Tag Archive | birds calgary blog

Wednesday Wings: Mergansers and More

These great photos were taken by Larry Doucet in Fish Creek Park in September. They were taken along the creek in the Glennfield area, just east of Macleod Trail.

Fish Creek Merganser 1

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Fish Creek Merganser 2

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Fish Creek Merganser 3

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Fish Creek Merganser 4

Common Merganser, Sep 21, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus. This one was taken through some trees to see if I could get a blurred frame around the bird.  She came right into a spot of sunlight just as I was ready for her.

Fish Creek Chickadee 1

Black-capped Chickadee, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 180mm. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f5.0, ISO 200, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Fish Creek Chickadee 2

Black-capped Chickadee, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i. Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 180mm. Exposure:  1/500 sec, f5.0, ISO 200, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Fish Creek White Breasted Nuthatch

 White-breasted Nuthatch, Sep 29, 2013. Canon Rebel T4i.  Lens: Canon EF75-300mm at 300mm. Exposure: 1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 800, aperture priority, spot metering, spot auto focus

Furry Friday: White-tailed Deer

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

I spotted these two White-tailed Deer peeking out over a grain field in the SW corner of Calgary on September 9, 2013. The shots of them running away show the distinctive white tails which indicate that they are alarmed, and which alerts other deer to possible danger.

Taken with a Canon EOS 40D with 100-400 mm lens.

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Furry Friday: Canadian Lynx

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

This Canadian Lynx was resting on a trail in a wooded area in the hills in Peace River, in northern Alberta, on September 2, 2013. The location was within the town limits, only about 300 metres from the nearest houses. This was the first Lynx I’ve seen in the wild.

Although these photos weren’t taken in the Calgary area, we do have Lynx here, and they are sometimes seen inside the city limits.

Taken with  a Canon EOS 40D with 100-400 mm lens from a distance  of about 8 metres.

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Wednesday Wings: Bridlewood Birding

Tony LePrieur took these photos at the Bridlewood Wetlands on September 22, 2013. This wetland is located just west of Macleod Trail at Highway 22X.

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Greater Yellowlegs

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Lesser Yellowleg(s)

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Yellowlegs in flight

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Common Grackle

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White-crowned Sparrow

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Killdeer

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Belted Kingfisher hunting

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Ring-billed Gull

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Mallard

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Double-crested Cormorant

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 American Coot

Autumn Birding Call-in Show Today

Tune in to CBC Radio today, October 1, at 12:30 as local bird expert Sid Andrews will discuss autumn birding in Alberta. If you have an unusual sighting or a question you can call in and ask Sid.

In Calgary, CBC is at 99.1 FM or 1010 AM.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler. Photo at Elliston Lake, Calgary, September 22, 2013 by Dan Arndt.

Furry Friday: Prairie Moose

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

We spotted this Moose running across highway 22X just east of Calgary on July 28, 2013. We stopped and got a few photos and a video as it ran right across the highway. Fortunately, no cars crossed its path. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moose east of the city before. It probably came up from the Bow River valley just south of the highway, but I’m not sure where it was headed in such a hurry.

The moose is tagged in its right ear. It is probably part of a study of moose populations, but I haven’t been able to find out anything about this. If anyone knows what the tags mean, let us know in the comments.

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Below is a video of the moose.

Wednesday Wings: Spruce Grouse

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

I found this young Spruce Grouse walking the trails at the Peninsula picnic area in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park on August 5, 2013. Taken with a Canon Eos 40D with 100-400 mm lens. Spruce Grouse can be very unwary, and it would not move until I got really close to it. On the twisty trails it was often too close to get the whole bird in the shot.

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Sign Up For the Autumn Birding Course

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Once again the Friends of Fish Creek will be offering the autumn birding course, starting the first week of September. This twelve-week course consists of weekly field trips to various parks and natural areas in the city. Each week your group of fifteen participants plus two instructors will meet at the designated spot and learn about the birds you see there. Dan Arndt and I will be leading one of the sessions again.

Field trips usually last between two-and-a-half and three hours (although some of the ones Dan and I led last year went up to four-and-a-half hours, when the participants were willing). There are sessions offered at seven different times during the week, and there may be up to fifteen groups all together, so anyone who interested should be able to find a time that suits them.  (If you occasionally find that you can’t make it out at the designated time due to another commitment, you have the flexibility to join another group that week so you don’t miss out).

A new wrinkle this fall is that we will be allowing any adult participant to also register one youth (sixteen years old or younger) to accompany them for only $5 for the whole course. We really want to encourage more young people to take up birding. We have had several young participants before but we hope the nominal fee will encourage even more youngsters to join us.

See the poster for details on how to register.

Fall 2013 Birding Course Poster (1151x882)

 

A hummingbird nest

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

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...

At first the nest was tough to spot…

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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.

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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!

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Returning back to her nest

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!