The next Birds & Beers event in Calgary will be this Thursday, May 24, at the usual location:
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch #285
9202 Horton Road SW
Thursday May 24, 2018, 6:00-9:00 pm
Great Blue Heron, Bowmont Park, August 23, 2017. Photo by Lorraine Glass.
Birds & Beers is an informal social event where you can meet and have conversations with your fellow birders. Everyone is welcome, and food and drinks are available.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
The Friends of Fish Creek birding course continues to grow in popularity, with over 300 people now going out on weekly three-hour field trips to various parks in the city. The Spring session is under way, and Max Ortiz Aguilar has contributed some photos from recent outings.
On April 22, 2018 the course went to the 68 Street SE Wetlands, east of Elliston Park. This is a fairly new area for the birding course and is excellent for spring shorebirds, gulls, and waterfowl on migration. All photos by Max Ortiz Aguilar.
American Avocet.
The wetlands (which are also called the Rotary/Mattamy Greenway wetlands since they are on that city-encircling pathway) lie just east of Elliston Lake, between 68 Street SE and Stoney Trail, just south of 17 Avenue. There is a parking lot south of 17 Avenue on the west side of 68 St.
Elliston Lake and the 68 St SE Wetlands.
Black-necked Stilt.
Two Black-necked Stilt and one American Avocet.
Black-crowned Night-Heron.
In the first week of May the course went to South Glenmore Park in search of more waterfowl and migrants. Max took the following photos on May 6, 2018.
Savannah Sparrow singing in the morning
Great Blue Heron
Group of Barrow’s Goldeneye
Male and female Common Mergansers
More duck species photographed at Confederation Park in NW Calgary in March and April 2018 by Ron Chiasson. See Part 1 for more photos and a map of the park.
Northern Pintail, male.
Northern Pintail, male, with female Mallard in background.
Northern Pintail, male.
Northern Pintail, male.
Ring-necked Duck, male.
Ring-necked Duck, female.
Ring-necked Duck, male.
Northern Shoveler, male.
Northern Shoveler, male.
American Wigeon, male.
American Wigeon, male, with Mallards in background.
American Wigeon, male.
American Wigeon, male (front), with male Northern Pintail (middle), and male Mallard (back).
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Hooded Merganser, Confederation Park, Calgary, April 14, 2018. Photo by Ron Chiasson.
As I mentioned in a previous post (Winter Birds of Confederation Park), this NW city park is under-appreciated by many local birders, who only go there for the fall warbler migration.
Confederation Park runs on both sides of 10 Street NW but the best birding is along the creek and around the pond that is in the western half, between 10 Street and 14 Street. There is a parking lot at the Rosemont Community Association, and plentiful on-street parking on Roselawn Crescent, near the pond, and on other nearby residential streets.
Confederation Park between 10 Street and 14 Street NW.
Here are some of the many waterfowl species that can be seen during the spring migration on the pond. More will follow in part 2.
All photos are by Ron Chiasson, and were taken in March and April of 2018.
Common Goldeneye, female.
Common Goldeneye, female.
Common Goldeneye, male.
Common Goldeneye pair.
Hooded Merganser, male.
Hooded Merganser, male.
Mallard dabbling.
Mallard (male) landing. Northern Pintail in background.
Mallard, female.
Mallards mating.
Songbirds are arriving in big numbers now. Time to be review the best birdhouse and yard practices to attract nesting birds.
Graphic provided by Capital Garden Services (Dublin, UK).
Here are some very photogenic mammals seen in Calgary in April 2018 by Tony LePrieur. The Beavers were photographed in Fish Creek Provincial Park, and the Porcupine in Carburn Park.
You can see more of Tony’s photos on this page.
Head down to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary this Sunday, May 13, between 11 am and 3 pm for a celebration of World Migratory Bird Day.
This free event for the whole family will feature guided tours of the sanctuary, nature-themed games and crafts, and lots of information about Calgary birds from local birding experts.
Read about the event on this website.
Jim Washbrook and other residents of a Northeast Calgary neighbourhood were treated to a rare sight in late March when a Boreal Owl spent a few hours posing for photographs during daylight hours. These rarely seen little owls are nocturnal and live in the Boreal forest. Many birders have never seen or even heard one.
Boreal Owl, Calgary, March 28, 2018. Photo by Jim Washbrook.
Boreal Owl, Calgary, March 28, 2018. Photo by Jim Washbrook.
Boreal Owl, Calgary, March 28, 2018. Photo by Jim Washbrook.
Sarah Bradley also took some photos of the owl sitting in the vines. Photos below by Sarah Bradley, Calgary, March 28, 2018.
The owl apparently moved on and was not seen again after that afternoon. Nice to have one of these come to you instead of having to go look for it!
Tomorrow is the fourth annual Global Big Day organized by the Cornell lab of Ornithology. Birders all over the world are encouraged to go birding and report their sightings on eBird. The goal is to see how many of the world’s 10,000+ species can be found, and to get reports from as many places and as many people as possible.
Global Big Day 2018. Image from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The first such Big Day in 2015 had 6,085 species reported, which almost doubled the previous best day on eBird. Last year, on May 13, almost 20,000 people from 150 countries contributed more than 50,000 checklists containing 6,564 species. This is truly an important record of the state of the birds in the world.
To take part, just go birding anywhere you want to, and report your sightings on eBird. There is no need to spend the whole day – just spend some time counting birds in your local park, your yard, or anywhere you like.
You can read more about the 2018 Global Big Day here. You can also watch in real time as the results come in on this page.
If you have not used eBird before, it is very easy to get started. All the information you need is on their site. Start here to learn how it works, and then sign in and get started.
Note: If you want to contribute on Saturday but have not yet started using eBird, please just record the information about your outing (the location, the time spent birding, the species you see, and their approximate numbers), and you can enter the data into eBird later. Your sightings will be added to the Big Day. If you have trouble getting started with eBird, email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com and I’ll try to help. But read the information on the eBird site first.
Spring Birds of Calgary, photographed by Tony LePrieur.
Osprey, Fish Creek Park, April 19, 2018.
Great Blue Heron, Fish Creek Park, April 15, 2018.
Great Blue Heron, Fish Creek Park, April 15, 2018.
American Robin (male), Fish Creek Park, April 15, 2018. There are lots of robins back now but most are still males. The females arrive a little later.
Cedar Waxwing, Queen’s Park Cemetery, April 15, 2018. Migrating Cedar Waxwings don’t return until late May, so this is an overwintering bird.
Hooded Merganser (female type), Bowmont Park, April 15, 2018.
More of Tony’s photos can be seen on his Flickr page here.