Since at least 1995, Peregrine Falcons have nested on Craigie Hall at the University of Calgary. For the past few years, there has been a live nest cam so that we can watch the falcons at the nest, and see the young falcons hatch and fledge.
The first returning Peregrine was sighted on March 25 this year, and by April 9 the pair was ready to nest. The first egg was laid on April 16. We will have a link to the nest cam on the sidebar of our Birds Calgary home page throughout the breeding season.
Nature Calgary has been contacted by a biologist from Washington State tracking migrating snow geese. One of their collared geese has unexpectedly shown up east of Calgary. The biologist is hoping for snow goose sightings and flock counts from birders in the Calgary area. His complete email of April 18 2013 follows:
———————-
Hello- I am a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife in Washington State. We recently implanted snow geese from the Skagit/Fraser valleys with satellite transmitters to document migration. These geese are thought to nest on Wrangel Island, Russia. The migration recently commenced and we have a very interesting migrant that is near Calgary. This route is not expected, as it is thought that the majority of this breeding population travels along the Pacific Coast.
Could you let anyone who might be interested know about this event, and what I am most looking for, is someone who might be interested in having a look at the flocks to get flock counts. In addition, we have roughly 500 neck collars out on snow geese, and it would be an opportunity to get collar sightings.
The most recent location of the snow goose near Calgary is from 04/18/2013 15:36 (UTC): Lat 51.029, Long -112.504. If you know of anyone who might be interested please put them in contact with me and I can provide location updates as they occur. We also have the marked birds on a tracking web site.
Thank You, -Joe
Joe Evenson Waterfowl Survey & Sea Duck Specialist,
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
7801 Phillips Rd. SW Lakewood, WA 98498 360-790-8691
Email joseph.evenson@dfw.wa.gov
http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/research/staff/evenson_joe.html
Posted by Dan Arndt
While last week was chilly, and a bit overcast, it wasn’t really too much to complain about. This week, the Sunday Curse has struck again. As the weekend approached, the forecast for 10-25 cm of snow by Monday night seemed a bit overzealous, maybe even pessimistic. Sadly, this was one time that the weatherman was right. Sunday morning greeted us with about 10cm of already accumulated snow, and a brisk wind out of the north made for risky driving and for terrible visibility at times, though we were lucky and also had some clear patches. A small, hardy group greeted us at 8 AM, and while some of the walk was abbreviated due to the conditions, we still had a good number of new species (or at least newly photographed species) for the year.
Earlier in the week I had finally received the Swarovski ATX 85 that has been graciously loaned to us, so I’ve included a good number of photos that were taken with the Swarovski TLS APO digiscoping adapter, taken with my Pentax K-30. I have to say, I’ve never been quite so happy that that camera is weather sealed as I was today. As I mentioned to the birding students, this is a scope that after an hour of playing with it at home had me wanting to buy it for myself, and after spending some time with it this afternoon and seeing the results I managed to get in the terrible light and low visibility, that decision has been set in stone. You’ll see what I mean below…
Elliston Park
You might notice first of all that it doesn’t look like we saw much on the southern portion of our walk. That is mostly true. By the time we cleared the eastern edge of the tree cover, the clouds had lowered, the wind picked up, and the snowfall really started coming in sideways, pelting us with wet ice crystals, and some of us were simply not prepared for things to get as bad as they did, so we powered on straight to the parking lot to get out of the wind and sleet.
Despite all that doom and gloom, as I mentioned above, we got a whole pile of new bird sightings! Almost as soon as we started, we heard, then saw, a flock of American Tree Sparrows flitting about, barely pausing long enough for any of us to get good looks until they were quite far away.
American Tree Sparrows
From our vantage point we could see out onto the water quite well at this point, and with the trees covering us from the wind, we took a few minutes to look out over the lake, and managed to spot the first new species for the group, this American Wigeon. There were about half a dozen of these birds on Elliston Lake, standing out in stark contrast to the other waterfowl present. Additionally, this was where we had good views of the second new species of the day, the Lesser Scaup.
American Wigeon (rear) and Mallards (foreground)
Lesser Scaup
(digiscoped with Swarovski ATX 85 + Pentax K-30)
While we have seen Townsend’s Solitaires this year, finding this one in the storm was a stroke of luck and good field identification on the part of some of our students! They are always such a pleasure to see! With the wind and snow picking up a bit at this time, we did check out a pair of Northern Flickers waiting out the storm on the leeward side of a low tree. Where they might have been nesting in or around this park is a mystery, as there really aren’t any trees large enough or old enough to provide them a suitable nest area!
Townsend’s Solitaire
Male (above) and female (below) hybrid Northern Flickers
We turned our attention back to the water, and found this lone American Coot. These aren’t a bird you expect to see all by its lonesome, nor in this kind of weather! An early arrival, and quite the surprise to see here! There were also a good number of Northern Shovelers in the north-east section of lake, though with the snow and wind picking up, good photos were hard to come by.
American Coot
female (left) and male (right) Northern Shovelers
male Northern Shoveler
(digiscoped with Swarovski ATX 85 + Pentax K-30)
From here on, we powered through to the end, with a few stops to check out some unusual sounds and sights, and a few nice finds in the sloughs east of Elliston Park, including many more Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, and even a lone male Ruddy Duck, the blowing snow played havoc with my auto focus, and I didn’t make it back around after the walk with the digiscoping setup.
I did end up heading back to check out the gulls with the digiscope rig, and while I didn’t find anything particularly uncommon, the practice with both stationary birds and birds in flight was absolutely priceless. While I’ve already had some experience with digiscoping, the ease which I was able to pick up the different skills that this scope requires, as well as the particular idiosyncrasies of the setup were very quick to adapt to, and the learning curve was extremely shallow. I have to say, it’ll be a hard sell to go back to the other gear once June comes around!
Herring, California, and Ring-billed Gulls
(digiscoped with Swarovski ATX 85 + Pentax K-30)
California Gull in flight
(digiscoped with Swarovski ATX 85 + Pentax K-30)
Herring Gull in flight in the snowstorm
(digiscoped with Swarovski ATX 85 + Pentax K-30)
See you next week, and good birding!
Posted by Dan Arndt
In late March of this year, Paul Turbitt and I headed out to Grand Valley Road in search of Great Grey Owls, and I had both my best day in terms of numbers of owls, but also in terms of photos. This individual owl seemed incredibly tolerant of people, and patient enough to make three hunting attempts in the hour that we sat and watched. More than a few times, the owl flew in our direction, seemingly unthreatened by our presence.
Enjoy the photos.
This Great Grey Owl was little wary when we first showed up…
But after a little patience and some sun to distract, we were all but forgotten about.
This owl must have felt a little exposed though, as it kept a keen eye on the skies.
Oh! What’s that?
Looks like lunch!
Hmm… nope, missed it.
I blame you, you know.
Ready for takeoff…
Maybe the hunting’s better down here…
Nailed the landing!
And one more wing-spread shot. Can’t get enough of these gorgeous owls!
Bye for now!
Posted by Matthew Sim
Recently down here in Texas, the local Killdeer have started nesting and their nests can be found in many open spots, such as open lots and around athletic fields. Down at my high school, there were at least 2 nests around the track, which was quite surprising considering the amount of disturbance this location gets daily. While out for a walk last weekend, I found another nest near a local pond. I chanced upon this nest when the female Killdeer incubating her eggs scurried off her nest and proceeded to preform the Killdeer’s broken wing act to try and lure me away from her nest.
On the alert!
When Killdeer see a potential predator approaching their nests, they try to distract the predators from the nest by dragging one of their wings on the ground as though it were broken. They scamper away, stopping from time to time to make sure the predator is still following and then, when they feel a safe distance away from their nests, they fly off, returning to their eggs to continue incubating. It really is quite the trick!
Quite the convincing act!
I let myself be led away by this act but before I left I did make a brief attempt to find the Killdeer’s eggs, which I did, snapping a photo from a good distance away so as to ensure I didn’t disturb the Killdeer again before I left.
New
Upcoming Events
Every Thursday, until May 30, 1-3 pm. Inglewood Bird Sanctuary drop-in birding. Beginners, children welcome to come and learn to identify the birds of the sanctuary.
Saturday, April 13, 7 -10 pm. Star Night at Fish Creek Provincial Park. Free family event to learn about the night sky and night creatures. Contact Julia Millen for more information, 403-297-7926 or email julia.millen(at)gov.ab.ca
Wednesday April 17, 7:30 pm. Nature Calgary Speaker Series. People, Fire, and Wildlife in the Canadian Rockies by Ian Pengelly. Burnswest Theatre, Fort Calgary (Map).
Saturday, April 20. Alberta Wilderness Association fundraiser, Climb and Run For Wilderness. Individuals and team climb the 802 steps of the Calgary Tower to celebrate Earth Day and to raise funds for the AWA. Register to take part, or find a team or individual to sponsor.
Wednesday, April 24, 7 pm. Friends of Fish Creek Speaker Series. Calgary’s Parks and Their Past: Stories of Fish Creek and Selected Parks by Harry Sanders. Environmental Learning Centre, 13191 Woodpath Road SW. (See map.) Registration required: Chris Lalonde, 403-238-3841, chris(at)friendsoffishcreek.org.
April 25 to April 29: Pledge to Fledge 2013. Introduce a friend, acquaintance, or family member to birding.
Wednesday May 1, 7:30 pm. Nature Calgary Bird Studies Group Speaker Series. Empidonax Flycatchers: the bane of birdwatchers, or simply a misunderstood group? by Scott F. Lovell. Biological Sciences building, Room 211, University of Calgary.
Sunday June 2. Nature Calgary Bus Tour to the Red Deer Wetlands Area. All-day bus trip to three birding hotspots in the Red Deer area. $40 for Nature Calgary members, $60 non-members. Register by May 24. Phone Lynne Colborne 403-272-1457, or email lynnec1(at)shaw.ca.
Posted by Dan Arndt
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to be switching things up a bit for spring and fall, in regards to some of the content. I hope you like the new format, meant to highlight really the new arrivals (or long past due photos of said arrivals), rather than a laundry list of everything from Mallards and Chickadees to the uncommon or rare birds like Brown Thrasher and Sandhill Cranes. It shouldn’t look that different, but I do think it’s time I changed things up a bit. Given the feedback I’ve had in regards to the maps I’ve included for the past year, I’ll definitely be keeping those. It helps others who are going out in search of the birds days later, but also helps our attendees with a reminder of what we saw and where we saw it.
Sikome Lake is always a great place to visit any time of year. In winter, it’s a haven for the Black-capped Chickadee, both species of Nuthatch that are present here, and both the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. One of the birds that are a welcome sight are the Great Horned Owls, which I wrote about for Bird Canada over here. Today was no exception, providing us with quite a few new birds for the year, more than a few of which were surprises even to us!
Sikome Lake, Hull’s Wood, and boat launch area
Our first new bird of the day was heard long before it was seen, and if there was a single bird one could say that was present all morning long, it would have been the Ring-necked Pheasant. Their calls echoed throughout the park from when we arrived at 8 AM, until I finally left at 1:15 PM. While they were heard all over the park, we only ended up spotting a single male sitting across the river from the boat launch when we arrived.
Ring-necked Pheasant
We surveyed a large flock of gulls one one of the gravel bars, picking out a Glaucous Gull amongst the various Ring-billed, California, and Herring Gulls, but the distance and the sleet simply would not allow for a photo.
Once we’d had our fill of gulls, we headed south to the large pond that borders Highway 22x, where we found this lone (and very early arriving) Cinnamon Teal, and were given nice comparison views of a Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye.
Cinnamon Teal and Canada Goose
Barrow’s Goldeneye (rear) and Common Goldeneye (front)
As we were leaving, I stopped for a moment as I heard a familiar, but quiet call of a Savannah Sparrow, though we couldn’t track down where the bird was calling from within the cattails on the bank of the pond.
We stopped for a few minutes to check out some Great Horned Owls on a nest, and both mom and dad were present and visible from our vantage point.
Female Great Horned Owl on nest
If you’ve ever birded Sikome Lake, you know that near the parking lot the Black-capped Chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers simply will not allow you to pass without paying the toll of black-oil sunflower seeds, or other assorted nuts as your park tax. Today was the exact opposite. Only a handful of birds were even present, and this lone White-breasted Nuthatch sat quietly while those of us with cameras took photo after photo.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Emerging from the area surrounding the lake, we headed back for the bank of the Bow River to search for more. The male Common Mergansers were in full display, fighting for the right to mate with the few females on the river, who were outnumbered by at least five to one.
male Common Merganser
While the river in previous months had been packed with Canada Geese, Mallards, and Common Goldeneye, time time around it was a study in gull identification. Ring-billed, California, and Herring Gulls all circled and wheeled about, a few even taking a break on the near shore as we approached.
Ring-billed Gulls
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
One surprise for us was a pair of Killdeer, possibly ones that had overwintered on this stretch of river, or possibly recent arrivals, either way they were nice to see, as they had eluded our group all throughout the winter course.
Killdeer
As we had nearly completed our walk and spent a moment chatting with Gus, his keen eyes and quick identification skills spotted this lone bird, our first bird of the year for any of the groups for this species. Can you tell what it is?
Mystery Bird
And with that, our group had a few great new sightings for the year, despite the terrible weather, constant snow and sleet, and uncomfortably cold winds. Of course, me being a sucker for punishment, I decided I needed a better shot of the Cinnamon Teal, so I headed back to the ponds. I didn’t get a better shot of that bird, but I did find this pair of Greater Yellowlegs in the area we saw him before, which was a really nice bonus bird for the day!
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
And with that, I decided to call it a day and leave the park to the afternoon session, who were arriving just as I headed out.
Have a great week, and good birding!
Rob English saw this immature Bald Eagle in Hull’s Wood, Fish Creek Park, in early February. It got a little tangled up in the branches as it lifted off.
This Wednesday, April 3, Brian Elder, Phil Cram and Mike Mulligan will talk about their experiences doing a bird and mammal Big Year in Canada in 2012. Along with Ray Woods, they were successful in finding over 500 species. You can read about their experiences on their blog, Fur & Feathers 500. Better yet, come out to the Bird Studies Group meeting and hear all about it.
The meeting will take place in room 211 of the Biological Sciences Building at the U of C. Doors open at 7 pm, and the meeting begins at 7:30.
Here is more information and a map to the location.
See you there!
Posted by Dan Arndt
And so another birding course comes to a close, but not without a few nice additions to sound out the closing bell. Our return to the Weaselhead was somewhat out of necessity, as our original plan was to look out over the Glenmore Reservoir, which has typically thawed quite a bit more than this year. Unfortunately, due to the persistent cold in Calgary this winter, and also due to a few weeks of well below freezing temperatures, the reservoir, proper remained frozen, while at least two of the channels of the Elbow River that feed into it were at least somewhat open, allowing for some, but not all, of the expected migrants to return. After a brief foray into the river valley south of the river, and with a few surprises down there as well, we returned to the trails of North Glenmore Park to look out over the reservoir and spot a few other new arrivals.
Glenmore Reservoir and The Weaselhead
We started our Easter Sunday off with a sermon. Gus began with a speech detailing, in extreme Coles Notes format, how a series of steps brought both us, and Swans, to be here on Earth today, and how our ancestry is shared all the way back to the very first life, some 3.6 billion years ago. It was a great sentiment, and an awesome start to the day. It almost seemed like the speech drew in our main target species for the day, who flew in from the west as we reached the viewpoint, and over to the reservoir.
Trumpeter Swans
Heading down to the first feeders, we were greeted with yet another sign of spring with a pair of Least Chipmunks foraging under one of the feeders, while Common Redpolls munched away on the seeds above.
Least Chipmunk
With the sounds of American Robins and Northern Flickers calling, we continued on our way, stopping at the feeding stations at the bottom of the hill in search of American Tree Sparrows, which we did manage to find (but were far too quick for me to photograph), but we did spot this immature male Pine Grosbeak singing from the treetops, along with a Hoary Redpoll in a small flock of Common Redpolls!
Immature male Pine Grosbeak
Hoary Redpoll
As we reached the bridge, we were welcomed by the calls of a number of Blue Jays, and in the distance we saw a pair of male Hooded Mergansers on the river.
Blue Jay
On our walk in around the lower paths in the Weaselhead, we found a good number of Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, but the Bohemian Waxwings were almost entirely absent, with this sole representative flying about here and there, almost in search of his fellows.
Bohemian Waxwing
As our group pushed on, a few of us held back at a slightly unfamiliar call, which we quickly narrowed down as the call of a Dark-eyed Junco. A few of them were calling from the nearby spruce trees, well below the lone Bohemian Waxwing.
Dark-eyed Junco
The rest of our walk was almost entirely absent of photos, both due to the absence of photo opportunities with the birds we saw and heard, but also due to the distances involved. Hopefully this week I’ll receive our loaner Swarovski ATX 85mm Spotting Scope that Swarovski Optik has graciously allowed me to review for them over the next little while. I’ve seen some of the results from this scope when mounted on a Pentax K-5, and I know it will come in handy for those long distance shots. But I digress…
We did happen upon a male Ruffed Grouse drumming near the river bank, and a few of us stayed behind to track it down, spotting it briefly on the log that it was drumming on before it flushed. As we headed back up the hill to look out over the reservoir, we happened upon a larger flock of Dark-eyed Juncos in the trees, a few Boreal Chickadees, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. From the observation points on the ridge, we found a pair of Lesser Scaup, a male and female Hooded Merganser, and even an extremely early male Ruddy Duck in one of the channels.
Next week marks the beginning of our Spring course, and maybe a little bit of a different approach to these blog posts… stay tuned!