Backyard Birds: Common Redpoll

Apr5

An abundant breeding bird of the boreal forest, the Common Redpoll is seen in Calgary primarily in the winter. Even then, it generally occurs during cyclical irruptions, when flocks of seed eaters occasionally leave the forest and move south.

Redpolls are about 5″ high, and have a bright red forehead and a black chin. This little flock of four birds that visited last week are either juveniles or females, as the males have a pink breast. Very rarely, you may see a Hoary Redpoll, which is a very similar species that has lighter streaking on the flanks, and a stubbier bill.

These tiny members of the finch family move through our area in early October and late April. They often travel in mixed flocks with other finches such as the Pine Siskin or House Finch. In my yard they all prefer the sunflower chips to the niger seed feeders.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Starling Invasion

Apr4

 The non-native, much-maligned, and beautiful European Starling.

There are usually a few European Starlings roosting overnight in the spruce trees near my house during the winter.  Then, starting in late January, there is a big influx of starlings as the first returning migrants arrive.  For the last ten weeks, there have been hundreds around the neighbourhood every evening.

The starlings start appearing at about sunset.  Most of them settle first in bare deciduous trees, and they move around in small groups from tree to tree, with very little noise.  (It’s when they disperse in the morning that they show off their incredible vocal skills.)  Within an hour or so, as it is getting dark, they have all moved deep into spruce trees to roost  quietly for the night.  You’d never know they were there.

There are already dozens of European Starlings hidden in this spruce tree.  (The singing bird is a House Finch.)

 

Starlings arriving in their nighttime roost during Saturday’s snowstorm. 

I wondered if the masses of birds that appear at dusk each day were all local birds that disperse to feed during the day and return at night, or if they were new migrants arriving.  When they arrive, they don’t seem to come from any particular direction, and often seem to appear in the trees out of nowhere.  I’ve seen them drop down from such a great height that they first appear as tiny dots.  It seems that it is a new batch of migrating birds each night.  There is nothing special about the trees near my yard, and there are starlings landing in every tree I can see for blocks around.  I can’t even guess at how many there might be in the whole city.  But starlings are one of our most numerous birds, and recently there was a flock of tens of thousands seen in High River. 

It will be interesting to hear if other people are seeing such big flocks of starlings in the city.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Bird Alert March 31

Apr1

Welcome to the City of Calgary and CFNS Bird Alert. This report was
prepared on Thursday,March 31, at 10pm. To report a bird sighting,call
403-221-4519 and leave a message after the recording.

SIGHTINGS FOR:

Monday, March 28
–FRANKLIN’S GULL(2),Frank Lake
–AMERICAN COOT(1), same as above
–LESSER SCAUP(1m), same as above
–RING-NECKED DUCK(1m), same as above
–VARIED THRUSH(1m), North Haven backyard
–SHORT-EARED OWL((12), Frank Lake
–PRAIRIE FALCON(1) Frank Lake

Tuesday, March 29
–GLAUCOUS GULL(1st.yr.), Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
–NORTHERN HAWK OWL(1)Votier’s Flats, Fish Creek PP

Wednesday, March 30
–WOOD DUCK(1), Elbow River, Votier’s Flats,Fish Creek PP
–PRAIRIE FALCON(1) south cliffs of Bearspaw dam, Calgary
–EUROPEAN STARLING(10,000-20,000) 4 km. north of High River
Posted by Pat Bumstead

Northern Hawk Owl

Mar31

It was a warm day, already at noon it was a couple of degrees over freezing. March 29th, half way through my spring break and already I’m looking for something to do. So I decide to head out to Votier’s Flats in Fish Creek Provincial Park with my brother and sister. Votier’s Flats is located off Elbow Drive and consists of a mix of both coniferous and deciduous woodlands with Fish Creek running near the paved path.

That day, we were not expecting to see anything. Noon is not the most productive time to bird and besides, we were hardly going to be going for a long hike. We started out doing a short loop before climbing up the hill beside the parking lot. It was there that I saw a hawk flying…no wait…not a hawk, a Northern Hawk Owl!

First impressions.

Northern Hawk Owls have a long tail and a falcon-like profile, distinguishing them from other owls in North America. The facial disk is somewhat whitish, bordered by black on either sides, framing two pale yellow eyes that scour the ground, often from an exposed perch at the top of a tree, searching for the next meal, some unfortunate mouse or vole.

We did get some great views but the Hawk Owl was some ways away and only stuck around for a couple of minutes before vanishing into the woods, never to be seen again, until…

My dad heard about our incredible sighting and, as you can imagine, was quite jealous. This paved the way for a return visit. The next day, as the sun slowly fell from the sky, we made our way back to Votier’s Flats. We searched for a couple minutes, coming up with a Great Horned Owl calling; beautiful, but not quite satisfying. We wanted a Hawk Owl. We carried along the paved path for a short ways when we spotted something. Is that it? Had we done the improbable? There it was perched high on an exposed perch, just waiting for us.

I see something...

We had to leave the paved path to get some better views. I was first, stepping into the snow with much gusto, only to find myself sinking into snow over a foot deep. As I was carrying a camera with a heavy 500mm lens, this was not good news. I righted myself after a couple moments and we carried on, undeterred.

Insolent birders.

It was a long way and we kept advancing through the snow that was as deep as ever, only to see the owl fly away. Luckily, it was not too far and we caught up, only for him to fly off again. We decided to carry on once again, stumbling up a steep hill with a heavy camera and an even heavier tripod, slipping on mud and ice, following a deer trail covered with unpleasant evidence of the deer. Finally we caught up to where the owl was waiting for us, seemingly amused. We got some amazing views and some great shots.

Is that dinner?

We came home, exhausted, wet, muddy, covered in burrs and happy; extremely happy. We had seen a Northern Hawk Owl, a difficult bird to see at the best of times and very rare here in Calgary.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Bird Alert March 28

Mar29

Welcome to the City of Calgary and CFNS Bird Alert. This report was prepared on Monday March 28, 8:00pm. To report a bird sighting,call 403-221-4519 and leave a message after the recording.

Thursday, March 24

–HERRING GULL (5), Bow River, N.of 22x bridge

Friday, March 25
–EURASIAN WIGEON (1) Frank Lake

Saturday, March 26
–CANVASBACK (2),Bow River,west of the bridge over Hwy.1x at Seebe
–WESTERN MEADOWLARK (1), near Millarville
–RED-TAILED HAWK (2), one light, one dark morph, near Millarville race track
–ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (3),same as above
–KILLDEER (1), near open water in front of race track
–AMERICAN TREE SPARROW (20+), near Black Diamond
–THAYER’S GULL,Bow River,N.of 22x bridge, east Fish Creek PP

Sunday, March 27
–TRUMPETER SWAN (8),Frank Lake
–EURASIAN WIGEON (2), Frank Lake
–KILLDEER (1), Frank Lake
–SHORT-EARED OWL (5), near Frank Lake
–NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL (1),River Rd, west of High River

Meet The Mountain Bluebird

Mar29

The Mountain Bluebird is an early migrant to our area, arriving in mid to late March. There have been a few sightings in the countryside recently, and one was reported in the Tuscany subdivision on March 25. In Calgary, you might see them in Weaselhead, North Glenmore Park, Fish Creek Provincial Park or Nose Hill Park.

Read more about this beautiful bird and report any sightings on the Weaselhead Society website.

See also:

Hinterland Who’s Who

Photo courtesy of fotopedia.com

Here’s Looking at You-Whoo!

Mar28

As 2011 began, the Northern Saw-whet Owl was right at the top of my list of Birds I Must See.  I had heard them singing in the spring before in both the Weaselhead area and in Bowness, but I had never seen one.  They are very small, about eight inches (20 cm) high, and active at night.  They spend the daytime roosting in tree cavities or dense conifers.  So although they are quite common, they are rarely seen.

…….

On Saturday, March 19, the Friends of Fish Creek Park Society outing was at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, where we were looking for returning gulls and waterfowl.  Before starting, the leader, Gus Yaki, mentioned that a Northern Saw-whet Owl had been reported a few days previously at the sanctuary.  We would look for this little bird near the end of our walk, in the row of spruce trees that run north from Walker House. 

…….

However, as we turned north by the lagoon, I noticed a pair of Black-capped Chickadees that seemed quite agitated.  Two of us hung back to investigate as the rest of the group went ahead.  After a couple of minutes a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches arrived, and then a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches and another pair of chickadees.  All the birds were noisy, flicking their tails, and making short sweeping flights into the tree.  I have seen birds behave like this before – they are trying to drive away a predator.  Still, despite circling the tree a couple of times, I could see nothing.  Finally, from a spot right under the tree branches, I found the owl:

Then he found me back:

……

…….

These owls sit still when confronted, and this one barely moved, except for batting his eyes, as you can see in the video.

…….

Good Birding!

Bob Lefebvre

Bird Alert March 24

Mar25

Welcome to the City of Calgary and CFNS Bird Alert. This report was prepared on Thursday March 24, 10:00pm. To report a bird sighting,call 403-221-4519 and leave a message after the recording.

Monday, March 21
–GREAT BLUE HERON (1) Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

Tuesday, March 22
–RED CROSSBILLS (3) in the SW Oakridge subdivision

Wednesday, March 23
–SHORT-EARED OWLS (15) north end of Frank Lake
–ROUGH LEGGED HAWKS (15) as above
–NORTHERN HARRIERS (4) as above
–AMERICAN TREE SPARROW(4), NE of High River
–SNOWY OWL (1), north of Blackie on Hwy 799

Great-horned Owl Nest Cam

Mar23

The Ellis Bird Farm has set up a live stream video of a great-horned owl nest on their property. Once you sit through the annoying commercial at the beginning, you can follow the life of this bird, and be there when the eggs hatch. A warning though – these owl nest cams are completely addictive. As it gets closer to hatching time, you might as well give up trying to do anything but park yourself in front of your computer.

The stream is color during daylight hours, and has gray-scale pallet of near infrared artificial illumination during the night.

Great-horned owls are early nesters, and this poor girl appears to be sitting on eggs while covered with snow today. Yet another reason to need some real spring weather in this province!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ellis-bird-farm-owl-cam

Good Birding!

Pat Bumstead