Tag Archive | bird blog calgary

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Jan 9

Jan10

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This report was prepared on Thursday, Jan 9.

Sunday, JANUARY 8
–SNOWY OWL (5 + 9) – 5 observed by Terry Poulton on TwpRd 262, E of RgeRd 262 (near Bruce Lake). 9 owls seen by Terry Korolyk included 6 on RgeRd 253 & TwpRd 262 between Hwy 564 and RgeRd 255; 1 on TwpRd 240 at Cheadle; 2 E of Shepard (one on TwpRd 232, the second on RgeRd 284 just S of TwpRd 232)

Saturday JANUARY 7
–LESSER SCAUP (1f 1m) – N of Hwy 22x bridge over the Bow R by TK
–AMERICAN KESTREL (1m) – E of Hwy 22 on TwpRd 320 at RgeRd 42 (NW of Cochrane) by Ron Kube
–AMERICAN DIPPER (1) – Big Hill Springs PP by Steve Kassai
–GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET (2) – location as above by SK
–PINE GROSBEAK (2) – location as above by SK

Friday, JANUARY 6
–WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (1f) – seen by Carol Coulter in her yard in SE Calgary

Wednesday, JANUARY 4
–RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (1) – last reported sighting – by Jeff Bank, coming to a feeder at Karen Scott’s, adjacent to SW corner of George Lane Park in High River

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday, Jan 12, 2012.

Calgary Area Bird Photos

Jan9

Blog reader and photographer Duane Starr has sent us a couple of  links to his beautiful bird photographs.

You can see his collection at Northern Hawk Owl slide show or view a variety of Calgary birds here, including some great shots of the tiny Brown Creeper.

Thank you Duane, for sharing your work!

Posted by Pat Bumstead

The Scourge of the Feeder

Jan9

I’ve been dabbling in bird feeding since February of this year, and have had my ups and downs, but I’ve chalked it up to experience, and I think I’ve got it mostly figured out. I’ve also got a few ideas for feeders come springtime, such as an oriole feeder, and setting up some hanging baskets and a hummingbird feeder to try to lure some more colorful birds in.

While my yard list is nowhere near as impressive as that of Pat Bumstead, in the last year I’ve managed to lure in House Sparrows, a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, a few Northern Flickers, the ever present Black-capped Chickadees, the odd House Finch or three, Black-billed Magpies, and of course, Rock Pigeons, which I’ve come to expect will regularly pick up the castoff seeds that the other birds throw onto the ground.

I live fairly close to downtown, and twice now I’ve been surprised to hear the sparrows, chickadees and magpies harassing something just outside, and the second time I heard it start up, I had my camera handy and was able to get outside and snap some shots.

In my research, I discovered that it’s not entirely uncommon or unheard of to find that a Sharp-shinned Hawk has taken down one of the birds at your feeder, and that in some cases they can stalk a feeder for days or weeks if it tends to be a reliable food source for them. Both times it appeared that it took down one of the House Sparrows, and each time it took nearly a week before my feeders were back to the numbers I’m used to seeing, so the birds probably have a decent memory for this sort of thing.

I often wonder how many other times birds have been taken at my feeders. Not only by these hawks, but by others, maybe Cooper’s Hawks, or even one of the neighborhood cats that I see wandering every once in a while.

The photos below are of one of these events. This Sharp-shinned Hawk took down a House Sparrow in one of the bushes next door, flew across the street with it, and then, as the Black-billed Magpies harassed it, it flew into the walkway between my house and my neighbor’s, allowing me to get close enough to watch it feeding. A warning though: some of these photos are fairly graphic, so if you’re averse to seeing “nature red in tooth and claw”, you may not want to look. Otherwise… enjoy?

Fresh Kill

Fresh kill

I do feel sorry for the little guy

After the initial kill, the Sharp-shinned Hawk flew across the street, where I was able to take these pictures from behind a parked car. The magpies harassed it until it flew back across the street, and into the walkway.

Here is the Sharpie taking a bit of a break before getting back to its meal

Dinner is served

A car pulled up on the street out front, once again disturbing the hawk from its meal. It hopped up on the fence to finish it off, but it wasn’t too long before the Black-billed Magpies found it and started harassing again.

Two Black-billed Magpies harass and scold the Sharp-shinned Hawk

This Magpie was the braver of the two, but seemed to be only a minor annoyance to the Sharpie.

The brave Magpie attempts a second, but ineffective, attack.

No matter. The Sharp-shinned Hawk finished its meal despite the annoyance, and flew off to the east. I wonder if I’ll see him again some time soon?

The Sharp-shinned Hawk finishes the last few bites of its meal.

Appearing quite satisfied with itself and its meal, the Sharp-shinned Hawk pauses for a photo before flying off.

Posted by Dan Arndt

Sunday Showcase: Pine Grosbeaks

Jan1

Rob English took these shots in December right outside his house, resulting in some great pics and a life bird for himself!  Rob says, “the pictures on the ground are of one who had crashed into the neighbor’s window. The first one is right after she hit and the last one was just before she was flying again. I watched her for about 45 minutes before she flew just to make sure the cats didn’t get her. The robin was hanging out in the tree with these guys. There must have been about 15 female grosbeaks and only one male.” Click to enlarge.

A Canada Big Year

Dec30

Four Calgary birders – Ray Woods, Brian Elder, Mike Mulligan and Phil Cram – are planning to do a Canada-wide Big Year in 2012.  A Big Year is an attempt to see or hear as many species of birds (and mammals in this case) as possible in a calendar year, in a specific geographic area.  Our four local birders are going to confine their activities to Canada, but they intend to see as much of Canada as possible, travelling to all the provinces and territories.

Their goal is to get 500 birds and mammals combined, and of course each of them has individual goals as well about extending their life lists or Canada lists, or seeing particular species.

They have started a blog to track their progress, and it’s going to be fascinating to watch their quest unfold.  They will begin here in Calgary on New Year’s Day with the Fish Creek Park bird count.

Northern Pygmy-Owl, one of the birds they hope see in the                             Calgary area in early January.             

There are already some posts on their blog giving details of their plans and itinerary.  Check it out at Fur & Feathers 500 – it will definitely be a blog worth following in the coming year.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Wednesday Wings: Varied Thrush

Dec28

On of my favourite Christmas presents this year was an adult male Varied Thrush that arrived in our front yard on Christmas Day, just as we were opening our gifts.

When it first flew across our front yard, I thought it was a robin, a bird it is closely related to.  I saw a robin in the neighbourhood as recently as December 17.  But the male Varied Thrush has unmistakable orange and black markings.

These beautiful birds are not too common in Calgary, with just a few reports every year on migration, and the occasional one overwintering here.  This one appears to be trying to overwinter in our neighbourhood, as it has now been seen feeding in our yard for three straight days.  This is the first time we’ve had one in our yard, and only the second one I’ve seen in Calgary.  We didn’t have one reported on the recent Christmas Bird Count, so I wonder where this bird was then?

Here is a video of the Varied Thrush feeding on niger and sunflower seed.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Christmas Bird Count in East Calgary

Dec26

It’s been a busy week, but now I finally have time to post about my Christmas Bird Count experience.  This year I was assigned to cover route E8 with Andrew Hart.  This area is a narrow strip along the eastern edge of the count circle, bordering 84 Street at the extreme east edge of the circle, and reaching to McKnight Boulevard in the NE and Shepard Road in the SE.  It is an area that requires a lot of driving, scanning the open areas for raptors.  We had high hopes of finding a Prairie Falcon, or perhaps even a Snowy Owl.

The only open water is in the northeast corner of Elliston Lake, but this can harbour a lot of waterfowl at times.  We went there twice, and unfortunately there were very few birds on the water.  We did find four Hooded Mergansers, which were only reported on one other route, and also the only Lesser Scaup of the day.  Other than that, there were only Mallards, Canada Geese, and Common Goldeneyes.

Although we failed to find a Snowy Owl or a Prairie Falcon, we did find three Rough-legged Hawks on the day, two of which I managed to photograph.  Here is one with typical markings.

 

The other one, pictured perched below, had much darker underwings when it flew (which I failed to photograph).

The highlight as far as raptors went was a Northern Harrier, which was the only one reported on the count.  We didn’t get a picture, but after it flew, we saw something else in the shrubs along 50 Avenue and 68 Street SE, so we got out to investigate.  We flushed ten Ring-necked Pheasants out of the ditch, 7 males and 3 females or immatures.  Then we noticed that there were flocks of small birds all along the shrubs there, which proved to be upwards of 200 Common Redpolls (we tried to find a Hoary Redpoll among them, but no luck).

Common Redpoll (photo by Andrew Hart).

When we were checking out the redpolls, one bird stood out as much larger than the rest.  It was clearly a sparrow of some kind, but with the sun behind it we couldn’t initially see the colours or markings very well, and we weren’t sure what it was.  We lost track of it for a while, and I went around to the other side of the bushes.  We found three American Tree Sparrows among the redpolls, and although that wasn’t what our mystery sparrow was, they were good birds for the count, since only six were reported altogether, an unusually low number.

American Tree Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Finally the large sparrow reappeared, and with sun behind me I could see it well enough to see that it was a first-year Harris’s Sparrow.  These aren’t common here at any time, and only two were seen on count day.

Harris’s Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Harris’s Sparrow (photo by Andrew Hart).

Also nearby, on 51 Avenue near 68 Street, we saw a dozen Gray Partridges.  I got a poor photo of one.

We spent some time checking out the residential areas in the northeast, where we turned up a few new species.  The highlight was a pair of American Crows.  Terry Koryluk, who usually covers this route but was unable to this year, told us that there were two hanging out near Lester B. Pearson High School on 52 Street.  As soon as we pulled up there, the crows appeared and perched in a tree right in front of us.

We saw a lot of magpies, and the biggest concentration was at this deer carcass.

As for mammals, we saw a dozen (living) Mule Deer in all, and a few Eastern Gray Squirrels, but surprisingly, we saw no Coyotes.

Altogether we recorded 20 species of birds for the day, and although we missed a couple that we hoped to see, we saw a couple of others that were pleasant surprises.  The mild weather and the excellent wind-up at the Flynns’ made it another very enjoyable Christmas Bird Count.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Christmas Weekend Birding Road Trip!

Dec26

Merry Christmas, dear readers!

This weekend I had the opportunity to seek out some of the gorgeous birds seen around Calgary that are a little rarer than usual. On Saturday, I took a circuitous route down to High River, but first stopped in Bragg Creek, and Turner Valley before reaching High River, then headed south to the small town of Azure, then finally up to Frank Lake before returning to my family’s place in High River for a pre-Christmas get together.

The route itself was beautifully scenic, and was an incredibly warm day thanks to a Chinook arch that hung over the Rockies. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t die down until early afternoon, keeping much of the activity down until I reached Turner Valley. I had a few birds on my list that I was searching for, but unfortunately had little luck with any of them. First and foremost was one of the many Snowy Owls that have been seen recently thanks to a record irruption this year, possibly due to a crash in the arctic lemming population. Secondly was a Northern Hawk Owl seen just west of Turner Valley, which unfortunately was nowhere to be found, despite being recorded just a week before. Driving back through Turner Valley and over to Black Diamond, three Rough-legged Hawks were seen on power poles and fence posts, but were far too wary for me to stop the vehicle and get my camera leveled before they flew off.

Black Diamond, Alberta

Black Diamond, Alberta

Two more were seen on the eastern edge of Black Diamond and again flew off before I could take a photo. I was becoming a little disheartened until I saw a slightly unusual form atop a power pole less than two hundred meters from the last Rough-legged Hawk that had flushed.

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

Gyrfalcon

I’ve convinced myself that this is a Gyrfalcon, based on the general size, thick moustache bars, black hood, and presence of a prominent eyebrow not seen on a Peregrine Falcon, and it certainly does not display the streaking or barring on the chest one might see in a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk.

Continuing on to High River, another three Rough-legged Hawks were spotted along the route, which ended up at George Lane Park, the location reporting the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it on this trip down, though it was getting a bit later on in the afternoon, but I will be back to find it again soon.

I headed down to Azure, where another Snowy Owl had been reported, and again I came up empty handed.

I decided Frank Lake would be a worthwhile destination despite the waning sunlight, and I got there with just a little over an hour of daylight left. Walking in from the main gate of Basin 1, it seemed eerily quiet, with the feathers from a recently killed pheasant or grouse littering the road. I thought for sure I would return empty handed from this location as well as it appeared that the entire lake had frozen over. I’m not sure if I would have been more upset had the entire lake been empty, but I did get a little bit of a twinge at my heartstrings when the only bird I found on the entire lake was this lone Tundra Swan. A little disheveled and dirty, it appears that this swan missed the larger flocks migrating south, or for some reason decided to attempt to winter here. I certainly hope that it survives.

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

I returned to High River to visit with my family, and vowed I’d see a Snowy Owl before Christmas was through, and I was not disappointed when I headed out on the afternoon of Christmas Day.

Just two days prior, Gus Yaki had reported that 8 (yes, 8!) Snowy Owls had been seen along Highway 9 between Drumheller and Irricana, on their return trip from the Drumheller Christmas Bird Count, so I thought for sure if I retraced their steps that luck would be in my favor.

The first Snowy Owl was just before we reached Irricana on Highway 9. In fact, I almost missed it as I was coming up to a turn, but just happened to glance up and see this female high up on a telephone pole. After turning around and getting my camera set, she flushed, and set down a little further away near an operating gas well, but decided to flush once again and lighted atop a fence-post on the west edge of is well site.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

The second was found a short while later, just off of Highway 21. This female flushed once from near the highway off to the nearby township road, and then returned to the Highway as I turned to head back to Calgary, affording a few choice views.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

All in all, I consider the weekend a success, with three more species to add to my life list, and a few decent photos to remember them by.

Posted by Dan Arndt

Winter Killdeer

Dec24

Last weekend on the Christmas Bird Count, I came across a very photogenic Killdeer. These abundant shorebirds, usually only stay the summer in Calgary, several birds, however, also stay the winter.

Despite our frigid winters, these hardy Killdeer seem to manage all right, we see them throughout the winter which must mean that they are surviving. They are definitely finding food, as can be seen in the photo below.

This Killdeer seemed to be finding enough food

At one point, I even saw this particular bird with a small morsel of food clenched in its beak.

This Killdeer was fearless and approached me; which is quite a nice change as a photographer! It also engaged in the species peculiar method of moving; they run for a few feet, stop, look around, flick their tail up, bob their head up and down a couple times, and then repeat this cycle over again.

Just finished a short run, the Killdeer stops, looks around and...

Bobs it's head out of the photo, leaving the photographer with an unusual result; but a good story!

Each year, Killdeer are seen wintering in Calgary, somewhere on the Bow River. Though it may seem like a daft idea to many of us, this species obviously are doing just fine!

A Merry Christmas to you from all of us here at the blog!

Posted by Matthew Sim

Schoolyard Swainson’s

Dec22

Last July, right before I moved to Texas, I was treated to an incredible sight: a dark-morph Swainson’s Hawk perched on a fence in a school parking lot. This hawk was incredibly close to the sidewalk and allowed for some great photos, all the while sitting calmly on its perch.

 This hawk didn’t seem to be injured, it just seemed to be very tolerant of people. Supposedly, Swainson’s Hawks are accepting of human activity and tolerate even more in areas where this activity is more frequent. This species will often become accustomed to disturbance from humans, thus the higher level of tolerability. This hawk, however did still seem to be giving me the evil eye!

After a couple minutes, the impressive raptor, slowly turned away (above) and resumed its activities as if I wasn’t even there.

This is not the first time this year that a Swainson’s Hawk has allowed me to get very close to it, back in May, while we bloggers were doing the Big Sit, we observed a Swainson’s that allowed us to watch it from merely several feet away http://birdscalgary.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/swainsons-hawk/.

This was definitely one of the cooler birding parts of the summer!

Posted by Matthew Sim