Rob English saw this immature Bald Eagle in Hull’s Wood, Fish Creek Park, in early February. It got a little tangled up in the branches as it lifted off.
Tag Archive | birds calgary blog
Bird Studies Group: Fur & Feathers Big Year
This Wednesday, April 3, Brian Elder, Phil Cram and Mike Mulligan will talk about their experiences doing a bird and mammal Big Year in Canada in 2012. Along with Ray Woods, they were successful in finding over 500 species. You can read about their experiences on their blog, Fur & Feathers 500. Better yet, come out to the Bird Studies Group meeting and hear all about it.
The meeting will take place in room 211 of the Biological Sciences Building at the U of C. Doors open at 7 pm, and the meeting begins at 7:30.
Here is more information and a map to the location.
See you there!
Spring Birding Course 2013
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Once again the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society will be offering a twelve-week Spring Birding Course, beginning April 1. There will be at least twelve different groups going out on various days of the week. Right now many of the sessions have the full complement of 15 participants, but there are still some openings as of today. Contact Chris at the number or email below to see if there is room on the day you want.
Last Spring Dan Arndt and I decided to lead a group at a new time, 7:30 am on Sundays. We hoped that the earlier start would allow us to find more of the early birds as the days got longer. The session had fifteen participants and was very successful. For this spring we offered two 7:30 sessions, on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, with me leading one and Dan leading the other. Up to now there aren’t enough participants registered to justify two groups, but we are still taking registrations. If enough people sign up we will go ahead with two groups. The first 7:30 am sessions are scheduled for April 6 and April 7.
The course consists of weekly field trips to various parks and natural areas in the city, each lasting about three hours. So join us if you want to get out once a week to learn about the birds of Calgary and meet other birders.
Sunday Showcase: Eagle Dispute
Rob English caught these two Bald Eagles, an immature and an adult, having a dispute over a perch.
Sunday Showcase: Leucistic Mallard
Rob English photographed this leucistic Mallard in Beaverdam Flats in mid-February. This might be the same duck seen in the same area last winter.
Q & A: Follow-up on Attracting Birds to Feeders
Last May we answered a question from a reader who had been trying unsuccessfully to attract birds to her yard in Calgary. The yard was in an awkward location at a small townhouse without trees or shrubs. Although she was putting out many types of high-quality seeds, the birds were not coming.  We gave some advice on attracting birds, which you can read about here. We are happy to report that after nearly a year of persistent effort, finally there are birds coming to the yard.
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Hi,
Nearly a year ago I approached you looking for suggestions on how to attract birds to my feeder in my awkward yard. Â While I was not successful last year, I’m happy to announce that my patience has finally paid off. Â
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I thought I’d send you an update because others in a similar situation may find what I did will help them as well. Â When we got our Christmas tree (real) I kept the branches that were cut off the bottom, and was able to take a bunch more from other people’s trees as well. Â When I got home I bunched all the branches together and made several boughs out of them, tied them with wire, put a pretty bow on them and hung them from our balcony. Â Within 24 hours I had birds foraging through my boughs and feeding at my feeders!
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The last month has been wonderful, I’m finally able to watch birds from my own window and I have a steady flock of Common Redpolls and finches that come throughout the day. Â I’m not sure what I’m going to replace the boughs with once they’re all dried up, but I’ll figure something out. Â I’ve attached a few photos just to demonstrate my situation and solution. Â I hope my experience may help someone else in the future.
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Thanks again for all the suggestions, all the best.
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Here are the photos of her yard:
Sunday Showcase: Great Grays of Grand Valley Road
Grand Valley Road northwest of Cochrane has been a really good place to find Great Gray Owls. Logan Gibson photographed this one while it was snowing on February 25:
On March 2, Brett Mahura found three different Great Grays on Grand Valley Road:
Furry Friday: Porcupine
This North American Porcupine was spotted feeding on a Water Birch on the Inglewood Golf Course during the Calgary Christmas Bird Count on December 16, 2012.
Photo by Troy Bourque
Photo by Ian Neilson
Photo by Ian Neilson
Photo by Troy Bourque
Sunday Showcase: Bald Eagle Fledgling
Rob English got these photos of a recently fledged Bald Eagle in Carburn Park in early August 2012. Â The bird had just recently left the nest across the river.
There was one of the adult eagles with this young one:
Sunday Showcase: Snow Bunting
Michael Pott saw this Snow Bunting posing nicely on a fence post on Dunbow Road last week, just SE of the city. These birds are usually seen in here in the winter in large flocks, in open rural areas.
