Tag Archive | bird blog calgary

Show Us Your Butts: Contest Finalists!

Posted by Dan Arndt

It’s been quite a challenge this week narrowing down and picking our favourite for this contest, and now it’s your turn!

Take a look at our selected Top 11, and vote on your favourite bird butt!

Rufous Hummingbird Butt

Swan Butts

Mallard Butts

Killdeer Butt

Osprey Butt

European Starling Butts

Canada Warbler Butt

Green Jay Butt (taken in the US)

Gray-crowned Rosy Finch Butts

Osprey Butt in action

American Dipper Butt

And while we did receive a few mammalian submissions for this Bird Butt contest, I would like to give a pre-emptive honorable mention to Rob English, who provided us with this great photo of a Red Fox butt!

Red Fox Butt

Thanks for reading, voting, and have a great birding week!

Review: Swarovski ATX-85 Angled Spotting Scope – Yes, it’s that good.

Aug19

Posted by Dan Arndt

Earlier this year I was asked by the amazing people at Swarovski if I would be interested in testing out some of their optics, and writing a review of my experiences. To put a fine point on it, I could not have been happier to say yes, and in retrospect, I’d have to say it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I’m going to go over my general points with some photo assistance, and hopefully convince some of you to take a second look at Swarovski Optik gear.

Swarovski ATX-85 + Swarovski TLS APO Digiscoping Adapter + Pentax K-30

As you can see in the above photo, this setup is entirely manual focus. To be honest, I was incredibly skeptical that I would be able to get clear, sharp photos of fast-moving birds. I had recently picked up a new tripod with a pan/tilt head, which I would recommend for any digiscoper to start with, and also a remove infrared shutter release, which works both in front of and behind my Pentax K-30, which was also indispensable.

The trick behind manually focusing while digiscoping… take a lot of shots, and practice, practice, practice. I’ve read blogs and forums focused on digiscoping, and the general rule of thumb seems to be 1 good photo for every 100 photos taken. Maybe it’s the prior experience I’ve had with digiscoping, or just the quality of the equipment, but I found I was able to use nearly 1/3 of all the images I took. It was a lot harder choosing which photos not to use rather than the ones that I would keep!

Northern Shoveler at Weed Lake – April 14, 2013
Swarovski ATX-85 + Pentax K-30 @30x magnification
1/800 sec., f/13, ISO 400

Black Tern at Eagle Lake – May 18, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@40X magnification
1/250sec., f/16, ISO 1600

Killdeer at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary - April 16, 2013 Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX85@30X magnification 1/250sec., f/10, ISO 1600

Killdeer at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary – April 16, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX85@30X magnification
1/250sec., f/13, ISO 1600

Mountain Bluebird at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary – April 16, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@40X magnification
1/320 sec., f/16, ISO 1600

Where the Swarovski ATX-85 Angled Spotting Scope and TLS APO Digiscoping adapter really excel though, is with birds that are a little more sedentary. While getting action shots is pretty easy when the light is excellent, the stability of shooting on a tripod with a remote shutter allows for much lower than usual shutter speeds, allowing lower ISO compensation, or allowing even greater magnification. With the zoom ring located mid-way down the eyepiece, rather than just below it, and the focal ring located on the body of the scope itself, it allows for very fine adjustments to focal length and zoom without the adapter getting in the way, and without jostling the tripod off the target bird.

Gray-crowned Rosy Finch at Bearspaw Dam – April 13, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@60x magnfiication
1/320sec., f/22, ISO 3200

This Gray-crowned Rosy Finch was well inside an area marked with numerous No Trespassing, Private Property, and No Admittance signs, so I set up the scope, tripod, and camera rig midway up a hill about 150 meters away. The equivalent focal length of this scope at this magnification level is around 3000mm, once the 1.5x cropped sensor, 35mm equivalent adapter, and 60x magnification is factored in. To put this into some perspective, this bird is 140-160mm in length (about the size of a House Sparrow), and was taking up about 1/8 of the image in the display. To get an equivalent photo with my Pentax K-5 and Sigma 150-500, I would have had to be about 20 meters away from the bird, well within the clearly marked private property! The above photo was additionally cropped 50%. That speaks volumes to the sharpness of the glass and coatings that Swarovski uses in their spotting scopes.

Great Gray Owl on Grand Valley Road – April 20, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@60x magnification
1/320sec., f/22, ISO 400

If that last image didn’t convince you, maybe this one will. Again, this photo was taken at over 100 meters distance, with blowing snow, wind gusts, and terrible visibility. Once again, Swarovski comes through in a pinch. While this may not be an award-winning photo, it goes to show just how incredible the equipment actually is.

Now, there are some of you out there who aren’t really all up on this digiscoping thing yet, and just want a nice, clear scope, with great optics that’s easy to use. As I mentioned before, the lenses and coating on this scope are the top of the line. Even on very warm days, the heat distortion above 40x magnification was somewhat dispersed by the optics, making identification of distant birds seem like nothing at all. I like the angled scope too because it can be tilted at any angle to allow others to view, without changing the position of the scope. You can simply release the tripod ring, rotate the scope in place, and lock it back in at the appropriate eye level for the new viewer.

It also doesn’t really change anything if you’ve already got some accessories that you usually use to scope with, be they car window mounts, bean bags, or your current scope tripod, this scope will work with just about anything under the sun. If you’re interested in this scope, or any of Swarovski Optiks other amazing optics, check out their website at http://ca.swarovskioptik.com/nature, for their birding equipment, or http://ca.swarovskioptik.com/hunting for their hunting gear.

The review, in a nutshell:

Pros:

The scope itself is light, easy to clean, and best of all, totally waterproof.

It’s super easy to learn to use, and even with an entry-level tripod and camera can capture superb images.

The quality of the glass, coatings, and even transportability of the equipment is top-notch and very user friendly.

Cons:

The price point is obviously out of the range of many birders and photographers, simply because it’s the very top end of the line, but it’s worth every penny.

I did have a bit of trouble with the DRX Adapter sleeve not locking down properly, and coming loose off of the scope during transport. The reason this is an issue is that without a solid connection, vignetting of the images (black space where the eyepiece is blocking the adapter lens) becomes very apparent, especially at higher magnifications. It seems that a simple locking ring between the eyepiece itself and the adapter sleeve would be an easy fix.

Swarovski DRX Adapter sleeve for TLS-APO Adapter

And last but not least, the only major con that I can readily point out is that using this scope on a nearly daily basis for 3 months has completely ruined me for using my current digiscoping rig, let alone simply using my current scope for its intended purpose of simply spotting birds! Are there any generous benefactors who’d like to gift me one of these amazing scopes? 😉

I’ve added a few more photos below of some of the better shots I was able to get while I had the scope, and if you want to see even more, here’s a link to the photo album I set up on Flickr to show off all the photos I took while I had the scope this spring!

Green-winged Teal at Weed Lake – April 14, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@30X magnification
1/640sec., f/13, ISO 400

Red-necked Grebe at Frank Lake – April 27, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@20X magnification
1/400sec., f/10, ISO 800

Red-necked Grebe at Frank Lake – April 27, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@20X magnification
1/160sec., f/10, ISO 800

Long-billed Curlew at Glenmore Trail and Highway 24 Sloughs – May 18, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@50X magnification
1/250sec., f/20, ISO 1600

Franklin’s Gull at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary – May 10, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@30X magnification
1/320sec., f/13, ISO 800

Common Loon at Carburn Park – April 28, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@40X magnification
1/160sec., f/16, ISO 800

Lesser Scaup at Weed Lake – April 14, 2013
Pentax K-30 + Swarovski ATX-85@30X magnification
1/640sec., f/13, ISO 400

Thanks for reading, and good birding!

Birding after the Flood: How the 2013 flooding has impacted some of our favourite hotspots

Aug1

It’s been over a month now since Calgary has been back to “normal” post-flood… or at least for the most part. There are still people cleaning out, drying out, and even tearing out basements in Calgary, and some neighborhoods in High River have only just been allowed to go back into their homes that will undoubtedly be condemned and demolished due to the severe contamination from mold, sewage, and flood waters. And that’s just the homes. Infrastructure like bike paths, roads, and parks have been the hardest, hit, especially those near any sort of waterway.

The full list of park closures is on the City of Calgary Parks webpage here, but the short list is as follows: Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Carburn Park, The Weaselhead Flats, parts of Prince’s Island Park, lower Bowmont Park, Bowness Park, Griffith Woods, Lawrey Gardens, Sandy Beach, Stanley Park, Beaverdam Flats, Pearce Estate Park, and parts of Sue Higgins Park are all closed until further notice. Furthermore, the Weaselhead Flats are being assessed by the Department of National Defence after a live howitzer shell from military training exercises prior to 1933 was eroded and flushed down the Elbow River shortly following the worst of the flooding, and was found on July 3.

Given its positioning between two significant meanders of the Bow River, the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary was hit quite hard by the floods. Jeffries’ Pond became part of the river channel at the height of the flood, and the entire low-lying area below the Walker House was under water for days. Many of the trails, observation platforms, and even a few bridges are simply gone, and the cleanup is going to take months before the park has recovered. CBC Calgary did a story with some chilling pictures on how heavily the sanctuary was damaged on July 12, and according to the City of Calgary’s Parks page, the sanctuary is closed until further notice, while the Nature Centre remains open.

Carburn Park’s furthest north pond was formerly separated from the flow of the Bow River by a long, 10-15 foot wide gravel bar, which had a number of trees, grass, and shrubs established over the park’s 40 year history. Now, that pond is a spillway hardly separated from the main river channel at all.

Parts of Hull’s Wood, Lafarge Meadows, and Sikome Lake in Fish Creek Provincial Park have also suffered great damage from the flooding, either from ponds flooding over their banks from high rain volumes, from the river cutting away huge chunks of their former cut-banks, or even just from the sediment and debris load of the flooding dredging up the river bottom, destroying gravel and sand bars, and depositing inches of sediment on the grassy floodplains once the water levels subsided.

There are currently no volunteer opportunities to help clean up the parks, but keep your eyes on the site and we’ll keep you all up to date as we get new information!

A hummingbird nest

Jul31

Posted by Matthew Sim

Last year, I discovered a location in Fish Creek P.P. where I found 2 (and possibly all 3 species of hummingbirds that commonly occur in Calgary) nesting. In June, I had found a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and not long afterwards, Hank Vanderpol and I discovered what appeared to be a female Calliope hummingbird sitting on a nest. A couple weeks later, a Nature Calgary field trip I led to the area discovered a Rufous hummingbird nest not far away.

This year, I was finally able to get out and search for the hummingbirds last week. It took me about an hour before I finally spotted a hummingbird moving about, but always returning close to me. That’s when I realized that this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird (for this is what it was), might have a nest nearby.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Sure enough, before very long, the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird had flown to her nest which had not been too far away from me the entire time.

At first the nest was tough to spot…

It was neat to watch the female as she sat on her nest, presumably incubating eggs. From time to time she would fly off but she was always alert and ready to defend her nest.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

The most interesting part of watching this hummingbird though was the way she defended her nest from anything she perceived to be a threat, including a confused and startled Cedar Waxwing who twice made the mistake of landing too near the hummingbird’s nest. She swiftly drove the waxwing off despite the fact it probably wasn’t a threat; I suppose one can never be too cautious!

Returning back to her nest

I will do my best to follow this nest in the coming weeks and see what comes of it. Hoping that the female will successfully raise her brood of young!

Sunday Showcase: American Avocets

Jul28

Posted by Matthew Sim

Did you know…

Jul25

Posted by Matthew Sim

I am going to try this out as a new weekly post in which I will feature a fact or two about a bird species or birding topic and hopefully with a photo included. So, for this week`s Did you know… we feature the Cedar Waxwing.

Did you know…

The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few birds in North America that can live primarily off fruit. Thanks to this eating habit, when young cowbirds are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests the cowbirds usually don`t survive because they can`t live off a diet of fruit. This is a double-edged sword for the waxwings though as sometimes they get quite drunk and can occasionally die when they eat overripe berries that are fermenting and producing alcohol.

Birds and Bugs of Dinosaur PP: Part 2

Jul23

Posted by Matthew Sim

When we woke the next morning, we were hoping for fewer bugs but, much to out dismay, neither the numbers nor the ferocity of the mosquitoes had diminshed. Fortunately we had only planned to stay the morning anyways. I decided to brave the bugs and went out birding along the river where nighthawks and swallows seemed to do little to keep the bugs at bay! An Eastern Kingbird did pose for me, as did a preening Northern Flicker.

Eastern Kingbird

This Northern Flicker paused from preening to give me a cautious look

Robins and Mourning Doves sang continuously and eventually I managed to spot three of the doves.

Mourning Dove

One of the highlights of the morning for me, however was a mammal. I enjoyed close-up views of a pair of Nuttall’s Cottontail, a species pf rabbit we don’t get to see in Calgary.

Nuttall’s Cottontail

The other highlight was watching a group of Common Nighthawks chase down insects in the sky. While I was watching one particular individual, it proceeded to do a mid-air shake, ruffling out its feathers and fanning out its tail; of which I only managed to capture a mediocre image.

After spending an hour or so birding, we finished up our time at Dinosaur Provincial Park on a bus tour throughout the badlands where I got more good looks at Western Meadowlarks and Rock Wrens. I definitely loved the park, but I guess now I have to figure out when is the best time to visit without the bugs! I imagine there would be very few mosquitoes in December…

Birds and Bugs of Dinosaur PP: Part 1

Jul22

Posted by Matthew Sim

This past Thursday, some family friends and I went camping for a night in the beautiful badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, several hours east of Calgary. A very neat place to camp with some gorgeous scenery and good birds, we also discovered another attribute of the park; mosquitoes. Mosquitoes apart, we enjoyed the park and some of its avian inhabitants that we can’t see here in Calgary.

No sooner had we parked the car by the river when a Ring-billed Gull began circling over us. Looking for handouts perhaps?!

Ring-billed Gull

After eating lunch by the Red Deer River, we headed up to the hoodoos for a hike, on where we were serenaded by Lark Sparrows, Western Meadowlarks and Rock Wrens who didn’t want to pose for the camera.

Rock Wren, doing its best to be as uncooperative as possible

Lark Sparrows on the other hand, were quite willing to sit up for the camera and were fairly common throughout the park.

Lark Sparrow

As we stopped to admire the view from the top of one particular hoodoo, we were greeted by the song of a Vesper Sparrow and a croaking raven and we caught a glimpse of a Say’s Phoebe as it departed its perch when we arrived.

Raven

After we had finished our short hike, we went back to our campsite and relaxed by the river as swarms of mosquitoes buzzed around us. The river and its surrounding cottonwood trees held an assortment of birds including Violet-green Swallows, Cedar Waxwings, Least Flycatchers and Eastern Kingbirds.

Cedar Waxwing sitting pretty

Least Flycatcher

I attempted to get some shots of the swallows but as is usually the case, they were moving far too fast for me to keep up. As the sun began to set, we decided to climb up into the hoodoos to watch the sunset. We didn’t get too far however, before we were turned around by mosquitoes. On our way up though we did see a Western Kingbird and a photogenic magpie on the hoodoos.

Black-billed Magpie at sunset

After beating a hasty retreat from the bugs, we retired for the night by our campfire, watching nighthawks and bats catching bugs above us.

Part 2 will be posted tomorrow, stay tuned!

Travel Tuesday – Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Jun25

In all the commotion of the flood, the heartache, and the hard times many of us, our loved ones, and our friends are going through, sometimes you just need to get away for a little while. On Thursday night, my neighborhood was evacuated, and having expected the news earlier in the day, I packed up the jeep and convinced the better half that it would be a good idea to go camping for the weekend, until we could safely return home, so we packed up the only valuables in our basement (our camping supplies) and headed out.

Our destination was unknown initially, and we just wanted to get away from the swelling rivers and get a good night’s rest, but we found ourselves in Brooks, and headed down to the campground at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park.

Situated on Lake Newell, the campground is home to a number of grassland species that you’d be hard pressed to find here in Calgary, and many others that are here, but maybe a bit harder to track down. Located about an hour and a half south-east of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway, it is close enough that you can safely complete a full day trip there and back with plenty of birding time within the park grounds, but the camping is phenomenal, especially in early summer with all of the summer species singing their hearts out.

Tree Swallow hunting over the lake

Western Kingbird looking quite regal

Baltimore Oriole catching some grub

Mourning Dove skulking about

Brown Thrasher, lead vocals of the Dawn Chorus

Ring-billed Gull portrait

Red-winged Blackbird

female Canvasback and young

Baltimore Oriole

I’m very unused to seeing Brewer’s Blackbirds in trees. Around Calgary they’re most commonly seen on gravel roads near sloughs!

Vesper Sparrow

This male Northern Harrier was one of two Harriers I saw over the weekend. It was also the only species of raptor I saw on the campground over all three days.

The irate chatter of the Marsh Wren was by far the most vocal bird I heard on the entire Nature Walk loop on Sunday morning.

This Eastern Kingbird decided to come investigate what I was doing sitting down by the lake shore.

Now that I’m safely back in my unflooded home, my thoughts are turning more to the cleanup of our city, our parks, and hopes that all our readers made it through the worst of it unscathed.

Good birding, and stay safe.

Fish Creek Big Day

Jun15

Posted by Matthew Sim

So how many species of birds can you find in a single day in Fish Creek P.P.? Last year, I set out to find the answer. I turned up 93 species, 7 short of my goal of 100. This year, I was back out again, trying my luck once more. Once again though, I fell short, managing to find a total of 89 species for the day.

American Wigeon were common throughout the park.

I won’t write up too much here or I could have several pages of notes but I will point out some of the highlights, and of course, low points. Surprising this year was the lack of quite a few species that should have been easy to find. Notably, Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Ruddy Duck, Tennessee Warbler, Forster’s Tern, Black Tern and Pied-billed Grebe were missing. Some of these were absent due to the (until quite recently), low water levels at the Lafarge Meadows sloughs. I had wondered why there were few birds at the sloughs and Dan helped me out by pointing out the fact that the sloughs had been quite low for the last few weeks, perhaps turning away some species.

Brewer's Blackbird

While I did have some surprising misses, I also found some good species, including the Brewer’s Blackbird above.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Although some of the common species such as Osprey were absent, most, including the Clay-colored Sparrow above and the American Goldfinch below were relatively easy to find.

Then there were some species that I missed last year but were easy to find this year. I could not find any LeConte’s Sparrows last year but this year I managed to find nearly a dozen. This little guy posed nicely for a few minutes near the Ranch.

LeConte's Sparrow

Perhaps I forgot to mention too that it was an early start? I was at the park just before 5, when the songsters were just getting started.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

One of the many birds to be singing early on was the Red-eyed Vireo. These little birds sing nice and loud but can be very tricky to spot. Luckily for me, this one Red-eyed Vireo below sang right from the top of a poplar. So although he was easy to see, he was still a long way up!

Red-eyed Vireo

It was a good day and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year. I guess then it will have become the 3rd Annual Fish Creek Big Day…

Spotted Sandpiper

Birds Calgary

A birding blog for Calgary, Alberta and area

Tag Archive | bird blog calgary

Show Us Your Butts: Contest Finalists!

Review: Swarovski ATX-85 Angled Spotting Scope – Yes, it’s that good.

Birding after the Flood: How the 2013 flooding has impacted some of our favourite hotspots

A hummingbird nest

Sunday Showcase: American Avocets

Did you know…

Birds and Bugs of Dinosaur PP: Part 2

Birds and Bugs of Dinosaur PP: Part 1

Travel Tuesday – Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Fish Creek Big Day

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: