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 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.
February 28
–RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. Present in George Lane Park in High River since Oct.2011; seen recently by Phil Quinn.
–BARROW’S GOLDENEYE(3), Bow River at Carburn park, by Gus Yaki et al.
March 1
–HOODED MERGANSER(1), seen during Elbow River survey, by GY et al.
–SNOW BUNTING(1), N. end of Nose Hill park, by PQ.
March 3
–SWAN (sp), seen at Frank Lake by Terry Korolyk. May be the same bird seen there since Dec.2011.
–GREEN-WINGED TEAL(F). Bow River at Policeman’s Flats SE of Calgary, by TK.
–THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, Griffith Woods park, by Steve Kassai.
–NORTHERN GOSHAWK, Griffith Woods park, by SK.
–PILEATED WOODPECKER, (same as above) by SK.
–HORNED LARK. small numbers seen by TK between High River and Carseland.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday, March 8.
BIRD STUDY GROUP – Meets the first Wednesday of the month, September-May at 7:30 pm, Room 211, BioSciences Building, University of Calgary.The next meeting will be Wednesday March 7. The program is titled “High Science: The The Natural History of Alpine Ptarmigan”, by Kathy Martin.
I saw a merganser in Vancouver.
Is it rare for that part of the world too?
Just moved to Calgary, love all the magpies hopping around!
Red-breasted Merganser would be seen on migration there as it is here, but probably in much larger numbers. Hooded and Common Mergansers would not be rare there as far as I can tell from range maps.