Furry Friday: “Wild” Horses of the Alberta Foothills

Dec28

Posted by Dan Arndt

One of the most productive searches for Wild Horses was with the help of one of the attendees of our Winter Birding Course last year, Paul Turbitt. Most of these photos were taken south-west of Sundre, Alberta on February 20, 2012, and the last in the series was taken in November 2012 west of Bragg Creek.

While these horses are not truly “wild” horses, they are feral, and have a very unique look compared to modern domestic horses, and have been living and breeding in the wild for well over two hundred years, and behave just like any wild animal would.

First horse of the day

First horse of the day

First herd

First herd

Solo Roan mare

Solo Roan mare

Solo Roan mare

Solo Roan mare

Roan and Chocolate

Roan and Chocolate

Solo Roan mare

Solo Roan mare

Sentry stallion

Young stallion on the edge of the herd on sentry duty

Shadow stallion

Second young stallion of the last herd of the day

Mares of Herd 3

Alabaster mare of the third herd

Dapple mare

Dappled grey mare of the third herd

family photo

Third herd of wild horses, all in the same frame

Big shoes to fill

My size 11 boot print beside the hoof-print of the largest stallion in the third herd.

This pair was the tailing edge of a herd of about a dozen horses seen west of Bragg Creek.

This pair was the tailing edge of a herd of about a dozen horses seen west of Bragg Creek.

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Dec 24

Dec27

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, email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com .  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.

Compiled by Terry Korolyk

Dec ongoing:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER visiting feeder daily in SE Calgary, Jo Nemeth.
SONG SPARROW in Bearspaw NW, last seen Dec 20, Sally Quon.
SONG SPARROW in FCPP, Phil Quinn.
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, RED CROSSBILLS, AMERICAN CROWS, being seen in good
numbers.

Dec 20:
LESSER SCAUP pr, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, SW corner Mcleod Tr/Hwy 2A, Terry Korolyk.

Dec 21:
WILSON’S SNIPE in west FCPP, bridge 8, PQ.
AMERICAN DIPPER in NW Griffith Woods, PQ.

Dec 22:
GRYFALCON, PRAIRIE FALCON, GOLDEN EAGLE, SHORT-EARRED OWL, SNOWY OWL,
GREAT-HORNED OWL, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, Okotoks, vulcan, Lake Mcgregor areas.

Dec 23:
NORTHEN SHRIKE Southview Calgary, Carol Coulter.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday Dec 27

Reflections on my New Years Resolution

Dec24

Posted by Dan Arndt

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made a New Year’s Resolution to see 200 species of birds in the Calgary Region. I had no real idea of how difficult a proposition this would be, and if I’d known the lengths I would end up going to to get there, I might have reconsidered it. In the end, it turned out to be an improvised “Big Year” of sorts. While I’m not really sure where the records sit exactly, or what the highest number would be for the traditional 80km May Species Count circle in the Calgary area in the calendar year, I do know that I learned a whole lot about the species that live in my home town, the best places to go to track down certain types of birds, and that there are some places, for one reason or another, that seem like they’d be the perfect habitat for wildlife that seem to be somewhat devoid of birds.

80km circle centred in downtown Calgary

80km circle centred in downtown Calgary


As I write this, my 80km Calgary circle Patch List on eBird sits at 236. I’m happy with that number. It’s a nice, even number, and my original hopes of 200 are long in the past. After finding my Upland Sandpiper, I spent a bit of time searching Confederation Park, Chestermere Lake, and various other places to add a few new birds to my list. It seems that my excursions outside the city ended up being far more fruitful than my quick jaunts just up the hill to the warbler paradise of Confederation Park, as I found #205, Loggerhead Shrike, thanks to fellow blogger Matt Sim coming across this family of 5 just east of Chestermere Lake.

Loggerhead Shrike - species #205

Loggerhead Shrike – species #205

As fall set in, and the cold and dark became more prevalent as the days wore on, I knew the days of adding multiple species to my list were in the past. Fall migration turned out to be a bit disappointing as I had hoped to tack on at least 4 or 5 species of migrating songbirds to my list, but as the Glenmore Reservoir closed up, I, along with many in the Calgary birding community were surprised to find a good number of vagrants showing up. From the three scoter species (White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, and Black Scoter) to the Pacific Loon (which I missed, sadly) and Red-throated Loon (which I managed to find on multiple days) topped off with a fairly large flock of Long-tailed Ducks at the beginning of November.

White-winged Scoter - My 219th species seen this year in Calgary

White-winged Scoter – My 219th species seen this year in Calgary

Dunlin at Weed Lake - Species #224 for the year

Dunlin at Weed Lake – Species #224 for the year

Long-tailed Duck - This group of four seemed to be fairly comfortable getting close to the shore, and many excited birders - #227

Long-tailed Duck – This group of four seemed to be fairly comfortable getting close to the shore, and many excited birders – #227

Add to that an Anna’s Hummingbird a few days later, a few late gulls into mid-November, a few “catch-up” species in a couple of places I hadn’t visited as much earlier in the year, and to top it all off, a rogue Steller’s Jay in mid-December, and here I am at 236. I certainly missed a few species that I expected to find, but ended up with a well-rounded list and far exceeding my original goal!

Anna's Hummingbird - #228

Anna’s Hummingbird – #228

Mew Gull amongst a number of Ring-billed Gulls - #231

Mew Gull amongst a number of Ring-billed Gulls – #231

Steller's Jay - a fairly rare bird in these parts, and my last new tick for the year. - #236!

Steller’s Jay – a fairly rare bird in these parts, and my last new tick for the year. – #236!

So this ends my birding year in Calgary, and I am looking forward to starting all over again in 2013. I know there’s still a week left for me to find some of my nemesis birds, but tomorrow (December 25) I’m heading off to the Mayan Riviera for a couple of weeks, and so my year total will sit comfortably at 236. I plan to do a whole lot of vacationing, a bit of birding here and there, and just taking it easy in the sun, and maybe thinking about another birding resolution for 2013!

Calgary Christmas Count in Inglewood

Dec23

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Last Sunday was a great day to be out counting birds. The weather was pleasant for the most part, and the sun came out, allowing for a few good photographs. I was covering the Inglewood Golf Course, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Pearce Estate, and adjacent areas with Ian Neilson and Troy Bourque (both excellent photographers). At the end of the day I checked out the zoo grounds by myself – counting only wild birds.

We started the day walking the golf course and spent about two and a half hours checking the Bow River and looking for passerines. (We had permission from the club to be on their grounds for the count – you don’t need permission to walk the riverbank, but it is a very difficult walk in spots.) There were plenty of Canada Geese and Mallards on the river, plus a few Common Goldeneyes, but nothing else.

Troy Mallards

Mallards on the river.  Photo by Troy Bourque

On the golf course itself we did find one mixed flock of several Black-capped Chickadees, three White-breasted Nuthatches, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Brown Creeper. A Rough-legged Hawk made a low flyover – the first RLHA I recall seeing in this part of the city. Across the river we spotted an adult Bald Eagle, which then flew over us, and was joined by its mate. The pair settled in the same tree on the golf course where they have nested for the past few years (they always overwinter and spend a lot of time near this tree).

Troy Eagle 1

Bald Eagle on the Inglewood Golf Course.  Photo by Troy Bourque

_96B2724

One of the adult eagles. Photo by Ian Neilson

_96B2664 - Version 5 (1024x683)

Eagle on takeoff.  Photo by Ian Neilson

A little farther along we came upon a porcupine perched in a Water Birch at eye level, feeding. The porcupine didn’t mind us at all, so the photographers got some very close shots!

_96B2562 - Version 2 (1024x909)

You don’t see these every day!  Photo by Ian Neilson

Troy Porcupine 1

Don’t you just want to give him a big hug?  Photo by Troy Bourque

_96B2625 - Version 2 (1024x830)

Photo by Ian Neilson

Troy Porcupine 2

Our best mammal of the day.  Photo by Troy Bourque

It was some pretty tough walking through the snow and brush along the river, so we stopped for a rest and a hearty breakfast at the clubhouse. Then we were off to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary across the river.  It was the middle of the day and pretty quiet. The chickadees were aggressively looking for handouts of seeds as usual, but we offered only to take their portraits.

Troy me

Can you please hold still for 1/500 of a second?  Photo by Troy Bourque

IMG_4550 (2)

Photo by Bob Lefebvre

We had an unusually low number of woodpeckers for the day – no Downies, only one Northern Flicker, and this bird.

IMG_4576 (2)

Hairy Woodpecker at IBS.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre

After the sanctuary Ian had to depart, and Troy and I had a quick walk around Pearce Estates, which was even quieter than IBS. Then Troy had to leave, and I rushed over to cover the zoo before it got dark. The zoo grounds attract quite a few wild birds because there is a lot of food scattered around for the zoo animals, and lots of cover. It was a little strange to be rushing past Snow Leopards and Siberian Tigers with hardly a glance, but taking note of every House Sparrow.

IMG_4598

Mallards.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre

Over half of the European Starlings reported on the count were at the zoo – 56 out of 109, which is a fairly low number for starlings on the Calgary count.

IMG_4630

European Starlings in winter plumage.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre

As the light started to fade, I heard a Golden-crowned Kinglet in a stand of Spruces, but couldn’t see the bird. I remembered something that Dan Arndt had told me – kinglets will respond strongly to a playback of their call even in winter – so I played the call on my smart phone app. Within a fraction of a second, three aggressive little kinglets materialized right in front of me, flitting about, vocalizing, and flaring their crown feathers.

IMG_4640 (2)

Golden-crowned Kinglet.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre

IMG_4638

Here you can even see some of the red in the centre of the golden crown.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre

Then it was off to Arthur and Donna Wieckowski’s to compile the data and enjoy a great chili dinner. For a while it looked like we were going to have a low number of species for the count, but as the last few routes reported, we ended up with 65 species, exactly on our average for the last twenty years.

It was a very long day of birding but also very enjoyable, as always!

Sunday Showcase: Strathmore Birds

Dec23

Mitchell Kranz took a drive around Strathmore earlier this month, and set a personal record of seeing six Snowy Owls in one day, all within 20 minutes of Strathmore. He also found a Prairie Falcon at Hwy 9 near the intersection with the Trans Canada Highway.

_MG_4411

_MG_4445

_MG_4446

A few days later, he had an immature Gyrfalcon near Turner Valley. (Note: We originally labelled this bird as a Prairie Falcon, based on the dark axillaries and prominent malar stripe in the picture below.  We have added a second picture, which more clearly shows it to be a Gyrfalcon.)

Prairie Falcon

_MG_4625

Postcards from Texas: Yardbirds

Dec22

Posted by Matthew Sim

As I’m sure many of you know, there can be some very busy points in our lives; right now I’m preparing for semester finals at school, keeping up with sports, preparing for a return to Calgary over Christmas and trying to keep up with the birding. While I can’t always get out, there is always time to notice the birds in my backyard. Here are some of the regulars.

Yellow-rumped Warbler; showing off that characteristic yellow rump!

Yellow-rumped Warbler; showing off that characteristic yellow rump!

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler; is it just me or can anybody else see a faint orange streak just above his eye?

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

By the time you see this I will be back in Calgary for 2 weeks; I’m looking forward to some good northern birding again!

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Dec 20

Dec21

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, email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com .  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.

Compiled by Terry Korolyk

Dec. 15

CLARK’S NUTCRACKER, Hawkwood area in NW Calgary.Observer unknown.

Dec. 16

The following are highlights of species seen during the Calgary CBC on the 16th.:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER; BOHEMIAN WAXWING(17,000); RED CROSSBILLS(237);WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS(1101);COMMON REDPOLLS(1940); NORTHERN
GOSHAWK(8);MOURNING DOVE(4);TRUMPETER SWAN(2);GADWALL(1);REDHEAD(23);LESSER SCAUP(9);

Dec. 17

RING-NECKED DUCK(1),Policeman’s Flats, Bow River,

Dec. 19

GREATER SCAUP(2),Bow River,Beaverdam Flats, by Terry Korolyk
NORTHERN PINTAIL(M),Bow River,Beaverdam Flats, by Bill Wilson
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE, BROWN CREEPER, PILEATED WOODPECKER, Fish Creek PP, Ravens Rock area, by Phil Quinn.
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER(f), Fish Creek PP,south of creek between bridges 5+6, by Andrew Slater.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Mon. Dec.24, 2012