For the last couple of years I have been putting out slices of oranges in my yard in the hopes of attracting Baltimore Orioles or Gray Catbirds. I place the oranges on my tray feeder and in suet cages. So far this has attracted only ants. Last Friday morning, I thought that perhaps the heavy rain might force some migrants down, so I put out two fresh orange halves on a flower planter. Within a half hour of arriving home in the afternoon, I looked out to see this bird feeding on the orange.
This first-year Baltimore Oriole stayed around the yard for two days, feeding on all the oranges, including the ones in the suet cage that I had placed there about two weeks before.
So if you want to see a Baltimore Oriole in your yard, putting out oranges really does work. Now I’m just waiting for that Catbird.
The day started off well, but the weather gradually deteriorated, and by 4:30 in the afternoon, with cold driving rain, and after eleven hours of birding, we decided to stop. The total for the group was 93 species. I saw or heard 88 of them, so I’ll have to try another time to reach 100 species in a day. Due to the weather we missed almost all shorebirds and warblers.
We went to the following locations: Votier’s Flats, Bow Valley Ranch and Sikome, all in Fish Creek Park; Inglewood Bird Sanctuary; Elliston Park; Ponds one mile west of Shepard; Shepard; Shepard Slough (east of Shepard); a series of ponds south of highway 22X in the far SE; a pond just east of Spruce Meadows; the South shore of Glenmore Reservoir. We didn’t go into the Weaselhead as planned.
Click here for the report, with a list of the species seen or heard, from Albertabird.
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How many species of birds do you think you could find within the city of Calgary in a single day? The answer at this time of year is over 100. This weekend there will be a great opportunity to see if you can do it.
Birders call this a “Big Day” – an attempt to identify as many species as possible in a twenty-four hour period. This is often done as a competitive or fundraising activity, usually with teams of birders all trying to get the highest total.
For the past few years, Nature Calgary has offered a guided Big Day field trip every Victoria Day holiday. It can be a long, hard day, especially in bad weather, but it is a great chance to see most of the bird species present in Calgary in the spring. This year the trip is on Monday, May 23. We will meet at Votier’s Flats in Fish Creek Park (at the south end of Elbow Drive SW) at 5:30 am. From there, the leader, Tony Timmons, will guide us to several different habitats within the city over the course of the day. Bring a lunch, and be prepared for whatever weather we might get.
Last year, the group managed to find 111 species! The highlight of the day was a Virginia Rail calling at a slough in SE Calgary.
Virginia Rail. Photo by Mike Baird, from Wikimedia Commons.
In 2009, in very cold, wet conditions, the total was 108 species. The birds are out there, so come out on Monday and help us find them! If you need more information, call the leader, Tony Timmons, at 403-256-0754. Like all Nature Calgary field trips, it is free and open to all members of the public.
Two weeks ago I was in Edgemont in NW Calgary, so I stopped at Edgemont Ravines to check out the two ponds there. I didn’t have my camera, which was too bad, because I was able to see the elusive Sora. Soras are small waterbirds in the rail family, who spend a lot of time hiding in the reeds.
Last week I returned to the ponds, with camera in hand, to try to get a picture of the Sora. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it, but I did find some other interesting birds and mammals. The pictures below are from that second trip.
Park on the east side of Edgebrook Boulevard NW.
The easternmost pond.
On my first visit I walked around both ponds, and saw an American Coot, several Mallards, and lots of male Red-winged Blackbirds. Suddenly, a strange bird popped up onto a cattail…
Every time the first of these comes into view in the spring, I briefly believe that I have discovered a bird unknown to science. This, of course, is a female Red-winged Blackbird. They look so unlike the males that at first it seems to be a different species altogether.
It turned out that there were many Red-winged Blackbirds, both male and female, and they were engaged in courtship behaviour and nest-building.
As I finished up the circuit, I heard the hair-raising whinny of a Sora coming from a corner of the pond. This Sora specialty is one of my favourites, because it sounds like demented laughter.
Soras are very elusive birds, who skulk around the margins of ponds, rarely showing themselves. You hear them far more often than you see them.
I slowly moved towards the spot where the Sora was hidden: step, wait; step, wait; until I was finally rewarded with a shoe-ful of water. Drat. I was too close to the pond.
Luckily, back on shore, there was a convenient “surveillance bush” right near the spot where the Sora was concealed.
I lurked behind the bush for ten minutes or so, trying to hold still while mosquitoes treated my neck like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Finally, there was some movement in the grass, and there was the Sora! The bird came almost out into the open. I regretted not having that camera. Naturally, when I returned the following week with camera, there was no sign of the bird. The shot below remains the best picture I’ve got of a Sora, taken at Valleyview Park pond in southeast Calgary in 2008.
Soras almost always seem to keep some vegetation between themselves and the camera.
Despite missing out on the Sora, I continued to the second pond, where last year I had found a Pied-billed Grebe. Wouldn’t you know it; this time there were no grebes, but there was a pair of scaup.
Lesser or Greater Scaup?
A breeding American Coot didn’t like them around and repeatedly emerged from the rushes to chase them off.
Determined Coot chug-chug-chugging towards his foes!
On my way back to the parking lot, I noticed a small plump rodent scurry into the bushes. Eventually, I got some pictures. It was a Vole, probably a Meadow Vole.
So although you don’t always find what you’re looking for, you usually see something interesting, even at the smallest ponds. All in all, a rewarding outing.
At this time of year, the earlier you can get out birding the better. The sun is up and the birds are singing before 6:00 am. Sometimes it can be a little cold, but it’s a beautiful time of day to be out in the field.
Every Wednesday during the spring migration, Gus Yaki has been leading an early morning bird walk at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. Last week I was able to join Gus and a small group of birders, and we found 42 species of birds.
This is a Nature Calgary field trip, so it is free and open to everyone. The walk begins at 6:30 am at the parking lot and lasts for about two hours. This coming Wednesday, May 25, will be the last of these early morning walks, so if you can manage it, it’s a good opportunity.
Here are some highlights of last weeks’ walk.
There is a partially albino female American Robin which has building a nest near the south end of the lagoon, opposite Walker House. We were lucky enough to see it at close range, with its mate…
There were several pairs of Canada Geese and a few broods of goslings around…
A female Belted Kingfisher was perched over the lagoon…
Several Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen. This one is an Audubon subspecies…
Two male Harlequin Ducks on a distant island in the river…
Two male Wood Ducks on the river…
A yawning female Common Merganser…
And lots of these guys looking for handouts…
Afterwards I went over to the adjacent Inglewood Wildlands Park. There were several Savannah Sparrows singing…
And hovering over the pond, a Say’s Phoebe…
You don’t see these flycatchers in the city too often, and I got a good look at it…
Herons are elegant birds, wading through water with their long legs, waiting to plunge their beaks into the water to spear their next meal, be it a frog a mouse or a small fish. Yesterday, I visited Frank Lake, near High River, south of Calgary. While I was there, I saw several Black-crowned Night-Herons; a mostly nocturnal heron with relatively large eyes. The Black-crowned Night-Heron is a small, stocky bird with a greenish black crown and long, thin, white head plumes. A colonial species, the Night-Heron can be found roosting in trees near its hunting grounds during the daylight hours.
This immature Night-Heron has yet to grow the fancier plumage of the adult.
Unfortunately, we did not find a colony of roosting birds; we did however, find two birds together in the same small pond. What struck me the most was the herons’ bright red eyes. They certainly looked like they would be able to see in the dark!!!
An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron in search of lunch.
That beak and those claws are pretty intimidating; especially if you are on this guy’s menu!
Canada Geese are abundant in Calgary year-round, and for the last month or so they have been nesting in various spots around the city. Like all birds, they try to find nesting sites that are secure from predators like coyotes. They will often nest on top of flat-topped buildings, and one of the best locations a goose can find is the top of a large broken tree.
Another good location is an island in a pond or the river. I’m always amazed at how difficult it can be to see the nesting goose even if it’s in the open like this…
Above, the male Canada Goose stands watch near the nest and is fairly conspicuous on the left-hand side of the gravel bar, but can you see the female on her nest?
There she is, on the right-hand side.
As seen below, it’s amazing how the colour pattern of a Canada Goose can allow it to blend in to its surroundings so that it is nearly invisible…
There are still plenty of geese on their nests in the city. I just saw my first goslings on Saturday, May 14, about ten days later than usual. For the next couple of months we will be treated to scenes like this:
While we were at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary doing our Big Sit, we came across a very interesting sight. There, perched on the ground, maybe ten feet off the path, was a dark-morph Swainson’s Hawk. The dark-morph Swainson’s Hawk has a dark-brown colour over most of its body; the more common light morph has a brown bib contrasting with white underparts. This particular hawk had a Richardson’s Ground Squirrel clutched in his claws and was regarding all the photographers and interested visitors with a haughty look.
This Swainson’s Hawk intrigued many visitors to Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.
And there he sat; for over an hour we were told, he had stayed in the same spot. He finally got tired of all this hustle and bustle, deciding to try to find a quieter place to enjoy his meal in peace. However, he had not counted on catching such a heavy meal…
Attempted take-off
After he couldn’t achieve lift-off by taking a running leap, he tried a different tactic: taking off from the spot where he stood.
Flap!!!
Well that didn’t work either…
The hawk then decided that, seeing as he wasn’t going anywhere with his meal, he might try to eat it right then and there. And that’s what he did. He hopped back a couple of feet with his meal, to a slightly more secluded area and began to eat.
Here, he shields his meal from potential thieves.
Hopefully his meal didn’t weigh him down too much after he ate it; otherwise, he might not be able to take off again!!!
A very windy morning was spent down at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary by us three bloggers; several people came by to join us. The large gusts of wind kept the birds down and hard to hear but we still had some great birds. From 8 -10 a.m., we counted birds down at the river recording 24 species of birds.
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant
Osprey
Swainson’s Hawk
Merlin
Spotted Sandpiper
Franklin’s Gull
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow (heard 5 minutes before 8a.m.)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
At 10a.m., due to the frigid wind, we moved base to the Walker house ( we were there 10:30-12:15) where we added:
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Black-capped Chickadee
Chipping Sparrow
House Finch
All and all, not a bad morning to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day; a grand total of 29 species of birds from within the count circles. There were also some good birds from outside the circles; right after we called it a morning and took down the circle, an American Kestrel showed up. We also saw White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, House Wren, Warbling Vireo, Northern Pintail and a Barn Swallow. One of the highlights was a Swainson’s Hawk less than twenty feet off the path, with a kill. A story will follow shortly!
Ever heard that beautiful song coming from deep inside a dense bush, but don’t know what exactly is the source of that amazing sound? You can check out this great site to help you match the song with the bird.
The Blackpoll Warbler gives a very high-pitched song that can be inaudible at times.
Dendroica.com is a great site; whether you are a novice and just learning the songs, or you are a seasoned pro and brushing up for the spring migration. Photographs of the bird are provided on this site, as well as a description of the song or call and then the song itself. Once you have gotten familiar with the sounds, you can go out into the field with this newly-found or rediscovered knowledge, and be able to identify that beautiful song coming from deep inside the bush.
