Tag Archive | birds and beers

Birds & Beers, November 13, 2025

Nov7

Featuring a presentation on the wildlife of Southern Africa by Calvin van der Merwe

Next Thursday, November 13th, is our next Birds & Beers event in Calgary. We meet at the Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW, from 5 to 9 pm. Here is a message from Calvin van der Merwe, who will be presenting about the wildlife of Southern Africa:

Hello Calgary Birding Community. My name is Calvin van der Merwe, and my presentation is about birds and wildlife in Southern Africa. I grew up in Pretoria, studied in Cape Town, and have now found myself in the Alberta Wilderness. From the myriad of habitats in Northern Namibia, to the pans and rolling hills of the Kalahari Desert, to the endemics of the Cape and the forested and grassed extents of the Drakensberg escarpment, the tropical north-eastern coastline and it’s impressive wetland systems, to the Kruger National Park and the remote corners of Limpopo. If you enjoy incredible habitat, species diversity, exploration, and the array of other animals Southern Africa has to offer, this is the presentation for you. Here’s a Cape Parrot to whet the appetite.

Cape Parrot
Cape Parrot. Photo by Calvin van der Merwe.

The doors at the big ballroom will open for us at 5 pm. Come early to visit and have dinner and a drink. Or you can arrive any time before 7 pm when the presentation will begin. Everyone is welcome!

Note: There is no Birds & Beers meeting in December. We will resume in January.

Birds & Beers Returns September 11, 2025!

Sep4

With a Presentation on “Birding in Belize” by Daniel Arndt.

The fall season of Birds & Beers begins next Thursday, September 11th. As usual, we meet from 5-9 pm in the ballroom at the Royal Canadian Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome!

Come early if you can, but be sure to be there by 7 pm, when Dan Arndt will present “Birding in Belize: An Introduction to Birding the Tropics.”

Ocellated Turkey
Ocellated Turkeys. Photo by Dan Arndt, Belize, 2020.

Dan has travelled Belize extensively, and visited some of the best birding locations the country has to offer. In March 2026, Dan will be leading a tour to Belize along with local guide, Roni Martinez, to La Milpa Biological Station, Blue Creek, Mountain Pine Ridge, Caracol, Chiquibul Forest Reserve, La Milpa Archaeological Site, and Crooked Tree Lagoon. Some of the most sought after birds in Belize include Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Ocellated Turkey,  King Vulture, Jabiru Stork, and Agami Heron. 

Belize is an excellent introductory tour for folks new to birding the tropics, with many familiar species that breed in North America on full display and preparing for their northern migration, and travel throughout the relatively small country allows for quick access to a variety of habitats. The archaeological history of the Mayan people, and the great birding found at these archaeological sites is a unique blend of human history and ecological conservation that is rarely found elsewhere in the world.

Here is a link to Dan’s 2026 Belize Birding Tour on the Meadowlark Birding Tours website.

This will be a great start to the Birds & Beers season. Upcoming meeting dates are Thursday October 9, and Thursday November 13 (all are on the second Thursday of the month). We take the month of December off, and then resume again in January.

One change this year is that we are being charged a little more for the use of the room. (It is still very reasonable at $100.) So we will again ask that people make a small donation, if they wish, to help cover this. We usually get anywhere from 50 to 100 attendees, so if you give a dollar or two, that will be plenty. Paying is optional, though, so please don’t feel you have to contribute! Attendees have been very generous with this, and we have always received more than was needed to cover the room cost, and we just donated the extra money to the Legion. We will continue to do this.

See you there!

Birds & Beers, March 13, 2025

Mar5

Featuring a Presentation on An African Adventure

Thursday March 13th is the next Birds & Beers in Calgary. Everyone is welcome to join us from 5 to 9 pm for food, drinks, and fellowship! We meet at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Come any time from 5 to 7 as this is very informal. But arrive by 7 pm, since you won’t want to miss any of the presentation!

This month’s presentation is An African Adventure by Karen McDaniel.

African mammals
Some of the mammals that will be featured in Karen’s talk. All photos by Karen McDaniel.

An introduction by Karen:

Karen McDaniel is a former teacher and administrator with the CBE and SAIT but right now she is a full-time traveler, birder, photographer and geocacher (ask her about that)! Add in grandmother, and she has the perfect life! She has travelled to too many countries to count and has finally matched her photographic equipment to her travels. To celebrate her youngest daughter’s 30th birthday, the two of them took a trip to Africa to photograph anything that walked, swam or flew. It was an amazing adventure in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. They managed to photograph the Big Five and had an elephant experience that neither will ever forget!

See you there!

Future Birds & Beers dates are April 10, May 22, and June 12. After the summer break, we resume in September.

Birds & Beers, February 13, 2025.

Feb7

Featuring a talk on the Birds of Indonesia.

Thursday, February 13, is the next Birds & Beers in Calgary. Join us from 5 to 9 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome.

At 7 pm there will be a presentation by Dianne and Bob Leonhardt on The Birds of Indonesia.

Bali Myna
Critically endangered Bali Mynas in West Bali National Park. Photo by Bob Leonhardt.

Note: This is a repeat of the talk given in January 2024, with some changes. If you missed it, make sure to attend this time!

Indonesia is the fourteenth largest country in the world by area.  It consists of over 17,000 islands.  By population it is the fourth largest country in the world with approximately 279 million people.  This may seem like an odd choice for a birding tour; however, Indonesia also contains approximately 1800 species of birds, including 786 endemics.  So in September of 2023 we flew from Calgary to Vancouver to Tokyo and on to Jakarta to participate in a 20 day birding tour with Naturalist Journeys.  On this tour we visited five islands, including Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores and Komodo.  We experienced several different types of environments and ended up seeing approximately 270 species of birds, the majority of which were lifers for us.  Some of the most notable species were the Javan Trogon, the Javan Banded Pitta, the Bali Myna, Red and Green Jungle Fowl, and Milky Storks.  There were many more, some of which will be shown in this presentation.  A final highlight of the tour was a trip to Komodo National Park on Komodo Island to see the infamous Komodo Dragons.

Birds & Beers, January 9, 2025

Dec31

Featuring Journey through the Fabled North-west Passage by John McFaul.

The 2025 season of Calgary Birds & Beers kicks off on Thursday January 9th at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. We meet in the big ballroom starting at 5 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend these social get-togethers.

At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by John McFaul on his Journey through the Fabled North-west Passage.

Northwest Passage
Photo by John McFaul.

John’s description: The presentation will take the viewers on a 17 day arctic cruise through the North-west Passage from Greenland to Kugluktuk (formerly known as Coppermine). Images of the majestic land and seascapes, the wildlife and the cultural and historical features of this fabled passage are sure to entice everyone to consider undertaking their own journey to Inuit Nunangat – land of the Inuit.

Northwest Passage
Photo by John McFaul.

John is a long-time Calgary naturalist and former President of Nature Calgary. He runs the nature guiding company Alpenglow Nature Hikes.

Join us for Birds & Beers!

Birds & Beers Reminder and Update

Nov27

Kenya Birds Presentation, Christmas Bird Count, Calendars for sale, Bird Book Exchange – Thursday November 28

Tomorrow night (Thursday the 28th) at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW, is our last Birds & Beers of the fall. I wrote about this before but here is an update on some of what you can expect tomorrow evening.

The main presentation, after 7 pm, will be on Birding in Kenya in the summer of 2024, presented by Gavin McKinnon. His presentation will feature many photos of Kenyan birds and mammals, plus information on future tours that he will be leading through his company Meadowlark Birding Tours.

Red Bishop
Red Bishop. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

Before the main presentation, Matthew Wallace will speak about the upcoming Calgary Christmas Bird Count (on Sunday December 15). Find out how you can take part in this long-running Citizen Science project! Read more about the CBC here.

Once again this year, Daniel Arndt has produced a beautiful 2025 wall calendar featuring some of his best bird photos of 2024. He will have calendars available at Birds & Beers for $20 (cash or eTransfer). For those of you who are interested in purchasing a calendar but can’t make it to Birds & Beers, they are available at the Wild Bird Store in Calgary, or you can email us here at birdscalgary@gmail.com and we will put you in touch with Dan. (There is a $5 shipping charge for mail orders.)

calendar
calendar

Finally, we have talked about having a birding book exchange at Birds & Beers, and thanks to a generous donation by a long-time Calgary birder, we will have several books available to kick it off tomorrow! Feel free to bring a few books if you’d like to exchange them. We don’t want to take any books home after, so please help yourself until they are all gone!

Books
Just a few of the books that will be available tomorrow night..

If you haven’t been to Birds & Beers before, Thursday would be a great time to start!

Birds & Beers, November 28, 2024

Nov21

Gavin McKinnon will have a presentation on his recent birding trip to Kenya.

Everyone is welcome to join us for the last Birds & Beers meeting of 2024 next Thursday, November 28, from 5 to 9 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW.

Birds & Beers
Birds & Beers (AI version).

At about 7 pm, Gavin McKinnon will present a talk with many photos from his trip to Kenya in the summer of 2024. The presentation will focus on birding in Kenya, and an overview of the route he took this past summer that resulted in seeing 450 species of birds and nearly 50 mammal species in 14 days. He will also have information on future opportunities to visit Kenya.

See Gavin’s web page for Meadowlark Birding Tours here.

Variable Sunbird
Variable Sunbird. Photo by Dominic Sherony from Wikimedia Commons (Licencse here).

See you there!

Birds & Beers, Thursday October 24, 2024

Oct20

With a presentation by Myrna Pearman.

Birds & Beers resumes on Thursday evening at the Horton Road Legion in Calgary (9202 Horton Road SW). The meeting starts at 5 pm in the big ballroom. At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Myrna Pearman.

Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird, photographed by Dan Arndt.

Myrna is a very well-know naturalist who lives in Sylvan Lake in central Alberta. She was a Biologist and Site Services Manager at the Ellis Bird Farm (now Ellis Nature Centre) from 1987-2020. The Centre has done pioneering work in the conservation of Mountain Bluebirds and other secondary cavity-nesters. Thanks to Myrna’s leadership, it is now a world-renowned conservation, education and research centre. Myrna has written several books and many articles. See her website for more information.

Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers. The Legion has food and drinks available for reasonable prices, so you can come early if you want to eat, or just want to spend more time socializing. Come any time before 7 pm to attend the presentation.

Upcoming Birds & Beers Meetings:

Thursday November 28: John Gapp will present on Trees in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

After the December break, we resume with meetings from January through June. All are on Thursday evenings.

January 9th
February 13th
March 13th
April 10th
May 22nd
June 12th

Birds & Beers, Thursday September 12, 2024

Sep5

With a presentation on Birding in Northern Tanzania and the Serengeti, by Gordon Sick.

Grey Crowned-Crane
Grey Crowned-Crane, photographed at night by Gordon Sick.

Our monthly Birds & Beers meetings resume next Thursday, September 12. All meetings take place in the big ballroom at the Horton Road Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome to attend these free meetings (we have to collect a small fee for the room, but this amounts to less than a dollar per person and it is optional to contribute). The Legion has food and drinks available for reasonable prices, so you can come early, anytime after 5 pm, if you want to eat or just to spend more time socializing. It is a completely informal social gathering for birders.

We will have a presentation at each meeting on a birding or nature topic. These begin just after 7 pm, so it is fine to arrive at 7 if you can’t make it earlier. This month, Gordon Sick will present on birding in northern Tanzania and the Serengeti.

Here is Gordon’s summary of the talk:

In February, 2024, a group of us took a 12 day Safari in Northern Tanzania. The group included two photographers, whose pictures we will present. We had two 4×4 safari vehicles, each with an African guide who was knowledgeable about birds (most African guides aren’t), and a Canadian naturalist, who was also knowledgeable about birds. We photographed 186 bird species, and 37 mammal species. People who go to this area to see the famous mammals have a lot of quiet time when they see nothing, so looking for birds makes the safari much more interesting. The trip started at the town of Arusha and proceeded to Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, and finally using the Ndutu Lodge as a base to visit Serengeti National Park.

Saddle-billed Stork
Saddle-billed Stork (female). Photo by Gordon Sick.

Please join us for another fun and informative year of Birds & Beers!

Upcoming Meetings:

Thursday October 24: A presentation by Myrna Pearman.

Thursday November 28: John Gapp will present on Trees in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

After the December break, we resume with meetings from January through June. The dates have not yet been set.

Birds & Beers, June 13th, 2024.

Jun9

With a presentation on a trip to Belize and Guatemala, by Bob and Diane Leonhardt.

Limpkin
Limpkin. Photo by Bob Leonhardt.

The final Birds & Beers of the 2023-2024 season is this coming Thursday, June 13th. As usual, we meet from 5 to 9 pm in the big ballroom at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. We will feature a presentation by Diane and Bob Leonhard about their recent trip to Central Amercia.

Here is the presentation description:

Between January 28 and February 7, 2024, we spent ten days with Eagle Eye Tours in Belize and
Tikal National Park, Guatemala. During this time we saw approximately 270 species of birds,
including 75 lifers. After starting in Belize City, our first few days were spent at The Jungle
Lodge in Tikal where we encountered some incredible birds, such as the Ocellated Turkey, Boat-
billed Herons, several wood-creepers, the rare Orange-breasted Falcon, the spectacular Agami
Heron and numerous others. We then returned to Belize, where we spent three nights at the
Jade Jungle Lodge in the hills of western Belize. Here the highlights included the fabulous food
and an incredible look at a spectacular Spectacled Owl. In the Mountain Pine Ridge area we got
a good look at the huge King Vulture and excellent views of a very co-operative Rusty Sparrow.
Our final few days were spent at Birds Eye View Lodge in the Crooked Tree area north of Belize
City. Here we got great looks at many new birds including, Yellow-lored Parrots, Yucatan Jays,
Yellow-headed Parrots, Aplomado Falcons, Black-collared Hawks, Snail Kites and many more. A
real treat was the excellent look at the scarce and secretive Yellow-breasted Crake. It was a
wonderful tour with two excellent guides and a nice group of participants.

This presentation, with many photos of the birds, will begin at about 7 pm. Come early if you want to visit or have a meal and a drink. Everyone is welcome!

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