The Canadian Nature Photographer has an outstanding post about Red-necked Grebes in a Calgary pond. You have to see this!
Red-necked Grebe life history in photos has been captured by Nature Calgary members Ian Neilson and Nancy Murdoch – view at http://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/Ian_Neilson_Nancy_Murdoch.html
Posted by Pat Bumstead
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 August 15.
Bird Sightings:
There were many observations of wading and shorebirds over the weekend by many observers. Below are some of the larger numbers observed. Weed Lake is located on Hwy 560 (extension of Glenmore Tr) just east of Langdon
SUNDAY, August 14:
— CANADA WARBLER (1) – North Glenmore Park by Rob Worona
–BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (1) – Elkwater in the Cypress Hills (near first washrooms as you drive west along the lakeshore from the centre of town) – Jeremiah Kennedy. The Gnatcatcher was first reported on Aug 9.
–RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (1200) – Weed Lake by Terry Korolyk
–LESSER YELLOWLEGS (600) – Weed Lake by TK
–WHITE-FACED IBIS (1) – Langdon Corner Slough (junction of Hwys 1 & 9)-Â by several observers
SATURDAY, August 13
–The following birds were all netted by banders at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (IBS):
–CANADA WARBLER (1 recapture)
–NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH (7)
–WILSON’S WARBLER (1)
–TENNESSEE WARBLER (2)
–YELLOW WARBLER (9)
–YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (1)
–TRAILL’S FLYCATCHER (2)
FRIDAY, August 12
–SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (fair numbers) – Weed Lake by Richard Clarke
–SANDERLING (6) – Weed Lake by RC. Richard also saw similar numbers of shorebirds seen by Terry Korolyk on previous day (Thursday Aug 11)
THURSDAY, August 11
–RED PHALAROPE (1 imm) – Weed Lake by TK
–RED-NECKED PHALAROPE & WILSON’S PHALAROPE (several hundred) – Weed Lake by TK
–LESSER YELLOWLEGS (several hundred) – Weed Lake by TK
–SANDERLING (6) – Weed Lake by TK
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (13) – Weed Lake by TK
WEDNESDAY, August 10
–CANADA WARBLER (1) – IBS by banders
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday August 18.
These outstanding bumble bee photos have been sent to us by Tom Langois. Photographing insects is hard enough, but capturing a very busy bee in flight is amazing! Click to enlarge.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
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, Aug.11.
Bird Sightings:
MONDAY, August 8:
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER(1), LESSER YELLOWLEGS(650), SANDERLING (8), SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER(250), LEAST SANDPIPER(70), WILSON’S PHALAROPE  (450), RED-NECKED PHALAROPE(600),all seen at the south end of Weed Lake , N of Glenmore Trail, just E of Langdon, by Terry Korolyk.
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD(1), Southview area,Calgary, yard of Carol Coulter. Again seen on August 10.
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER(1), Cypress Hills, Elkwater, Jermiah Kennedy, south side of the lake. Seen again on August 9 and 11. Possibly 5th record of this species for Alberta. For more details call Milt Spitzer at 403-528-3120.
WILSON’S WARBLER(6), backyard of Vivian Brissette in Maple Ridge area,Calgary; one was still there August 9th.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday August 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 Alert was recorded on Monday Aug 8.
Bird Sightings:
SUNDAY August 7
–SANDERLING (1 juv) – Weed Lake (Glenmore Tr just E of Langdon) by Terry Korolyk
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (4) – location as above by TK
–RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (400) – location as above by TK
–RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (1) –Big Hill Springs by Steve Kassai
–NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH (1) – location as above by SK
–ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (2) – location as above by SK
–TENNESSEE WARBLER (1) – location as above by SK
SATURDAY August 6
All shorebirds and wading birds seen were observed at Weed Lake unless otherwise specified. Bill Wilson was out to Weed Lake earlier in the day
than Hank Vanderpol
–RED KNOT (1 juv) – by Hank Vanderpol
–AMERICAN AVOCET (33) – Bill Wilson
–BLACK-NECKED STILT (40) – BW
–WHITE-FACED IBIS (1) – BW
–SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER – 16 BW; 300 HV
–BAIRD’S SANDPIPER – 16 BW; 12 HV
–PECTORAL SANDPIPER – 1 BW; 4 HV
–SANDERLING – 4 BW
–STILT SANDPIPER – 8 BW
–LESSER YELLOWLEGS – 300 BW
–SEMIPALMATED PLOVER – 3 BW
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER – 7 BW; 26 also seen by HV on Glenmore Tr E of Hwy 24, just west of the sod farm
–LONG-BILLED CURLEW (17) – Glenmore Tr E of Hwy 24, just W of the sod farm, by HV
–THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (3) – Brown Lowery Recreation Area (Plummer’s Rd, NW of Millarville) by Andrew Hart and CFNS field trip
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday Aug. 11.
We received an email from Larry & Angie in Innisfail a while ago, asking for help identifying a bird in their yard. They were confused because this bird was acting like a baby sparrow, being fed by an adult sparrow but appeared to be bigger than the adult. Their photogenic picture does a wonderful job of showing a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird in action, and the difference in size between the two species.
As Matthew mentioned in his July Cowbird Catastrophe post on this blog, Cowbirds do not look after their own eggs, but lay them in the nests of other species. This poor Chipping Sparrow has already been outsized by this demanding youngster, and continues to burn up energy finding enough food for it. As Cowbird eggs hatch sooner than those of other birds and fledglings are known to eject the nest occupants, it’s likely this Chipping Sparrow did not raise any of his own young this year.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
These superb owl photos were sent to us by Russell Bachmann, who has been lucky enough to locate a few of these beautiful birds. I love the way these pictures typify any Long-eared sighting – you rarely see these birds when they’re not tucked away behind the branches! Click to enlarge.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
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 Aug.4.
Bird Sightings:
July 30:
–RUFF(1) Chappice Lake, appr.25km. NE of Medicine Hat along Hwy.41, by Bob Frew and others.
August 2:
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER(3), PECTORAL SANDPIPER(1), LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER(75), AND SHORT-EARED OWL, all seen around Frank Lake by Matthew Simm.
August 4:
–NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD(1) , seen by Ben Velner in his back yard in Medicine Hat.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday Aug. 8.
On a recent camping trip to Kikomun Creek Provincial park in south-eastern British Columbia (near Fernie), I spent hours out on the main lake at the campsite; Surveyor’s Lake, observing and photographing Common Loons. Home to a breeding pair of loons, Surveyor’s lake is a busy lake; hundreds of people crisscross the lake each day in canoes, rafts, paddleboats and kayaks. All these people, however, do not deter the loons and once again, they have nested in the area and have one big young one.
Due to all the traffic on this lake, the loons are not shy and will sometimes even approach people. At one point, I was sitting in my raft photographing these beautiful birds when one of the adults and the young one started to swim towards me. They came closer and closer until I could have touched the young loon with my paddle!
The young loon seemed to be doing an impression of an eel; he would get down low in the water and start swimming about. This last photo shows how close the young loon came; this was taken with my 500mm lens and is uncropped; I had to sit very still, otherwise a sudden motion would have scared the youngster away!
The adult loons were very protective of their young one; when an immature Bald Eagle flew low over the lake, the adult loons had already seen it, were loudly giving their alarm call and both parents were protectively circling around the young loon.
Occasionally, the loons were too fast for me and my camera and would dive right as I would take a photograph.
While I watched this loon family, they consumed a lot of food and I later found out that one pair of loons with two chicks will eat more than 1000 kg of small coarse fish over a breeding season. That is a lot of fish! Hopefully the lake is well stocked!
I immensely enjoyed watching this family; it was amazing to watch their lives as they try to raise the next generation of loons. I also saw hope; despite this species sensitivity to human disturbance, these loons can survive among humans and this adaptability could help keep these magnificent birds off the threatened species list.
Posted by Matthew Sim
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 Aug 1 at 9:30 am.
Bird Sightings:
July 28:
either an immature CHESTNUT-SIDED or BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER , west FCPP, Terry Korolyk
WESTERN TANAGER, Inglewood BS, research team
July 29:
WESTERN TANAGER, IBS, as above
July 30:
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (15), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS (82), RED-NECKED PHALAROPES
(110), BAIRD’S SANDPIPERS (7), LEAST SANDPIPERS (10), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (4),
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS (150), BLACK-NECKED STILTS (29), Weed Lake near Langdon, Bill Wilson.
NELSON’S SPARROW, at Hwy 791, north of Hwy 560, BW.
July 31:
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (16), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, (60), LEAST SANDPIPERS (3),
WILSON’S PHALAROPES (400), Weed Lake, TK.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday Aug 4.