The City Nature Challenge is under way! From April 26 through to midnight on April 29 we need Calgary naturalists to take as many photos as possible of any and all wildlife (birds, mammals, fish, plants, lichen; anything!) within the city limits.
You will have until May 5 to upload all your photos to the iNaturalist website or phone app. No need to learn all the ins and outs of iNaturalist right away if you haven’t done so (the sooner the better of course, and it is very easy!), and no need to know what it is you are photographing – the site will suggest ID’s and the iNaturalist community will confirm them.
A Red Fox in Calgary two weeks ago. Now I have to find and photograph it again this weekend. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
There are many organized events planned for the challenge, including six today (Friday April 26) and many more over the following three days. See this page for all the events planned over the four days and come out and help us document the wildlife of Calgary. You can also participate on your own all day, every day!
Calgary is one of 163 cities worldwide taking part in this challenge, and is the northernmost city. We want to try to win the competition for most participants and most observations made. We are also having a friendly competition with Halifax, the only other Canadian city involved. So get outside!
How many bird species could you see in Alberta in a Calendar year? The answer is that an average of about 330 species have been reported in the province on eBird in recent years. Of course no one birder sees or hears them all, so only a very few birders, if any, get to a total of 300 species in any year.
It takes a special effort to see or hear that many species. You have to make sure you get all the regular birds, regardless of where in the province their normal range or migration route is, and still you have to chase some rarities to get to 300.
In 2019, Gavin McKinnon, a fifteen-year-old Calgary-based birder, is going to try to get to 300 species. He is already a very accomplished birder, who leads field trips for the Friends of Fish Creek and the Wild Bird Store. Last year he recorded 273 species in Alberta, so he knows what a challenge it will be. Gavin will also be travelling outside the province quite a bit, and you can miss some good birds when you are away.
Throughout the year we will be posting photos of some some of the birds that Gavin has seen and photographed. Here are the highlights from the first two months of the year, during which Gavin had about 75 species.
Long-eared OwlCommon MerganserRed-bellied Woodpecker, a rarity seen in Magrath, near the US border.Horned LarkNorthern Pygmy-OwlEvening GrosbeakShort-eared OwlSnowy OwlAmerican Three-toed WoodpeckerRusty BlackbirdTundra Bean-Goose, an extreme rarity seen in Lethbridge.Harlequin DuckPine SiskinCommon GoldeneyeBuffleheadBlack-capped ChickadeeTrumpeter Swan
The next Birds & Beers event in Calgary is on Thursday May 2, at the Horton Road Legion, from 6 to 9 pm. We will be in the big auditorium this month, and will have a special presentation: “The Raptor Allure of Windy Point” by Peter Roxborough.
Bald Eagle. Photo by Daniel Arndt.
Local birders are aware of the Golden Eagle migration monitoring that has been conducted for many years at Mount Lorette in Kananaskis country, but few are aware that Windy Point, in the Sheep River Valley west of Turner Valley, also offers fantastic raptor watching on migration. Peter Roxborough will do a presentation on this amazing birding spot.
The Legion is located at 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers. As is usual when we have presentations, these begin after 7 pm. So come at 6 pm (or earlier since the kitchen will be busy), order a meal and have a drink, visit with your fellow birders, and then stay for the presentation. If you can’t make it early drop in later for the show.
Upcoming Birds & Beers events are scheduled for Thursday May 30 and Thursday June 27, at the same time and place. There will be presentations at both of these events too.
CORRECTION: Yesterday’s post said that these trips were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The correct dates are Sunday April 21 for the Reader Rock Garden trip, and Monday April 22 for Britannia Slopes. Sorry for any inconvenience!
There are two opportunities in Calgary this weekend to go out in the field and learn how iNaturalist and the City Nature Challenge works before the actual competition on April 26-29. On Sunday April 21, join Gus Yaki and Calgary Challenge organizer Matt Wallace at Reader Rock Garden from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Learn how to take photos with your smartphone or camera and record the observations on the iNaturalist app on your phone or on the website on your desktop computer.
I took this photo at Pearce Estate Park during last week’s workshop. When I uploaded the photo, the iNaturalist artificial intelligence suggested it was in the Bulrushes and Cattails family, and another iNaturalist user later identified it as Broadleaf Cattail. Photo by Bob Lefebvre, Pearce Estate Park, April 13, 2019.
See this page for all the information on this workshop and field trip. No registration is required for these free events; just show up and join the fun!
On Monday afternoon, April 22, from 2 to 4 pm, join Gus and Matt at Britannia Slopes for another workshop/field trip. See this page for all the information.
If you can’t make it to the workshops but want to participate in the Challenge, get the iNaturalist app on your phone or open an account on the website, and you can learn to make observations on your own. Here is the iNaturalist Canada page.
There will be many events held during the challenge that everyone is welcome to participate in. See this page for all the events.
Any observations submitted within the city limits from April 26-29 will automatically be included in Calgary’s totals. So you can participate in the organized events, make observations on your own, or both. You don’t necessarily have to be able to identify the species you record, as the iNaturalist site will make suggested ID’s, and the iNaturalist community will follow up. The period from April 30 to May 5 will be used to try to finalize the identifications of all species identified in Calgary during the challenge. Any iNaturalist user can help with this.
Smartphones are excellent for recording photos of plants but if you are taking photos of mammals and birds you can usually get a better shot with a camera. Then you have to upload the photos to the iNaturalist site on your computer. When I went to the workshop last week, I used both phone and camera and took photos of birds, mammals, plants including fungi and lichens, and even signs of animals such as this:
This is recorded on iNaturalist as Canadian Beaver. Signs and evidence of wildlife are also included in the database. Photo by Bob Lefebvre, Pearce Estate Park, April 13, 2019.
Using iNaturalist is a great way to document our biodiversity, and to learn about our wildlife. This is from the iNaturalist.ca website:
“We can build a living record of life in Canada that scientists and environmental managers can use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone can use to learn more about Canada’s amazing natural history.
“Every piece of information on a species, combined with the vast network of citizen scientists can give a big picture of Canada’s natural history and can be a key contribution for conservation decisions.”
CORRECTION: A previous post said that these trips were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The correct dates are Sunday April 21 for the Reader Rock Garden trip, and Monday April 22 for Britannia Slopes.
There are two opportunities in Calgary this weekend to go out in the field and learn how iNaturalist and the City Nature Challenge works before the actual competition on April 26-29. On Sunday April 21, join Gus Yaki and Calgary Challenge organizer Matt Wallace at Reader Rock Garden from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Learn how to take photos with your smartphone or camera and record the observations on the iNaturalist app on your phone or on the website on your desktop computer.
I took this photo at Pearce Estate Park during last week’s workshop. When I uploaded the photo, the iNaturalist artificial intelligence suggested it was in the Bulrushes and Cattails family, and another iNaturalist user later identified it as Broadleaf Cattail. Photo by Bob Lefebvre, Pearce Estate Park, April 13, 2019.
See this page for all the information on this workshop and field trip. No registration is required for these free events; just show up and join the fun!
On Monday afternoon, April 22, from 2 to 4 pm, join Gus and Matt at Britannia Slopes for another workshop/field trip. See this page for all the information.
If you can’t make it to the workshops but want to participate in the Challenge, get the iNaturalist app on your phone or open an account on the website, and you can learn to make observations on your own. Here is the iNaturalist Canada page.
There will be many events held during the challenge that everyone is welcome to participate in. See this page for all the events.
Any observations submitted within the city limits from April 26-29 will automatically be included in Calgary’s totals. So you can participate in the organized events, make observations on your own, or both. You don’t necessarily have to be able to identify the species you record, as the iNaturalist site will make suggested ID’s, and the iNaturalist community will follow up. The period from April 30 to May 5 will be used to try to finalize the identifications of all species identified in Calgary during the challenge. Any iNaturalist user can help with this.
Smartphones are excellent for recording photos of plants but if you are taking photos of mammals and birds you can usually get a better shot with a camera. Then you have to upload the photos to the iNaturalist site on your computer. When I went to the workshop last week, I used both phone and camera and took photos of birds, mammals, plants including fungi and lichens, and even signs of animals such as this:
This is recorded on iNaturalist as Canadian Beaver. Signs and evidence of wildlife are also included in the database. Photo by Bob Lefebvre, Pearce Estate Park, April 13, 2019.
Using iNaturalist is a great way to document our biodiversity, and to learn about our wildlife. This is from the iNaturalist.ca website:
“We can build a living record of life in Canada that scientists and environmental managers can use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone can use to learn more about Canada’s amazing natural history.
“Every piece of information on a species, combined with the vast network of citizen scientists can give a big picture of Canada’s natural history and can be a key contribution for conservation decisions.”
Come out to Pearce Estate Park in Calgary this Saturday morning to learn how to participate in the City Nature Challenge.
A Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Pearce Estate last October. They could be back! At any rate the bush should still be there. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
At this event you will learn all about how to use the iNaturalist app and how to make observations so you can participate in the upcoming City Nature Challenge.
Everyone is welcome; just show up at 10 am at Pearce Estate with your phone, tablet, or camera. Sign up for an iNaturalist account on the app or online first. Be prepared to do a mini-BioBlitz of all the wild animals, insects and plants we can find!
Please read all about it on the Calgary CNC website here. There will be more such events coming up before the Challenge so if you can’t make it this week, plan to attend a future one.
I’ve had Eurasian Collared-Doves in my SE Calgary neighbourhood since 2009, and they have nested in the area for several years. For the last three years a pair have nested within sight of my house.
The doves are non-migratory but do gather together in small flocks in the winter, and I don’t usually see them around the yard. The nesting pair arrived back on March 17, and perched in our apple tree for a while.
Eurasian Collared-Dove pair, March 17, 2019. Photo by Bob Lefebvre Eurasian Collared-Dove pair, March 17, 2019. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
I have since seen the pair around quite a bit and heard the male calling and displaying. They nest at mid-level in spruce trees and I think I know which spruce they are nesting in, but it’s very hard to find the nest. I’ve never yet seen the nests or young of this species.
Eurasian Collared-Dove pair, March 17, 2019. Photo by Bob Lefebvre Eurasian Collared-Dove pair, March 17, 2019. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
A really fun and exciting event will be taking place in the city from April 26-29: The City Nature Challenge. This is a bioblitz in which participants will attempt to document all wild living things inside the city limits.
Over 160 cities are competing in three categories: Number of species recorded, number of observations made, and number of participants. It will be hard to match some of the tropical locations for species diversity, but Calgary can certainly compete in the number of participants and observations.
The Challenge uses the iNaturalist website to record and identify wildlife. As a participant, all you have to do is take a photo of a species and upload it to the website on your desktop or smartphone. The international community of iNaturalist users help to identify the species.
The Calgary effort is being organized by Matthew Wallace. See the Calgary website here and read about the competition and upcoming events. The first workshop, where you can learn how to use the phone app and use it in the field, is coming up at Pearce Estate on April 13. Here is the link to the Facebook page which lists all the workshops.
The iNaturalist app and website are very easy to use. You can begin making observations right away, and continue to use the app anywhere and any time to contribute to our knowledge of species distribution and diversity.
I will post more information about this challenge soon on Birds Calgary but please go to the website and read all about it.
Here is my latest upload to iNaturalist. This White-tailed Jackrabbit was sitting by our mailboxes so I snapped a photo with my phone, and ten seconds later it was on the iNaturalist site. Easy!
White-tailed Jackrabbit, iPhone photo, Calgary,April 8, 2019. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
The next Calgary Birds & Beers event will be held on Thursday, April 4th at the Horton Road Legion.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285, 9202 Horton Road SW
Thursday March 4, 2019, 6:00-9:00 pm
There won’t be a presentation this time, but we do plan to have an interactive activity and questionnaire based on last year’s Christmas Bird Count results. We hope we will all learn a bit more about the patterns of bird populations over the years. There is no need to have participated in the counts to take part in this activity.
Birds & Beers is a free social event open to anyone. Children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. Food and drinks are available at the Legion at a reasonable price. Come out and visit with your fellow birders!
Upcoming Birds & Beers events are scheduled for Thursday May 2, Thursday May 30, and Thursday June 27, at the same time and place.
Mountain Bluebird, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, April 16, 2013. Photo by Dan Arndt.
The popular spring session of the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society (FFCPPS) Birding Course will begin on Monday April 1, 2019. The course consists of weekly field trips to various parks in the city. You can expect to see over 150 species on this twelve-week course.
Here is the course description from the FFCPP website: During the spring, hundreds of bird species pass through or reside in Fish Creek Provincial Park. Through the Spring Birding Course you can see, hear and learn about fascinating bird species, view them as they return from their wintering grounds and enjoy watching new spring arrivals. Whether you are new to birding or are an experienced birder, these outdoor sessions will enhance your knowledge about birds and provide an opportunity to meet others who enjoy birds and nature. This course is also great for families who would like to spend time together in nature, explore Fish Creek and other natural areas, and learn about birds and conservation. Lifelong naturalist Gus Yaki, and other experienced birding instructors, conducts these outings as a fundraiser for the Friends of Fish Creek.
You can read more about the course and register to participate here.
This Birds Calgary post from last year shows photographs of some of the amazing birds that were seen during the 2018 spring session!
