More great juvenile bald eagle photos from Rob English, taken in Carburn Park this summer. Click to enlarge.
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Oct 13
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 Oct 13, 2011.
OCT 7
PEREGRINE FALCON – off Hwy 2 near Crossiron Mills – Thomas Glen
OCT 8
LONG- BILLED DOWITCHER – 250 seen by Gordon Sick at Weed Lake
OCT 10
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – second cycle year bird, seen by Ilya Povalyaev at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
MEW GULL – 2 reported as above
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER – Terry Korolyk, immature at Weed Lake
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER – immature, as above
AMERICAN AVOCET – as above
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER – 200, as above; also 20 at the slough on Twp Rd 250 just east of Hwy 817
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER – one seen by TK at the slough mentioned above
SNOW GOOSE – TK, juvenile at Cattleland Slough
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE – 200, as above
WILSON’S WARBLER – 4, Jim Davis’s yard in Douglasglen
YELLOW WARBLER – hatch year bird seen by JD as above
OCT 11
RED-THROATED LOON – at the south end of Chain Lakes, by Joan and Malcolm Macdonald
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER – 2 at Chain Lakes, JM and MM
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – seen by IP again at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER – 8 seen by Gus Yaki and the Friends of Fish Creek PP, in east Fish Creek PP along the Bow River
The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Mon Oct 17.
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Oct 10
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 Alert was recorded on Monday Oct 10 at 10:15 am.
Bird Sightings:
Oct 5:
-COMMON NIGHTHAWK flying over the yard of Matthew Sim, Willow Pk. Calgary.
Oct 8:
-CLARKE’S GREBE (1), 1200 SNOW GEESE, including 2 BLUE varients, 12 SURFÂ SCOTERS, at Eagle Lake on a CFNS field trip, Rob Worona etc.
-800 SNOW GEESE at Third Lake, south of Hwy 552, SE of Calgary, Terry Korolyk.
-GREATER SCAUP (3) on a pond on Leighton Center Rd south of Calgary, TK.
-150-200 SNOW GEESE, RUSTY BLACK-BIRDS (3) at the Calgary Zoo Ranch, Dunbow Rd,south of Calgary, CFNS field trip, Gus Yaki etc.
-SURF SCOTER (1) on Glenmore Reservoir, Bill Wilson.
-SWAINSON’S THRUSH (4), HERMIT THRUSH, TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE, YELLOW-RUMPEDÂ WARBLERS (13) at Inglewood B.S., BW.
WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS (2), HERMIT THRUSH, NORTHERN SHRIKE, at S Glenmore Pk, GY and FFCPP.
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS (10) on the ridge behind Spruce Meadows, TK.
-GRAY CATBIRD, PACIFIC WINTER WREN, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS (4), VARIED THRUSH, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (8), WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS (2), DARK-EYED JUNCOS, SLATE COLORED (24), DARK-EYED JUNCO, PINK- SIDED (1), LAPLAND LONGSPUR at the Mt. Lorette Raptor watch, Kannaskis, Jim Davis etc.
A record number of migrating raptors (583) and record GOLDEN EAGLES (556) were counted at Lorette.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday Oct 13.
Movie Monday: Goldfinch on Sunflower
I’ve been getting a few American Goldfinches coming through the yard in the last few weeks, and although they will feed on niger seed in the tube feeder, they really seem to like eating sunflower seeds right off the plant. Here are a couple of pictures, plus a video that shows one ripping the outer leaves off the sunflower to better get at the seeds. They really have to work to get a meal!
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Sunday Showcase: Something Different
Rob English has sent some very unusual photos this week. He spotted these colourful little critters in Fish Creek Park. If anyone cares to make a species identification for us, please leave a comment below! Click to enlarge.
Finding a Sick Bird
Last week I posted a picture of a bird that was sitting on a dirt path near the Bow River in Fish Creek Park (see post). The bird didn’t move even as we approached to within a few feet.
It was a juvenile Ring-billed Gull, and clearly there was something wrong with it. It was either sick or injured. Gus Yaki, who was leading the outing, picked the gull up to examine it.
The gull hardly reacted. Needless to say, you would not be able to pick up a healthy bird in this way. Gus said that there was no obvious injury, but the bird was so thin that he could feel the bones in its breast, where the large flight muscles should have been. It would not be able to fly. Clearly it was unable to feed, had been starving for quite a while, and was near death.
Gus took the opportunity to explain the cruel facts of breeding bird biology: for a typical species, only half of all eggs laid will hatch; of the nestlings that do hatch, only half survive the first month; of the remainder, only half will live to one year of age. On average, a stable population requires that a breeding pair of adults must manage to raise two offspring to breeding age over their entire lifetime, so that the offspring replace the parents. If the number surviving to breed was usually higher, the population would explode, and if lower, it would crash. This means that the majority of eggs and young birds fall victim to predators, disease, or other hazards.
Gus returned the bird to the sunny spot on the path where we found it, and we left it to its fate.
No one suggested we try to save the bird, but later I wondered if any of the local wildlife rescue organizations would have taken in a common bird like a Ring-billed Gull, especially one in such poor shape. I’ll address that in my next post.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Oct 6
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 Alert was recorded on Thursday Oct 6 at 9:50 am.
Bird Sightings:
Oct 2:
HERMIT THRUSH west side of Nose Hill Park, Steve Kassai.
Oct 3:
HERMIT THRUSH (3), FOX SPARROW (red), several large flocks of GRACKLES, and a raft of 143 COMMON MERGANSERS at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Greg Meyer.
Oct 4:
AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (2) at Mallard Pt, FCPP, Terry Korolyk.
Oct 5:
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER rescued after a window hit at Uof C, Eileen Cora.
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS (15) in Bebo Grove, west FCPP, Al Borgardt.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday Oct 10.
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Oct 3
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 Oct 3, 2011.
SEP 25
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK – 5 seen on a Nature Calgary Field Trip to Plateau Mountain, led by Peter Roxborough
GOLDEN EAGLE – 2 seen on the same field trip
SEP 26
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – reported by Gus Yaki who saw it at the Yacht Club on the south shore of Glenmore Reservoir
SEP 30
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE – 2000 reported by Cedric Hitchon and Ian Halladay at Stobart Lake southeast of Strathmore, seen by scope from a location off Hwy 901 which goes east of the south end of the lake. They also had 40 at the Cattleland Feedlots Slough.
BONAPARTE’S GULL – more than 100 at the south end of Eagle Lake – CHÂ and IH
PEREGRINE FALCON – Thomas Glen saw one around the Bow Building in downtown Calgary
OCT 1
SURF SCOTER – 4 reported on Glenmore Reservoir by Youssif Attia
GREATER SCAUP – a female seen as above
OCT 2
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER – 5 juveniles seen by Tony Timmons in the southwest corner of Langdon Reservoir on Hwy 22X
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH – 32 reported by Bill Wilson off the Mount Nakiska access road. For details call Bill at 403-230-0054
SWAMP SPARROW – at the Mount Lorette raptor watch off Hwy 40 in Kananaskis Country
*BLACK VULTURE – no further reports on this bird reportedly photographed on top of the City Hall building in Raymond, AB on Thu Sept 22
The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Thu Oct 6.
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. Topic is “Birds of Prey”
presented by Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation. Meeting time is 7:30pm.
Movie Monday: Nose Hill Crow Roost
There is a large nighttime roost of hundreds of American Crows on Nose Hill again this year. Last week I took a short video as they were arriving at about 7:30 pm. The location is near the Brisebois Drive parking lot. Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but it gives you an idea of what it is like. If you want to see this roost yourself, go within the next two weeks before the crows head south.
For an explanation of this behavior, see the previous post, Crows by the Thousands.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Sunday Showcase: Black-crowned Night Herons
Rob English spotted this family gathering south of Airdrie, early in September. Click to enlarge.
