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Swainson’s Hawks

May9

Swainson’s Hawks have started to arrive back in the Calgary region.  Now is a good time to reprint this article by Gus Yaki, which details the remarkable migration of these birds.  The article was written in February 2007 for the Bird Studies Group of Nature Calgary.  Reprinted by permission of Gus Yaki.

Meet the Species – Swainson’s Hawk

by Gustave J. Yaki

Right now (February 2007), almost all the Swainson’s Hawks of the world are in the Pampas, the treeless plains of South America, in central Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The few exceptions are individuals trapped in the two appendages of North America.

One group of perhaps 50 birds, having made a mistake in navigation, or were blown off course, attempt to spend the winter in southern Florida, SW of Miami, between Homestead and the east boundary of Everglades National Park. Here they feed on insects and rodents in the temporary vegetable fields waiting to be turned into subdivisions.

Another group — several hundred birds, perhaps recent colonizers of southern California — have ended up in Baja California, Mexico. There, near Ciudad Constitucion, south of Loreto, an amazing diversity of cacti and other plant species, adapted to less than three inches of annual precipitation, have been bulldozed in order to grow wheat. Here, farmers are doing so by pumping up and spraying the fields with fossil water. The hawks feed on the grasshoppers and other arthropods living in those harvested grain fields.

Swainson’s Hawk.  Photo by Pat Bumstead.

But the really big story begins about now, at the southernmost end of the Swainson’s Hawks’ winter range, at latitude 34 degrees South, about on par with the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

I thought that we’d begin by following an adult female, equipped with a satellite radio transmitter placed on her by Stuart Houston of Saskatoon, in 1996, near Kindersley, SK, not far from the Alberta border. This transmitter was programmed to send a signal, one to four times in eight hours, every sixth day. (C.S. Houston, Blue Jay 57:2)

This female had already begun her migration on 13 Feb. 1997, when she was making a short reconnaissance around the area where she had spent most of the winter.

Six days later, by 19 Feb., she had moved a straight-line distance of 325 km northward. We don’t know if she traversed that distance all in one day or flew every day for an average of 54 km a day. Remember, she had been relatively sedentary most of the winter.

However, by 04 March, she was in Bolivia, an additional 1570 km. If she flew every day, she averaged 158 km a day for this  segment. By 10 March, she was in the upper Amazon area of Brazil, near Peru, a further distance of 1330 kms — or an average of 221 kms daily.

Obviously, she couldn’t have flown on days when it rained, as it often does there — at least not very far, so some days she must have covered greater distances. An adult female, trapped near Hanna, AB in 1995, over a 7-day period in Oct. and 2-three day periods in early November averaged 536, 565 and 473 km/day (J.K. Schmutz et al, Blue Jay 54:2).

Because the satellites take a north-south polar orbit, they are widely dispersed in the equatorial regions. The next signal was not received until nineteen days later, early on 29 March when she was in Chiapas in southern Mexico, a total accumulated, straight-line distance of 6,475 kms. She probably had crossed the Equator about the first day of our spring. She then traversed the Andes Mountains over Colombia to find the Isthmus of Panama. Once there, she mainly followed the Caribbean side of Panama and Costa Rica, before crossing to the Pacific side of Nicaragua, probably El Salvador, Guatemala and into Mexico.

Backing up a bit — by the time she reached northern Argentina, she would have been joined by thousands of other Swainson’s Hawks. In 1972, Neal Smith counted 344,409 Swainson’s passing over Ancon Hill, at the south end of the Panama Canal, near Panama City, during the autumn migration (J.K. Schmutz et al, Blue Jay 54:2).

Now, when migrating, the “Buteo” hawks seldom flap their wings, except to get air-borne. They make most of this long journey by using SOLAR energy.

When the sun shines, it heats the ground. This results in the air immediately above the soil being warmed, causing it to rise. Once the air temperature is above 10 degrees C, the rising air column is strong enough to lift the hawks high into the sky — like riding an elevator. Having gained the maximum lift on this “thermal”, as the rising air mass is called, our hawk set her course northward, and glided on to the next thermal, perhaps ten kms further along — to again be elevated, to repeat the process throughout the sunny part of the day.

Soaring Swainson’s.  Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

On clear days, at her starting point, latitude 34 South, she could have been aloft by 9 a.m. — and flown until 4 p.m. Nearer the equator, she could have been up much longer. I have seen hawks up, over Panama and Costa Rica in late March, flying as early as 7 a.m., and others still up at 5 p.m.

Once she had reached Panama, she was also flying with tens of thousands of Broad-winged Hawks and Turkey Vultures, as well as a few other species — a veritable river of raptors. By flying in a long column, the trailing hawks, watching the hawks ahead, are able to see where the next uplifting air mass is located.

As the day wears on and the sun begins to sinks in the west, the ground is no longer being adequately heated. The result is that the raptors lose their lift, and must descend to the earth for the night.

When 200,000 birds drop out of the sky into one area, there is no way that all can find food. So most hawks make the major part of this long journey on an empty stomach — as the lack of feces or whitewash below their nocturnal roost would suggest. However, uncomfortable as this may be, it can be advantageous. By not eating, birds are lighter, and therefore able to start flying earlier the next day — theoretically, getting to their destination sooner. They do, however, need to drink, to counter dehydration.

Having reached southern Chiapas in Mexico by 29 March, our female was next reported at Cotulla, just north of Laredo in south Texas on 04 April. Here, the hawks could spread out and feed again, if needed. No signal was received on 10 April, but by 16 April, she was at Lamar, Colorado. She was presumably still feeding and resting in this area, moving only another 170 km by 23 April. Perhaps there were no thermals or winds to assist her. Then a final jump of 1575 kms (a average of 263 km/day) brought her back to her previous year’s nest, where she was observed on 29 April.

She had completed a straight-line distance of 10,520 km in just under 11 weeks. Actually, her total journey would have been many thousands more kms if we could follow her compete path over the earth.

Not all the Swainson’s Hawks live in the nearby prairies. Some go on much further, to the Yukon and into the N.W. Territories to near the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Others go into eastern Alaska. Their migration is one of the longest in the bird world, certainly of the new world raptors.

Having reached her breeding area, presumably with her mate of previous years already there, being monogamous, she likely quickly re-mated, helped repair the old nest or build a new one, laid 2-4 speckled eggs, then began incubation — all within about two to three weeks. The earliest reported egg-laying date in Alberta is 06 May — the mean average date being 23 May (L. Priestly, Blue Jay, 63:1).  The eggs hatch 28 to 35 days later, usually between mid June and early July, with the mean date of 27 June.

The growing young, mainly fed young Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, remain in the nest — depending upon the weather and availability of food — for about another 45 days. They usually fledge in early August — the mean being 11 August — although young have still been in the nest as late as 03 Sep. The adults continue to feed the young for the next several weeks until they are able to successfully hunt for themselves.

In early September, Swainson’s Hawks begin to gather in small groups, in harvested grain fields. Here they now feed almost exclusively  on grasshoppers, averaging 100 of these a day. Accumulating in ever-growing numbers, they begin to slowly drift southward. By the end of September, virtually every healthy Swainson’s Hawk has left Canada, on average, a little over five months or 21 weeks after their spring arrival. In the case of Stuart Houston’s hawk, in 1996, she started her return journey, following a slightly different but parallel route, on 22 September and reached her wintering area by 30 November. There she spent the next eleven weeks — before starting the annual cycle all over again. Like other tropical migrants, she was experiencing Perpetual Summer.

Her spring migration equaled almost 11 weeks; the breeding season lasted almost 21 weeks; her autumn migration was 9 weeks; and her winter stopover was 11 weeks, for a total of 52 weeks. In total, she was in transit for 20 weeks, almost five months, just to have the opportunity to reproduce the next generation and perpetuate her species. — And just maybe, in the process — she filled those of us aware of her achievements, with awe and wonder!

Photo by Anne Elliott.

Longevity & other statistics

A Swainson’s Hawk banded as a nestling by   Edgar T. Jones of Edmonton, at Cereal, AB on 17 July 1988, was found dead at Quemu Quemu, LaPampa province, Argentina, in Feb. 2007. Having made 19 trips southbound and 18 northbound, Stuart Houston calculated that it would have travelled a minimum distance of over 400,000 kms during its migrations. (Blue Jay, 65:3, p.164)

Most Swainson’s Hawks do not nest until three years of age (B. Woodbridge et al, J. Raptor Res. 29), after having made three round trips.

A Swainson’s Hawk banded in California was still alive after 24 years (C.S. Houston, Blue Jay 63:1).

Swainson’s Hawk’s wingspread is 51 inches, compared to 49 inches for Red-tailed Hawks, which migrate only as far as Southern USA. The average Swainson’s weighs 855 g, compared to 1080 g for Red-tailed Hawks. (D.A. Sibley, 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds, New York, Alfred A. Knopf).

In early 1996, Brian Woodbridge of California followed his radio-equipped hawks to Argentina. He thereby happened upon 700 dead hawks, killed by eating grasshoppers sprayed with the pesticide Monocrotophos, made by Ciba-Geigy. Two assistants, who visited sites of other radio-equipped birds also happened on massive kills. From 4847 carcasses examined, nine carried bands, seven of them from Alberta and Sask (C.S. Houston, 1996, Blue Jay 54(2). There was apparently a similar kill the year before, with at least one other banded bird from SK.

Harlan’s / Light Phase Red-tailed Hawk

May8

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Recently Terry Korolyk spotted an interesting hawk on Hwy 549 just west of Hwy 773, south of Calgary.  Terry says it is an intergrade Harlan’s light phase Red-tailed Hawk.

Terry says:

Thought some Birds Calgary viewers might like to see what this bird looked like. The underparts are obviously a mix of both subspecies. The underside of the tail is obviously white with duskiness near the tip. The upperside of the tail was, in reality, white with a reddish subterminal band and 2 narrower wavy reddish bands adjacent to that.

Photographed by Terry Korolyk on April 6, 2012.  Click to enlarge.

To fully appreciate the bird in the photo, look at images of adult Harlan’s Hawks and of adult Eastern Red-tails, then look at my bird again. Rather than blackish underparts with a white streaked throat like a Harlan’s Hawk, or, rather than having white underparts with a strongly streaked belly like an Eastern Red-tail, you have a bird with underparts markings that meet in between. The upperparts are clearly blackish like a Harlan’s Hawk, but they also have that Eastern Red-tail brownish cast. The tail was white like a Harlan’s Hawk, but, rather than having a dusky tip, it had 3 narrow wavy reddish lines there indicating normal light-phase Eastern Red-tail association.

As Terry says, the usual Red-tailed Hawks here are the Eastern subspecies, and “Harlan’s” Hawks are considered to be another subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk.  At one time, Harlan’s Hawk was considered to be a separate species entirely. Intergrades like the one above indicate that they are varieties of one species (many people believe that Harlan’s is a separate species; perhaps genetic testing will settle this question).

The Harlan’s Hawk is very different from all other Red-tailed Hawk subspecies.  In both its dark and light forms it has black and white plumage, lacking the reds and browns of other Red-tails.  The tail, however, can have a wide variety of patterns.  Harlan’s Hawk breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada and winters on the southern great plains.  We see them occasionally in Calgary in the winter months, when most other Red-tailed Hawks are absent.

Sunday Showcase: Spring Willets

May6

More great bird trips and photos from Marg Matheson and Alan Plumb.

Postcards from Texas: The highs and lows of birding

May5

Posted by Matthew Sim

Sometimes, birding can exceed your wildest hopes. For me, this happened last year when I stumbled upon a Northern Hawk Owl on a midday walk in Fish Creek. Sometimes though, birding can let you down. For me, this happened just last week on a birding trip with the Houston Audubon down to the Texas coast.

Spring migration in Texas is world-famous among birders. Millions of  neotropical birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico heading north to their breeding grounds land at various spots along the Texas coast, exhausted from their non-stop trip across the gulf. When the weather is right, a fall-out can occur, in which many different species of migrants all drop into the trees of the first bit of land they see after the trans-gulf flight. This trip with the Houston Audubon down to the coast was supposed to witness one of these fall-outs. Except the birds never came.

When we arrived at the tiny but well-known Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, the treetops (which should have been swarming with warblers, orioles, buntings, flycatchers and tanagers) were silent. Completely silent. We soon discovered that the strong south wind was blowing the migrants right on by. You see, with a powerful wind at their backs, these birds can conserve energy and travel faster; so why stop? Realizing that we weren’t going to see much we started to leave, seeing both Brown-headed Cowbirds and Bronzed Cowbirds (neither is a migrant) on the way out.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Bronzed Cowbird

Just as we were exiting, things started to pick up a little and we saw an Eastern Kingbird, 2 female Orchard Orioles and a very brief glimpse of a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, meaning that things weren’t too bad.

Female Orchard Oriole, saving the day for songbird migration!

From there, we headed down to the beach and jetty, where we were happy to see all 8 species of terns commonly seen on the upper Texas coast. As our group toured the surrounding beach, we observed many different species of shorebirds including pretty Black-necked Stilt, many Sanderlings, striking Ruddy Turnstones in breeding plumage and intriguing Dunlin. We also were given an opportunity to view Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plover and tried our hand at the tricky identification of Western And White-rumped Sandpipers. All of these were just out of camera range but were beautiful up-close in our spotting scopes.

After gobbling down a quick lunch, our Houston Audubon group decided to explore the nearby Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge to see what else we could see. Brazoria, a refuge of grasslands and salt marshes quickly yielded up a lifer for me, a Least Bittern, which flushed from some reeds. We also saw Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Black-necked Stilt and good views of Sora (though the same cannot be said for the photos!)

Snowy Egret

A very poor shot of the Sora

As our group drove the auto-tour loop, we saw some more great birds such as Dickcissel. One car had 3 handsome male Bobolinks singing. We even managed to spot a female Magnificent Frigatebird, which is always a highlight.

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

We finished our trip with about 80 species and though the songbird migration was definitely a low, the shorebirds and the activity at Brazoria were definitely highs and the trip was well worth it.

Q & A: Attracting Birds to Feeders

May1

By Bob Lefebvre

Here at the Birds Calgary blog, we receive a lot of questions from bird-friendly folks throughout the province. We are going to start sharing some of them with our readers as just another way to spread bird knowledge. 

If you have a question, email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  We may post your question and our answer.  We won’t print your name or email address without permission.

Q:  Hi there, I have a question regarding attracting birds to my feeder.  I live in Calgary, and I have tried everything this fall and winter to attract birds to my yard with no success.  I’ve looked at all kinds of websites and followed their advice; I have the best seeds, suet, nuts, feeders…however my yard is in a horrible location.  I live in a small townhouse, and I access my yard and front door via an alley that is ‘walled in’ by the neighbour’s house and two other townhouses.  I hear the birds all around me when I go outside, but my yard doesn’t have a tree, and is somewhat hidden as my yard is recessed due to the neighbouring townhouses.  I know the birds are around, I just can’t seem to get them to see my feeders because my yard is hidden.

I’ve sprinkled seed around the area and in my alley, I’ve even leaned my old Christmas tree against a wall near the feeder in the hopes of attracting even one small chickadee! I’m reluctant to invest any more in this effort (like a heated bird bath) because I’m not fully convinced I’ll ever be able to attract birds.  I’m just wondering if anyone at your great website has any advice for me, I love birding and want to attract birds and help them throughout the winter, but I’m just not having any luck!  Other than waiting until to spring to plant some flowers and shrubs that might attract them, do you have any advice?

Thanks so much, love the website.

A:  It’s likely that your location and the lack of trees in your yard is a problem, but I think that with patience you will be able to attract the birds.

It’s true that having trees or shrubs is definitely a big plus.  The birds need to feel that they have a safe haven to retreat to if attacked. Also, if there are no large trees around there will be fewer nesting sites for species like Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, and Northern Flickers. Some of the newer neighbourhoods in Calgary with few large trees have a smaller number of bird species than old, established neighbourhoods.  But as you said, there are birds near your house, so you should be able to get them into your yard.  It seems most likely that the birds just have not yet discovered your feeders.

You are probably hearing House Sparrows in the area, so you have to try to get them in your yard first.  Normally, they will feed at almost any type of feeder.  The location of the feeders can be important too.  Are they too high or too low?  They shouldn’t be placed anywhere that a cat could ambush the birds as they feed.  It seems to me that House Sparrows don’t like to come to feeders that are right against a building or in a window, if they have any other choice.  (Some other birds will not come to a raised feeder but prefer to feed on the ground.)  Once the House Sparrows begin feeding in your yard, other species like House Finches, Black-billed Magpies, and Black-capped Chickadees will notice the feeding activity and come to the food.

Other than providing a variety of feeders in proper locations, the two most important things you can do to get the birds to start coming to your yard regularly is to put out water, and to feed them year-round.

I know you said you didn’t want to get a heated birdbath, but you should consider making water available in your yard.  It really makes a difference in attracting birds. (Running water is the best attractor, but you can’t have that in the winter.)  If you get a metal or plastic birdbath, the water will freeze in cold weather but on many winter days it will melt at least a little, and you can always add hot water to the ice to yield a little drinkable water on all but the coldest days.  (Ceramic and concrete birdbaths can break when water freezes.)

You mentioned that you have been trying to attract the birds this fall and winter.  It’s much easier to get birds in your yard in the summer, when there are many more around, and thus get the local birds in the habit of feeding there.  So I would encourage you to keep at it through the summer.  I know people who feed birds only in the winter, and they get very few species in their yards.  Many people believe that birds do not need to be fed in the summer because there is more natural food around.  In truth, we don’t have to feed the birds at all, but it is during summer when there is more demand for food.  The numbers of birds here in the summer is many times higher than in the winter, and when they are raising young they need a lot of food.

I know you’d like to get the birds to come to your yard right away and there might be something you can do to get their attention.  I have put up feeders that the birds just didn’t seem to notice, even though they were feeding at other feeders nearby.  I tried attaching a piece of aluminum foil to the new feeder (about 4 inches wide and two feet long, hanging down below it) and the House Finches found the feeder the next day.  I’m not sure why that works, (perhaps the birds are just curious) but you might try that.

Finally I just want to encourage you to be very patient!  It can take a while to get the birds to start coming, but once they do, they will keep coming.  Continue through to the fall, add water and plant a shrub, and see if the birds find your feeders.  When I moved into my current house I put out a feeder and kept it out all year, and I never saw anything but House Sparrows and magpies until almost a year later, when the first House Finch arrived.  Now I’ve been here eight years, and in 2011 alone I had 57 species on my yard list, and dozens of individual birds every day.  This year I’ve had 26 species already.  If you keep at it through the spring and summer you will be on your way.

Reply:  Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement!  I will try your suggestions, and keep trying to attract birds to my feeder.  That’s interesting to know that birds need feed more in the summer than the winter, I never thought of it that way.  I only started to get into birding this summer and I’m loving it so far, it’s amazing how many different species there are.  I especially enjoy it when I think it’s just a bunch of Canadian Geese, and then find out that there’s a merganser, golden eye or bufflehead mixed in with them.  At Fish Creek the other week I was fortunate enough to see 2 bald eagles!  As an Ontarian, I haven’t seen many in my life so that was definitely a good day.  I’m hoping to get out this weekend to try and spot some snowy owls, following tips from your website should definitely help.

Thanks again for your advice.

Q & A: Northern Shrike

Apr24

By Bob Lefebvre

Here at the Birds Calgary blog, we receive a lot of questions from bird-friendly folks throughout the province. We are going to start sharing some of them with our readers as just another way to spread bird knowledge. 

If you have a question, email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  We may post your question and our answer.  We won’t print your name or email address without permission.

Q:  I was walking along the Bow south of 22x today [April 6] and saw these, which I haven’t seen before.  I couldn’t get close for a good picture but I’m hoping you can you tell me what they are.

Thanks, Jim
 
.
.
 
A: These are Northern Shrikes, which are songbirds that behave like raptors.  They hunt insects, snakes, rodents, and small birds.  Shrikes are called “Butcher Birds,” and they have been known to take birds as large as Blue Jays and Mourning Doves.  They will often impale their victims on a thorn or barbed wire, which is thought to be a way of marking their territory and attracting mates, and for short-term storage of food. Shrikes are only about 10 inches long, but they have a sharp hooked beak like a falcon’s.  They sit on high perches and scan for prey, then swoop down on it.  Sometimes they hover over the ground to watch for prey.
These birds will be on migration right now (I have seen a couple in the same area in the last two weeks).  There are always a few around here in the winter, but they breed in the high arctic.  In the summer, we have the closely related Loggerhead Shrike on the prairies east of town, but it is not usually seen in the city.

Sunday Showcase: Common Calgary Gulls

Apr22

 Posted by Matthew Sim

Though we see them a lot during the summer, most of us have some difficulty in identifying these guys;  so here’s a breakdown of the common Calgary gulls.

California Gull; identified by rounded head, red and black spot on bill and greenish-yellow legs. Also note completely dark eye.

Franklin's Gull, the easiest gull in Calgary as it is, for the most part, the only one with a black head. Also note the white eye-crescents and the bright red beak.

Ring-billed Gull with its namesake ringed bill is probably the most common gull in Calgary and is often seen in parking lots.I separated from the Herring Gull by its yellow legs. Similar to California Gull, which has a darker eye.

The Herring Gull is nearly identical to the Ring-billed Gull, the one big difference though is the legs. Herring Gulls have pink legs while Ring-billed Gulls have yellow legs.

Though identifying gulls can be very difficult, hopefully this helps you next time you see a gull in Calgary.

A Cold Morning In Hull’s Wood

Apr20

Posted by Bob Lefebvre.

Week Two of the Spring session of the birding course with the Friends of Fish Creek saw us exploring Hull’s Wood and the boat launch area, at the east end of Fish Creek Park.  It was quite cold at 7:30 a.m., about minus 4 degrees Celsius, with a north wind and light snow, and the conditions didn’t change much over the three hours.  Nevertheless, we did manage to see some spring migrants.  Once again, the photos were provided by Paul Turbitt and Glenn Alexon.

Franklin’s Gull.  Photo by Paul Turbitt. 

We saw about 75 of the black-headed Franklin’s Gulls over the river.  As you can see in the photo, these gulls often have a pinkish tinge to their breast feathers in the spring.  Several gull species show this feature when they arrive on their breeding grounds, and it is thought to be a result of carotenoids in their diet.  In the case of Franklin’s Gulls, it is caused by their consumption of shrimp on their wintering grounds off the coast of Venezuela.  By fall it often fades away.

Canada Geese are nesting in broken treetops in the area, where they are safe from coyotes and dogs.  Here a male stands guard near the nest.

Canada Goose.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

We walked north along the river, and scoured the rocky banks for American Pipits.  Up to 80 had been seen in the area earlier in the week.  We weren’t able to locate any, but I’ll get back to the pipits later.

We saw two bald eagles along the river:  one adult, and one juvenile which put up all the waterfowl as it flew over.  There were also at least two Red-tailed Hawks.

Red-tailed Hawk. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

 A White-breasted Nuthatch was busy excavating a nest hole.  Here he is removing some wood from the nest.

As we neared the mouth of Fish Creek we watched a flock of over 200 European Starlings repeatedly flying down to the water and back up to the trees.  Then we noticed another huge flock of small birds, which turned out to be Tree Swallows, working their way north along the river.  I estimated about 100 in the first flock, which was followed immediately by another of the same size, then another, and another.  It was really just one huge flock numbering up to 800 birds.

We then turned away from the river, and out of the wind, to check out the two Great Horned Owl nests in the area.  The young owlets have been seen in one of the nests, but when we were there we weren’t lucky enough to see them.

Adult male Great Horned Owl standing guard near the nest.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Near the second owl nest we found a pair of Wood Ducks sitting in a tree.   These birds nest in tree holes so maybe they will nest in this area.

Male Wood Duck.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

 

Female Wood Duck.   Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Photo by Glenn Alexon.

We finished up by checking the pond near highway 22X.  There wasn’t much there, but we were treated to Red-winged Blackbirds, a first of the year for some of the participants.

Red-winged Blackbird.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Finally, as we arrived back at the boat launch parking lot, we were treated to a Great Blue Heron flyover.

Great Blue Heron.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

That was a great way to finish the day for me and most of the others, but three people went back along the Bow to see if they could scare up some American Pipits.  By walking right near the shore, they did manage to find them.  These birds can hide quite effectively in the rocks and grass.

 American Pipits.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Photo by Glenn Alexon.

When they were watching the pipits, a Mountain Bluebird appeared, then flew across the river.

Mountain Bluebird, from across the Bow River.   Photo by Paul Turbitt.

One of the photos that Paul took of the pipits showed a bird that I was sure was not an American Pipit, but couldn’t identify.  Gus Yaki has identified it as a Sprague’s Pipit.  This is a bird of the prairies which is rarely seen in the city.

Sprague’s Pipit.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

 I will be heading back to this area regularly in the next few weeks to watch the development of the Great Horned Owlets.

Photo by Glenn Alexon. 

Glenn Alexon’s Flickr page.

Paul Turbitt’s Nikonians page. 

Spring Birding in South Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead

Apr13

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

April marks the beginning of the spring session of the Friends of Fish Creek birding courses.  For this three-month session, Dan Arndt and I decided to lead a group at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays.  This might seem a little early to be going out in April, but by May and June the sun will be high before we get under way, and we hope to see and hear more birds than we would later in the day.

Dan is away for the first two weeks, so I will be reporting on what we saw, with photos provided by two of the course participants, Glenn Alexon and Paul Turbitt.

The first outing, on Easter Sunday, was in North Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead.  We spent about an hour checking the west end of Glenmore Reservoir first.  It is still almost completely frozen, with only a few small areas open in the west end, but there were some waterfowl there, notably some impressive Trumpeter Swans.

 Trumpeter Swans landing on the water.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Common Mergansers:  female (left) and male (right).  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Canada Goose taking off.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Then we headed down in to the Weaselhead.  A highlight there was a Townsend’s Solitaire singing from the top of a very tall spruce.

Townsend’s Solitaire.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Male Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Female Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

These chickadees expect to be fed.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

There were quite a few Red Squirrels around, and a couple of Least Chipmunks were also seen.

Red Squirrel.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

We saw three Red-tailed Hawks overhead, including this dark Harlan’s Hawk.

Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

We had hoped to see Pine Grosbeaks and American Tree Sparrows at the feeders.  There were none around when we first went through, but on our last stop on the way back we found a pair of each.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

American Tree Sparrow feeding on the ground.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Back up by the parking lot, an early Richardson’s Ground Squirrel was the last species of the day.

Richardson’s Ground Squirrel.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

In all, we saw 28 bird species and four mammals.  The eight groups who went to this area during the first week of the course collectively saw 48 bird species and six mammal species.  The Weaselhead is a great place for spring birding!

To see more of Glenn Alexon’s photos, go to his Flickr page.

To read about one of the Saturday morning course outings, go to David Pugh’s blog.

Famous Birders: Roger Tory Peterson

Apr7

Posted by Matthew Sim

In this Famous Birders post, we take a look at one birder who completely changed the face of birding as we know it today.

Roger Tory Peterson, is one of the most famous birders ever to have lifted a pair of binoculars. Except that a lot of the time, he didn’t even need binoculars. As he once said, “I can recognize the calls of practically every bird in North America. There are some in Africa I don’t know, though.” A master  of ornithology, Peterson is best known for his revolutionary field guides which were “the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars in bird watching.”

Roger Peterson was born in Jamestown New York in 1908, the son of european immigrants. At the age of 11, birds became a part of his life when his 7th grade teacher taught the class about these remarkable little creatures. From that point on, Roger’s passion for birds and all other aspects of nature grew and grew. After finishing high school, Roger Peterson got a job painting furniture, working hard and saving his money for art school, which he hoped to attend. In 1925, Roger saw a notice about the next American Ornithologist’s Union meeting, to be held in New York City. He also saw that there would be an art show, to which he promptly submitted two paintings of his (both were accepted). At the meeting, Roger met many of the birders and bird artists of the time. Within a year of the meeting, Roger had two more paintings shown at the first American bird art exhibit and was soon meeting the big names and got involved in the big organizations of birding at the time. Within a few years, Roger was even writing his first field guide.

In the year 1933, Roger’s A Field Guide to the Birds found it’s way to Francis H. Allen’s desk, an editor for the publisher Houghton Mifflin. From that point on, there was no turning back. At first, only 2,000 copies were made, sold for 2.75$ a piece. Roger Peterson’s first field guide was a huge hit and within the first week, all 2,000 copies were sold, prompting more copies to be published. This was only the beginning of a very illustrious career for Roger and as of today, he has sold 7 million copies and 52 field guides make up the Peterson Field Guide System. In a time when shooting birds was as close to birding as it got, Roger’s field guides revolutionized the way people saw the natural world around them. What made Peterson’s field guides so successful is that they are simple to look at, with arrows pointing to distinguishing field marks that might help in identification. This simplicity helped many potential birders easily understand and identify what they were looking at.

Roger Peterson became one of the leading birders, nature artists and natural writers of his time and it is in part thanks to his work that so many people are involved in birding today; he truly was a great birder, perhaps, some argue, the best that there has ever been.

Photos courtesy wikipedia.