Photos from Marg Matheson and Alan Plumb. Thanks for sending these beautiful shots, folks!
The bills on these Evening Grosbeaks are just starting to turn green. They change from the bone colour of winter to a deciduous-bud green in early spring.
This beautiful gray Gyrfalcon was seen just west of Fort Macleod.
Normally thought of as living only in British Columbia, the range of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee does extend – just barely – into southwestern Alberta.
I am trying to identify a bird I saw in the park in Bankview today – it was sandpiper-like, with a yellow curved bill, tipped with black. I would say it was medium sized – a bit larger than a robin. It was a mottled or spotted buff, with a distinctive black bar on its chest. When it flew, the undersides of its wings were rust-coloured. I have looked at a whole lot of photos, and don’t see this bird. It was in the grass, and appeared to be digging up insects. I took pics, but you can’t see the bird really well in them.
That sounds like a Northern Flicker, a type of woodpecker that often feeds on ants on the ground. Do a search for flicker on the blog or online to see photos and see if that’s it.
These are beautiful photos of birds not seen that often in Calgary! Thanks for sharing