Tag Archive | birds calgary blog

Birders needed for Calgary CBC, Sunday December 15th!

Register here to join backyard feeder watchers, or urban walking or driving routes.

The more eyes we have looking for birds during the Calgary Christmas Bird Count on December 15th, the better picture we will have of winter bird populations in Calgary.

Cassin's Finch
Cassin’s Finch, the first ever seen on the Calgry CBC, in 2023. Photo by Laura Bentley.

We could use a few more people to join existing teams who will be covering established routes driving or walking in a few parts of the city. (Refer to the section numbers on the map below.) This includes routes in the far NW (N9), Beaverdam Flats area (E1), Dover/Erin Woods/Forest Lawn/Marlborough neighbourhoods (E-5), the area south of Downtown along the Elbow River (W-3), a large section of the SW including North Glenmore Park (W-5), the large western edge of the Count Circle from Canada Olympic Park south to Griffiths Woods (W-6), and even Carburn Park (S-1) which is the section that usually finds the most species of birds. Please register if you’d like to help out in one of these areas – you can specify your preferred section number when you register.

Some sections have no one covering them at all yet. If you would like to do one of these by yourself, or lead a small team, again please register. Areas available include Bowness including Bowness Park (N1), The U of C grounds and parts of Varsity and Shouldice (N-4a), Parkdale and the rest of Shouldice (N-4b), and the Capitol Hill area (N-7 lower).

As always, in addition to the field teams, we will accept as many people as we can get counting birds at their feeders in their yards. You can watch for as little as 30 minutes on Count Day. Just select “Feeder Watcher” on the registration form under “How do you want to participate?” (Note that you must live within the Count Circle as shown on the map, in order that your Feeder Watcher results can count for the CBC.)

Once again, the count is Sunday December 15th. Register here!

The Winter Bird Lists

Keeping track of bird species in the winter months, from December 1 to February 28.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre, 2 December 2024.

Once again I will be assisting Caroline Lambert with tracking all bird species recorded in the Calgary Count Circle in the winter months. I have been doing this for Calgary for a few years, and Caroline tracks the Bow Valley list. There is also an Edmonton List, and a Provincial one that has been going for many years.

The Calgary list got off to a great start, with the highest December 1 species count yet – 65! Many birders challenge themselves to keep a winter list and I think quite a few people went out on Sunday to get a good start to their winter birding. All 65 species were ones we get every winter, although in some years it takes quite a while to find some of these! We are more than halfway to our usual species total in one day, but it gets much harder to add species from here.

Eurasian Collared-Dove
The second bird I saw when I looked out my front window on December 1st – Eurasian Collared-Dove. I only had my phone handy so the picture is very poor. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

Click here for the complete Calgary list. You can tell at a glance which species are usually found but have not yet been seen this winter.

I will quote below from Caroline’s post about the winter lists on the Albertabird discussion site:

The winter birding season starts Sunday, Dec 1. As in previous years, various lists of winter birds seen in certain areas in Alberta will be maintained from Dec 1 to end of February. Alberta has some really good winter birds – there are just not many of them! And each year there are surprises. Links to all of the lists, with area maps, can be found at albertawinterbirds.org.

Calgary: this will be compiled again by Bob Lefebvre. The count area is the 80km radius count circle centred on Calgary, the same one used for the May species count. It is preferred that sightings during this count period and in the count area be reported to the Albertabird site (keeping in mind that certain sensitive species should not be openly reported), but we will also include species reported to eBird and elsewhere, if we can find them.

Bow Valley: this area includes both the Bow River and Kananaskis River watersheds, as far east as the Stoney Nakoda casino and Seebe Dam. Most sightings for this area are taken from the Bow Valley Birding Facebook group, but we will record sightings reported on Albertabird, eBird, Christmas Bird Counts, rumours on the street, etc. The Bow Valley has the lowest species count of any area, so we’ll accept any reputable report!

Provincial list: Andy Ross is again taking care of the Alberta-wide list. The list has been cleaned up, simplified for easier reading, and sorted to the most recent taxonomic order (following the Clement’s/eBird taxonomy). Andy will collect sightings from the usual sources (eBird, Albertabird, the other winter lists, the Alberta Birds Facebook group, etc.).

The Edmonton list as shown on the albertawinterbirds.org site is not the official one; I simply copy their list from the Edmonton Nature Club’s groups.io discussion group. The links are there mostly to have one jumping off spot to find all the winter list info should anyone be interested.

Good birding,
Caroline Lambert
Canmore

Birds & Beers Reminder and Update

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!

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

“Every Little Thing”

An inspiring film about Hummingbird rescue showing this weekend in Calgary – free tickets available!

The Calgary Underground Film Festival’s (CUFF) Documentary festival is on now, from November 20-24. This Sunday, November 24, they will feature the film “Every Little Thing” which is about a woman in Los Angeles who nurtures injured Hummingbirds.

Hummingbird

Film Description

Amid the glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles, a woman finds herself on a transformative journey as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds.

A film of joy and wonder, EVERY LITTLE THING offers profound truths in a deceptively simple story. In tending to these fragile yet resilient hummingbirds, Terry Masear finds a sense of healing from her own past. Follow Cactus, Jimmy, Wasabi, Alexa, and Mikhail, celebrating their small victories and lamenting their tiny tragedies. The compassion and empathy that Masear shows her Lilliputian charges serves as a lesson to us all — a reminder that in the smallest of acts, and in the tiniest of creatures, we might find grace.

The movie will play at the Globe Cinema at 4 pm on Sunday, November 24. You can buy tickets and read all the details here.

I have a few tickets to give away so if you are interested, email me at birdscalgary@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

Birds & Beers, November 28, 2024

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!

Join the 2024 Calgary Christmas Bird Count!

Please register to take part in the field or at home

The Calgary CBC will be on Sunday December 15. We need birders to take part out in the field counting birds, as well as Feeder Watchers counting in their yards. All participants, whether new or returning birders, must register so we have up-to-date contact information, and, for Feeder Watchers, correct addresses.

Redpoll
Redpoll (at the time, Common Redpoll) taken by Lou Zaganelli on the 2023 Count.

Here is everything you need to know about the Christmas Bird Count, from organizer Matt Wallace:

I am inviting you to take part in the upcoming 2024 Calgary Christmas Bird Count (CBC) happening on December 15!

As you likely know, the CBC is the longest-running citizen science project which began in the year 1900 as a way to encourage people to appreciate birds while helping to conserve them through data collection. The Calgary event began in 1952 and is one of the largest CBC events in Western Canada with nearly 400 people participating annually. 

Consider this event to be the annual census of our winter birds in Calgary! It requires lots of people and effort to conduct this event, so we are always looking for birders of all experiences and abilities to take part. We really aim to use this event as a way to build up our community of nature enthusiasts and would love for you to share the event information with your friends, family, colleagues, and community.

Skip the details below if you’re ready to sign up and hit the registration form here: https://forms.gle/cNMoCPZZ9FNNrq3Q8

There are a few ways to participate:

Field Teams:

  1. We have 38 circle sections and assign people to survey designated sections. All birds are identified and counted, and it usually runs the entire day depending on our participant’s availability. Bird submissions are made via eBird and shared with our CBC Compiler account. We also accept field templates from people who prefer to use them.We have section leaders who work with their groups to determine meeting locations, targeted areas, summarize effort data, and submit it back to our compilation team. We are looking for both field participants and field leaders (both returning and new). 

Feeder Watchers (FWs):

  1. People (individuals and families) observe birds visiting their yards and feeders for a minimum of 30 minutes on count day. FWs submit their data using a pre-formatted template which we provide. FWs are very important for our count as they help to fill in the data gaps where our field teams can’t access due to time or privacy. FWs must reside within the count circle, but we will confirm your address to ensure you are eligible to participate.

Data Entry/ Analysis: 

  1. Anyone interested in helping us to compile data is welcome! I often receive hundreds of emails with data templates, photos, and stories of the CBC. I manage but would love to have an assistant to help with this!
  2. We continue to expand on our ways of showcasing the hard work of our volunteers. We have approximately 20 years of data (30 binders or so) which includes the detailed “section data” for the Calgary count. Yes, we submit all of the cumulative count “Circle” data to Audubon each year, but the section data is of interest to us on a local scale for showing how changes in our landscape and may influence bird populations.We would like to get all of this data entered prior to the 2024 count so that we can provide some additional infographics and analysis at the results presentation in January 2025. 
  3. In addition to the data entry, we would love anyone with skills in GIS and data visualization to join our compilation team in producing the final report (for media and the community).

So, all that’s left to do is register so I have your contact information, and we will be in touch soon! We look forward to you joining our CBC and thank you! Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions citynatureyyc@gmail.com

Register Here: https://forms.gle/cNMoCPZZ9FNNrq3Q8

Naturally, Matt

Moulting Is Not Revolting

By Cathy Warwick

No! Of course moulting is not revolting, it is a natural part in the seasonal cycle of being a duck. No need to be embarrassed and hide away. Wait a second, maybe there is a need, since they can’t fly anymore to get away from predators!

Did you know many ducks moult once a year, in late summer or early fall? This means they shed most of their primary feathers all at once to grow new ones. The process can take about 20-30 days and during that period they lay low since they become flightless. If you have ever seen a pile of feathers and thought a coyote had lunch, it may not be so. The duck feathers can come off quickly and dramatically.

Not only do they become flightless, they become difficult to identify. Their beautiful and colourful plumage becomes a beige-gray bore before moulting begins. Typically this is in the summer months. This outfit is called their ‘eclipse plumage’ and it isn’t a favourite of birders. The term eclipse refers to the boring plumage darkening their usual colours. If you do an internet search for any type of waterfowl the pictures will show them in their breeding plumage, striking and unmistakable. Meanwhile you are peering through the binoculars at a beige lump wondering why birding is so difficult. We’ve all been there. At that point you can start looking for eye rings and tail shapes, which gets challenging. Or you also have the option of saying ‘oh a duck’ and watching them paddle around a bit.

Mallard
Moulting
A photo by Diane Stinson showing a Mallard that is moulting. Mallards are easy to identify at this stage of moulting.

I was surprised to learn that the Blue Jay moults all its head feathers at once. I have never seen that out in the wild and I suspect it’s because they hide away during this phase. It is such a radical difference from their usual spiky crown, They look like a tiny vulture with bugged out eyes. It only lasts for a week but you get the feeling if any bird were vain, it would be the Blue Jay. It’s amazing how much shape and bulk the feathers give birds, look at the difference between the two pictures of the Blue Jay, it’s hard to believe it’s even the same bird. 

Blue Jay
Moulting
Blue Jay: Before on left (moulting) and After (beautiful crown feathers are grown in) Photos: Diane Stinson.

The larger birds and waterfowl are more inconvenienced by their moult season than smaller birds. Their feathers take longer to grow in. They often moult right before migration to have a nice strong set of new feathers to take them south. I imagine they are in the air now with their new outfits, ready to party in Mexico.

Birds & Beers, Thursday October 24, 2024

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

A Fiesty Hummingbird

By Cathy Warwick

The Rufous Hummingbird is one of several hummingbirds that visit Calgary, and certainly the most feisty. They are very territorial and are known to chase away other hummingbirds from feeders, and have also been seen chasing squirrels and chipmunks. Although the idea that such a cute, eight centimeter bird can be frightening is comical, their shocking speed and poky looking beak would have me running for cover!

This summer I had the good luck to watch a Rufous Hummingbird for a solid ten minutes. I watched it stretch its tail feathers and stick its tongue out while it was perched on a branch. Prior to that I had been chasing after it as it flitted around, finally I just decided to sit down and see if it would show itself, a wise decision as they can go about 45 km/hr. I managed to look at it while it took a break from its endless battle with another Rufous Hummingbird. I saw that it had some green on it, as well as the rufous red, it was a female or immature male. The fully grown male is a nice coppery colour all over with a shimmery chin. Hummingbirds are hard to identify, firstly they are so fast you are lucky to see any markings and secondly they often have a range of plumage that is shared with other hummers. I used the Merlin app to be sure.

These tough little birds travel up to 3000 miles during migration. All the way from Southern Mexico to Alaska, so far for a tiny bird, maybe it can just soar on the winds. It doesn’t seem to be the type to let the wind do all the work though, the one I saw was constantly beating its wings while flying. According to All About Birds they fly up through California, then Washington and BC. After that they go east and fly down the Rockies, completing a clockwise circle. So for Calgary they will come through on their way south especially during August.

Rufous Humminbird
A female or immature male Rufous (Photo from Wikimedia Commons/Tom Koerner).

To attract a Rufous Hummingbird to your yard consider planting Honeysuckle, like my sister-in-law who saw them frequently this summer. They will take a while to find it but once they do they will come back yearly. The Atlas of Breeding Birds of British Columbia mentions that they will band Rufous and note the same bird at the same feeder on the same day, year after year! Our Honeysuckle died over the winter and we had a Hummingbird on our deck looking in the back window, as if it wanted to complain to the manager. 

A Hummingbird feeder is also an option. There are a lot of resources on the internet that explain how to set one up and what to use as a solution. I’ll just mention that you need to change the solution at regular intervals to provide optimum fuel for them. A Hummingbird is a finely tuned organism whose heart beats 1,260 times per minute, vs. a human’s 80ish beats. Perhaps consider putting out multiple small feeders so the Rufous lets other hummingbirds also feed.

I hope you had a chance to see this small bird with an outsize personality this summer!

Rufous Humminbird
A male Rufous Hummingbird aka “Mr. Feisty”
(photo from Wikimedia Commons/Tom Koerner/USFWS).

Rufous Hummingbirds can been seen on their breeding grounds in Calgary in the Weaselhead Nature Area, Griffits Wood Park, and other parts of the west end of the city. They arrive here on about May 10 and can be seen until September.

Birds & Beers, Thursday September 12, 2024

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.