Tag Archive | alberta birds

Family Time For The Birds

I had a day off this last Tuesday so I took the opportunity to go biking and birding in Fish Creek Provincial Park. It was a beautiful morning; the sun was out, the sky was blue, the birds were singing and the weather was warm; finally! I got to Fish Creek at around 8:30 a.m. entering the park just off the intersection of Canyon Meadows drive and Acadia . I was preparing to go down the steep hill into the park only to find that the trail was flooded! Instead I followed the trail around the ridge until I entered the park beside the ranch.I did some random wandering on small paths through Fish Creek, finding a pheasant, a kingfisher, several catbirds and 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, among other birds. I then carried on to bridge number 11, leading to Hull’s Wood. Rounding a bend in the path I was surprised to see a male Pileated Woodpecker, just  meters from the path. Before I could get my camera out of my bag, he had flown further away; apparently he was surprised to see me!

I reached Sikome Lake and rode my bike up the hill, in hopes of finding some Great Horned Owls and their owlets; I was not disappointed! There in their regular tree, was the Great Horned Owl family, two young ones and one adult.

As I continued my circuit, I found some more interesting birds, including some Green-winged Teal.

And the Pelicans! The water is so high in the river that pelicans are everywhere; I was able to count up to 27 pelicans at one time, half in the water, half circling in the sky, their bright white feathers contrasting magnificently with the clear blue sky. Another post on the pelicans will follow this one. However, this day, was truly the day of families. At one secluded spot near the river, I found 4 different nests all within a couple of feet of each other. The first belonged to a Downy Woodpecker, the second to a House Wren and the last two to Tree Swallows.

At the Downy Woodpecker nest, the male would visit the hole every couple of minutes and would be instantly greeted with the call of the hungry young in the inside. He continued his work incessantly, feeding his ever hungry offspring.

The House Wrens hardly ever came in and out of their nest but the male was always nearby, singing very loudly and stopping only for the occasional break.

The Tree Swallows would vigorously defend their nests from potential threats, such as the kestrel that flew over several times. The Kestrel in turn would chase away a Swainson’s Hawk that could have been a potential threat to the Kestrel’s family.

As I was leaving the park in late morning I came across a coyote sitting on a hill, looking very content as well as many Savannah Sparrows singing.

Family time for the birds is a busy time of year; I saw 52 species of birds that morning and I had luck as I got to see  some of them raising their families.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Birds of the Weaselhead

Last week we went for a walk through the Weaselhead area of SW Calgary.  It was very wet and the rivers were high, but we did manage to find some nice birds.

The creek near the junction with the Elbow River.

Eastern Phoebes are nesting under both of the wooden bridges…

There are lots of Least Flycatchers in the area…

It appears that Beavers have chewed through this retaining wall, just to make it easier for them to get from the forest to their pond…

We saw this male Calliope Hummingbird do its spectacular U-shaped display flight, where it climbs to a height of about 80 feet, and then dives rapidly towards the ground, and up again…

We never saw any Pileated Woodpeckers, but there is evidence of their activities on many of the big trees…

Cliff Swallows at their mud nests under the bridge over the Elbow River…

A Spotted Sandpiper was feeding on top of some logs in the river…

Cedar Waxwings were busy flycatching along the waterways…

And there were several Red Squirrels, looking for handouts…

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Photo Feathers: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (?)

I took these pictures in the Weaselhead/South Glenmore area on Friday June 17.  I have seen male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks there before so I assumed this was a female Rose-breasted, but it’s possible that it is a Black-headed Grosbeak or hybrid, or a juvenile.  All opinions on its ID are welcome in the comments.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Bird Profile: Western Kingbird

A large flycatcher with a yellow belly, pale grey head and breast and a black tail with white stripes down the sides, the Western Kingbird is one of my favorite birds. Eating mostly insects, the Kingbird is always ready to snatch its next meal; whether from a perch or on the ground.

Nesting in tall cottonwoods along river valleys, the Western Kingbird can be difficult to find in Calgary. Probably the best spot in the city to look for this neat bird is Lafarge Meadows, in Fish Creek, south of 22x where they nest.

More social than other kingbirds, at times, several pairs of Western Kingbird may be found nesting in the same tree. They readily attack crows, ravens, hawks and other larger birds that can be potential predators to them and their young.

The Western Kingbird has a distinguishing lemon yellow belly.

Posted by Matthew Sim

May Species Count – Longview Area

One of the areas that I surveyed for the May Species Count on Sunday May 29 was the Longview area, an hour SW of Calgary.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get to some of the best birding spots due to the wet weather, but the conditions were pretty good.  There was water flowing across some of the side roads but I did get through.

This creek was very high…

There was still quite a bit of snow at high elevations…

The Bar U Ranch road, looking west to the mountains…

I managed to find 75 species, which is a good total for that territory.  I was quite frustrated near the end of the day by my inability to find a House Sparrow anywhere in the town of Longview!  No House Finches there either.  I also saw about 35 Black Terns in a pond that was just out of my territory, and they refused to come over to a perfectly good pond on my side of the boundary.

But I did have some unexpected birds as well, including two Red-breasted Mergansers.  Here are some other highlights (as usual, you can click on the photos to enlarge them).

Mountain Bluebirds are commonly seen near the bluebird boxes…

Female Mountain Bluebird…

Tree Swallows are nesting in many of the Bluebird boxes…

I got a good look at this Red-eyed Vireo…

Male Red-naped Sapsucker…

Because of the high water, there were few shorebirds other than Spotted Sandpipers and a few of these Wilson’s Snipe…

I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Harlequin Ducks on the Highwood River at the Green View campground…

I only saw one pair of Green-winged Teal, but this male swam very close to me…

The final surprise of the day was this beautiful Red Fox, which seemed to be completely unconcerned with my presence, and walked right by me…

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

May Species Count

Last week, I, along with many other keen birders, did the Calgary and area May Species Count. Two other great birders and I were assigned the south part of the city, our borders were; north to Glenmore Trail, west and south to the Bow river and east to the City limits.  We had a great time, birding for 9 hours on Saturday, driving 139 kilometers and recording 87 birds. We saw many great birds, some of the highlights being 2 Hooded Mergansers, a Western Grebe, a Ferruginous Hawk, a Veery, a Blackpoll Warbler and a Townsend’s Solitaire. The Solitaire was a real surprise as it was far away from its normal habitat and was way too far south.

A Townsend’s Solitaire, way off course.

The Solitaire caught a bug and attempted to swallow it…

But had some difficulty. Eventually, the Solitaire got the bug down the hatch.

Other birds seen included several coots on nests…

Many Red-winged Blackbirds…

And a posing crow.

The May Species Count is held annually and will therefore be held again next year, if you haven’t done it yet, it could be a great time to start.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Grebes, grebes, grebes

Grebes are a worldwide family of aquatic diving birds with lobed toes, making them strong swimmers. There are 22 species of Grebe found across the world with 6 of those being found here in Alberta. Grebes are very clumsy on land and therefore spend most of their time on the water, staying there to feed, sleep and court. One of the oldest living family of birds, they can dive down 6m below the surface and can remain submerged for up to 30 seconds, where they search for small fish, aquatic insects and crustaceans to eat.

Of the 6 species of Grebes that live in Alberta, 5 of these can be seen in the Calgary region; above is the Horned Grebe, an attractive grebe that may be seen in Calgary on the Mckenzie Towne Ponds, which is where I saw this one last week.

Similar to the Horned Grebe is the Eared Grebe which can be distinguished from its close relative by its yellow feathered “ears” instead of compact “horns”. I find that one of the best places to see Eared Grebes is at Frank Lake, near High River.

The Western Grebe, together with Clark’s Grebe (which is only seen in the far south of Alberta), is a very large grebe. Below, is a procession of birds; from left to right; first is an Eared Grebe, then a Western Grebe, followed by another Eared Grebe and another Western Grebe. After that is a Franklin’s Gull and an Eared Grebe bringing up the rear.

The Pied-billed Grebe is the most common grebe in North America; it is also very intelligent. When apprehensive, the Pied-billed Grebe will sink slowly, expelling air from the body and feathers to lower their gravity, then they will swim with only their head above the water, facilitating an escape if need be. The adult Pied-billed Grebe is similar to the juvenile (juvenile below), except it will have uniformly colored cheeks and a black ring on its beak.

The last Grebe that can be seen in Alberta is the Red-necked Grebe, a large noisy bird with a broad black crown, white cheek patches and chestnut neck.

Grebes are a very varied family of birds and all are beautiful; makes sense when you find out that they are related to loons; a family of birds that amaze many people!

Posted by Matthew Sim