2011.
SEP 17
BROAD-WINGED HAWK – over North Haven subdivision, by Steve Kassai
VARIED THRUSH – north end of Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Bill Wilson
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER – numerous over weekend, seen by many observers
WILSON’S WARBLER – as above
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER – as above
COMMON LOON – immature reported by TK at Chestermere Lake
WHITE-FACED IBIS – 19 at 338 Ave and Hwy 799, TK
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER – 8 at Weed Lake, TK
SEP 18
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL – seen in Weaselhead by Steve Kassai. For more details, phone Steve at 403-289-1351
COOPER’S HAWK – as above
SWAMP SPARROW – Bill Wilson saw one in Confederation Park by the creek
BLUE-HEADED VIREO – as above
BLACKPOLL WARBLER – 2, as above
HERRING GULL – 1st – 2nd year, seen by TK at Weed Lake
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER – 12 at Namaka Lake, seen by David Pugh
The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Thu Sep 22.
Sunday Showcase: Osprey With Lunch
Rob English has sent us this absolutely stunning sequence of photographs he took at Bankside in Fish Creek Park. (Click to enlarge.)
Shepard Slough Survey
Alberta Environment is conducting an online survey to help determine the future development or preservation of the Shepard Slough and surrounding wetlands, including the new Ralph Klein Park, in SE Calgary. These wetlands are important stopover points for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. Shepard Slough is the best shorebird habitat within the city of Calgary, and it is vitally important that we birders make our voices heard if we want to preserve it. Please fill out the survey form and have your say in conserving these valuable resources.
Below is the introductory article from the Alberta Environment site.
Why Study Ecosystem Services
As part of its Ecosystem Services (ES) Program, Alberta Environment has undertaken an ecosystem services approach pilot project on wetlands in the greater Shepard Slough area of east Calgary/Rocky View County. This region provides many recreation and education opportunities to people such as birding, nature walking, and field trips to the region. The Ecosystem Services Pilot project in will provide tool(s) to enhance decision making in order to:
- Test and determine how the approach can be used to help inform tradeoffs between development and the benefits provided by wetlands;
- Explore ways to provide a broader suite of social, economic and environmental perspectives to information land-use decision making; and
- Examine the largely unrecognized but important benefits that society receives from nature.
The study is part of a larger transition to a cumulative effects management system and will help ensure informed and robust decision-making.
Once the pilot is complete, we will have a better understanding of how to use the ecosystem services approach and where the approach could be applied to support Alberta Environment priorities.
To better understand the recreation and education benefits enjoyed in the Shepard Slough area, a survey of recreation participation is being conducted. Through this survey, valuable information will be collected including travel distances, costs of travel, and types of activities preferred by users. Anyone that enjoys visiting wetlands in the Shepard Slough, including Ralph Klein Park, for recreation and education purposes is encouraged to complete the survey.
Information brochures about the study are available at Ralph Klein Park, or via the attached PDF below. The survey can be completed by selecting the survey link below.
Thank you to all participants. Your contribution is greatly appreciated
To go to the site, click here.
To go to the survey, click here.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 15
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 Bird Albert was recorded on Sep 15, 2011.
SEP 12
Orange-crowned Warbler – 21 banded at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary banding station
SEP 13
Orange-crowned Warbler – 17 as above
Pine Siskin – numerous flocks of 20+ seen coming into North Glenmore Park by Terry Korolyk
SEP 14
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 30 seen by TK at Hull’s Wood in a short space of time
Blackpoll Warbler – 1 as above
Tennessee Warbler – 1 as above
Wilson’s Warbler – 1 as above
SEP 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 30 seen by Bill Wilson and Ilya Povalyaev at Confederation Park
Tennessee Warbler – 2 as above
Orange-crowned Warbler – 8 as above
Blackpoll Warbler – 1 as above
American Redstart – 1 as above
Wilson’s Warbler – 7 as above
Palm Warbler – 1, as above
Pine Siskin – 30, as above
The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Mon Sep 19.
Bird-brained
Who ever said birds were stupid? They were quite wrong. Many birds are quite intelligent and we get a fine chance to observe this intelligence in the migration of geese.
Everybody can associate geese flying in a ‘V’ formation with fall; the geese head south for the winter and are most often seen flying this way. Down here in Texas, we can often see Cattle Egrets flying this way, demonstrating their often overlooked wisdom. There is actually an intelligent method behind this flight, showing us that birds are smarter than we think.
Birds fly in a ‘V’ to save energy; by traveling this way, they render themselves as a group, more aerodynamic. If these birds were to fly in an unorganized group, flying would be a lot harder. Picture it this way; which car is more aerodynamic, a sports car or a dump truck? The sports car is by far the more aerodynamic of the two, its sleek form enabling it to reduce drag, therefore allowing it to go faster. When the geese and the egrets fly this way, they render themselves more aerodynamic, reducing the wind they have going against themselves and therefore applying less energy into flying. The bird flying at the point of the V though, has all the wind going against him, however this is not permanent. Studies have shown that after flying at the point for some time, upon becoming tired, the lead bird will drop to the back where flying is the easiest, and take a well-deserved break. This just goes to show that birds are a lot smarter than we think.
Posted by Matthew Sim
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 12
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 Bird Albert was recorded on Sep 12, 2011.
SEP 8
AMERICAN PIPIT – 4 seen by Terry Korolyk at Clear Lake east of Stavely
SEP 10
SNOW GOOSE – 2 adults seen by TK at Cattleland Feedlot Slough north of Strathmore
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE – 150 reported as above; 52 seen by John Corbin on RR 264 2 miles north of Irricana
RUDDY TURNSTONE – juvenile seen by TK at Weed Lake
WESTERN SANDPIPER – seen as above
MOURNING WARBLER – found by Tony Timmons in his yard in Evergreen Terrace
SEP 11
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE – Andrew Slater reported 200 at the Cattleland Feedlot Slough, as well as 35 in a flooded field on Hwy 564 3 kms west of the Cattleland Slough
SANDERLING – TK saw 3 juveniles in the NE corner of the large slough at the corner of the Hwy 547 – Rge Rd 255 junction 20 kms north of Herronton
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER – 2 seen as above
DOWITCHER sp – 300 at 338 Ave and Hwy 799 , TK
PECTORAL SANDPIPER – 35 as above
STILT SANDPIPER – Bill Wilson saw 30 at Weed Lake
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD – Ian Maton saw one at Confederation Park in Calgary
AMERICAN PIPIT – Bill Wilson saw 8 at Weed Lake
The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Thu Sep 15.