Here is a photographic collection of some of the birds you may see in the Calgary region this winter.
Snowy Owl
Common Merganser
Hairy Woodpecker
Mountain Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Red Crossbill
Posted by Matthew Sim
Tag Archive | birds calgary blog
Revering a Raptor
From the day that I first laid eyes on the species, gliding on broad wings over a coniferous forest in the Rocky mountains of Alberta, I have always looked with awe at it, astounded by its sheer magnificence. Many people have soft spots for raptors. I have a soft spot for one in particular: the Northern Goshawk.
I first saw a goshawk just over a year ago. It was early October 2010, and I had signed up for the Mount Lorette Golden Eagle field trip with Nature Calgary. I went out on my own to explore the area right around the location of the watch, and, while out on the path, witnessed an adult goshawk rise up from the spruce trees and circle away. From that moment on I was always looking for goshawks; every chance I got, I would go searching for them.
Rising up out of the forest; my first views of a Northern Goshawk
Several days later, on a biking trip to Fish Creek Provincial Park, I came across an adult Goshawk perched high up in a poplar, sitting and gazing at the world around him. I stood and watched this magnificent raptor for more than half an hour, pointing the bird out to anybody who came near. Many of these were joggers or were merely walking their dogs. They took little interest in this bird, that is somewhat tricky to spot in the city of Calgary. I was rewarded though by the few who did pause to look up at the goshawk and comment on his size.
“What did you say it was called?”
“A Northern Goshawk”, I would reply eagerly, ” it’s somewhat unusual here in Calgary.”
“Really? Wow! Look at how big he his!” After staring up at him for several more seconds, they would smile and move on. Hopefully the Goshawk had made an impression on them though.
While I watched this large, strong accipter (agile, forest dwelling hawks with short rounded wings and long tails) it scratched its head withs its talon, giving me glimpses of those wicked sharp utensils it uses to tear apart its prey. Eventually, it lifted off and disappeared amongst the trees.
Goshawks are among the largest, strongest and most audacious of the hawks of North America. In November 2010, a little over a month since I first observed this species, I got an excellent opportunity to view this audacity. I was riding my bike home from Fish Creek and was running slightly late. I looked down for a moment as I pulled onto a dirt path going around a storm water pond, and, when I looked up again, there, sitting merely yards away from me in a small tree no taller than 10 feet, was an adult goshawk. They now seemed to be everywhere I went! I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could and screeched to a stop, panting breathlessly. Pulling out my camera, I marveled at how close this bird had let me get. I stood watching him, he stood watching me, this went on for several minutes before he abruptly flew away.
Taken with a 200mm lens and no crop; I could see every detail in the feathers
Instead of leaving altogether though, the goshawk started hovering over a field, pulled up, started hovering again and then pulled up once more. Then, with a sharp turn, he came whizzing right at me and flew by me at a distance of about 4 feet! The raptor was so close that my lens couldn’t focus on it!
These incredibly neat personal experiences combined with an amazingly beautiful species, have come to make me love the Northern Goshawk.
Posted by Matthew Sim
Weasel Wednesday
Sometimes when you go birding you don’t find what you hope to see. But sometimes you see something unexpected that is just as great. And sometimes it’s not even a bird.
Last Saturday the Friends of Fish Creek Society birders explored the Votier’s Flats area of Fish Creek Park. Our goal was to find a Northern Pygmy-Owl, which is always a treat to see, and which several members of the group had never seen. The owl has not yet been reported in the park this fall but in the last few years it has first been sighted at about this time.
We didn’t find an owl, but someone spotted a writhing mass at the side of the path that turned out to be a family of Least Weasels – a mother with eight young.
Photo by Dan Arndt
The nine little mammals moved through the undergrowth in a mass, over and under each other, but always in contact. In his report on Albertabird, Gus Yaki described them as “travelling together so close that they seemed to be a single organism.” Pat Bumstead says that they probably were making one of their first forays outside their natal den, and were exploring their surroundings.
- Photo by Wayne Walker
The mother crossed the trail near us, and the young separated amongst our feet. They showed no fear of us. I put my hand down, and briefly had one in my gloved hand. The shots below show just how small Least Weasels are. These young are as big as an adult, or nearly so.
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
The juveniles eventually crossed the trail to reunite with their mother.
Photo by Dan Arndt
Although they are impossibly cute, weasels are carnivores, capable of killing animals many times their size. In these photos they show off their teeth.
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Anne Elliott
We were very lucky to see such an amazing sight. If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of looking at these little guys, so below there are some more pictures for you to enjoy.
(To see an additional Birdscalgary post about another species of weasel, click here.)
(To see a YouTube video that uses some of these pictures, with music, click below:)
Here are the rest of the photos:
Photo by Dan Arndt
Photo by Dan Arndt
Photo by Anne Elliott
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Photo by Wayne Walker
Thanks to the three photographers who contributed these great pictures: Wayne Walker, Dan Arndt, and Anne Elliott.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Nothing But Shoreline
The irrigation canal in southeast Calgary is drained in late September, and as the water level drops, it exposes lush shorelines with plenty for the birds to eat. From mid-September to freeze-up is the time to get out to look for waterfowl, gulls, and late migrating shorebirds.
Fall colours reflected in the remaining water
I usually explore the sections from the canal headworks near the Max Bell Arena to south of 50 Avenue SE. There are four parking areas, and you can go up and down a portion of the canal from each one. It’s a long walk to do it all at once, but a fairly short bike ride.
Click to enlarge the map.
Max Bell Arena: Access from Barlow Trail SE, just south of Memorial Drive. There is a large parking lot north of the arena, and you can walk down to the canal headworks from there, and walk along the east bank. If you want to get to the west bank, you have to cross over at the 17 Avenue SE bridge.
Bow Waters Canoe Club: Access is off 26 Street SE, just south of 17 Avenue. Cross the bridge to get to the paths on the west side. The path on the east side between here and Gosling Way has some steep, difficult terrain, and it is almost impassable by bike. This lot is fairly secluded and I don’t like to leave my vehicle there. I prefer Max Bell or Gosling Way.
Gosling Way: Go west off 26 Street SE at 34 Avenue. This is the road that goes to the Inglewood Golf and Curling Club. The parking lot, used by off-leash dog walkers, is just west of the bridge over Deerfoot trail, on the south side of Gosling Way. It only holds about ten vehicles. From this lot, walk down to the bridge over the canal and take the paths from there. In the winter, you can also park at the golf and curling club, but it is a bit of a walk back to the canal.
50 Avenue SE: It is difficult to park here. There are only two small spots, each with room for two cars, at the east end of the bridge over the canal. It can also be a very busy road, so I avoid parking here as well, and usually just walk from Gosling Way.
The canal has a paved path on one side (sometimes on the east, sometimes on the west) and a dirt or gravel path of sorts on the other side. I like to go on the east side in the mornings and on the west side in the afternoons, to keep the sun behind me. This late in the year, the water is usually frozen in the mornings, so there are few birds around. But on warm afternoons the ice melts, and the birds arrive.
Muskrat and female Hooded Merganser
Detail of Gosling Way Parking. Click to enlarge.
Looking south from Gosling Way.
Looking north to the bridge on Gosling Way.
Pat and I have each posted about birding the canal before. You can see Pat’s post here, and my post here.
Lately I’ve seen quite a few Canada Geese, Mallards, and Ring-billed Gulls, and a few Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, and Greater Yellowlegs. In past years I’ve seen Redheads, Blue-winged Teal, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Rusty Blackbirds all feeding along the shorelines.
Mallards and an assortment of Yellowlegs.
Muskrat and Mallard sharing the Muskrat’s lodge. Background by Monet.
A Black-billed Magpie looks for food on the old canal bottom.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
eBird
“Global tools for birders, critical data science”.
This one line sums up eBird perfectly. eBird is an online checklist program for birders that has changed the way we submit and access data for the better. This program enables you to easily view data submitted from across the globe by birdwatchers.
Well how does it work? eBird gets many thousands of birders engaged in contributing to a huge online database. You simply fill in a checklist on your birding trip; the who, what, when and where of the outing and then submit the form. eBird stores the data and allows you to view your own lists of what you have seen for the month, for the year, for a certain location and so on. Rare birds get flagged by the data quality filters and are then reviewed by local experts. Once a rare bird has been confirmed it is accessible for all to see via rare bird alerts, allowing others to share in the discovery. Your checklist goes to the database to help scientists accumulate information on birds and helps them to determine species ranges, bird distribution and other such data which can help save endangered birds. As they explain on the website: “any contribution made to eBird increases our understanding of the distribution, richness, and uniqueness of the biodiversity of our planet.” I look forward to seeing many observations submitted to eBird from you!
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
Posted by Matthew Sim
Rescuing Wild Birds
Last time I posted about a sick Ring-billed Gull found in Fish Creek Park (see post). I wondered if it would have been accepted at any of the local wildlife rehabilitation centres. 
Ring-billed Gulls, which were in trouble in the early twentieth century, have been increasing in numbers and expanding their breeding range ever since they were given protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty in 1916. They lay one to four eggs (more usually two or three), and have an unusually high hatch rate of nearly 80%. It takes three years to reach breeding age, and a typical lifespan is ten to fifteen years. So even though they do have a high rate of loss of young birds, the population has grown to the point where they are now the most common gull in North America, and are considered by many to be a pest that needs management.
Adult Ring-billed Gull in Valleyview Park Pond, SE Calgary, 2007
Nevertheless, it turns out that two of the local wildlife rehabilitation centres that I contacted would accept an injured or sick Ring-billed Gull. The Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC), located north of the city near Madden, accepts all bird species except House Sparrows and European Starlings, non-native birds which are considered to be invasive. The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (CWRS), located in northwest Calgary, will accept any wildlife but discourages people from bringing in Rock Pigeons and Richardson’s Ground Squirrels. The AIWC will send a volunteer to pick up wildlife, but you have to bring the animal in to the CWRS.
These organizations, and others like them across the province, take sick, injured, or orphaned wildlife and rehabilitate them, if possible, for return to the wild. They typically are volunteer-based and include veterinarians and experts in wildlife rehabilitation.
If you find a bird or other animal in distress, it is important first to be able to recognize if it is really injured or orphaned, or behaving normally, and second, to be able to handle it safely. The above organizations have excellent information about this on their websites, which is well worth reading for any birder. If you think you might want to use these services, keep their phone numbers handy and know what to do if you find an injured bird.
I asked the AIWC if there are times in the year when they are so busy that taking common birds like Ring-billed Gulls might put too much of a strain on their resources, but they assured me that although it does get very busy sometimes, they never refuse any animal and always manage to properly look after them all. If you find an injured bird, it is up to you if you want to pursue rescuing it.
All of the wildlife rehabilitation organizations rely heavily on volunteers, so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved if you are interested in helping. They also have regular open houses and give presentations to inform the public about their work. AIWC recently spoke to the Bird Studies Group of Nature Calgary.
Blackjack, a Swainson’s Hawk used by AIWC in their educational presentations, at the Bird Studies Group meeting.
Here are links to the websites of some local wildlife rehabilitation organizations.
Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation
Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society
Medicine River Wildlife Centre
Alberta Wildlife Rehabilitator’s Association
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Movie Monday: Goldfinch on Sunflower
I’ve been getting a few American Goldfinches coming through the yard in the last few weeks, and although they will feed on niger seed in the tube feeder, they really seem to like eating sunflower seeds right off the plant. Here are a couple of pictures, plus a video that shows one ripping the outer leaves off the sunflower to better get at the seeds. They really have to work to get a meal!
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Finding a Sick Bird
Last week I posted a picture of a bird that was sitting on a dirt path near the Bow River in Fish Creek Park (see post). The bird didn’t move even as we approached to within a few feet.
It was a juvenile Ring-billed Gull, and clearly there was something wrong with it. It was either sick or injured. Gus Yaki, who was leading the outing, picked the gull up to examine it.
The gull hardly reacted. Needless to say, you would not be able to pick up a healthy bird in this way. Gus said that there was no obvious injury, but the bird was so thin that he could feel the bones in its breast, where the large flight muscles should have been. It would not be able to fly. Clearly it was unable to feed, had been starving for quite a while, and was near death.
Gus took the opportunity to explain the cruel facts of breeding bird biology: for a typical species, only half of all eggs laid will hatch; of the nestlings that do hatch, only half survive the first month; of the remainder, only half will live to one year of age. On average, a stable population requires that a breeding pair of adults must manage to raise two offspring to breeding age over their entire lifetime, so that the offspring replace the parents. If the number surviving to breed was usually higher, the population would explode, and if lower, it would crash. This means that the majority of eggs and young birds fall victim to predators, disease, or other hazards.
Gus returned the bird to the sunny spot on the path where we found it, and we left it to its fate.
No one suggested we try to save the bird, but later I wondered if any of the local wildlife rescue organizations would have taken in a common bird like a Ring-billed Gull, especially one in such poor shape. I’ll address that in my next post.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Movie Monday: Nose Hill Crow Roost
There is a large nighttime roost of hundreds of American Crows on Nose Hill again this year. Last week I took a short video as they were arriving at about 7:30 pm. The location is near the Brisebois Drive parking lot. Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but it gives you an idea of what it is like. If you want to see this roost yourself, go within the next two weeks before the crows head south.
For an explanation of this behavior, see the previous post, Crows by the Thousands.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Whooping Cranes at the Zoo Ranch
Whooping Cranes are so rare that most of us have never seen one in the wild. But there is an opportunity to see captive ones right here in Calgary. The Calgary Zoo maintains a Whooping Crane breeding program at their Zoo Ranch facility just south of the city. On Saturday October 8, there will be a field trip to see these magnificent birds, as well as other rare birds and animals. Crane Keeper Dwight Knapik will guide the group on a tour of the facility and explain their breeding programs.
Whooping Crane pair. All photos from 2008.
There will be a limit of 25 participants accepted for this free trip, so if you have never been to the Zoo Ranch, you should take this opportunity. Call Gus Yaki at 403-243-2248 to register (the best time to reach him is between 6 and 7 pm). In the past this trip has always been fully booked.
Up close and personal with a Whooping Crane!
The group will meet at the Anderson LRT Station next to McLeod Trail, 109 Ave SW, south of the pedestrian overpass, at 1:30 pm to carpool to the site. (If it is raining the date may be changed to Sunday October 9.)
Are you looking at me?
Desmoiselle Cranes
Sandhill Crane
Przewalski’s Horse
Grevy’s Zebra. Unfortunately this animal has since passed away.
Posted by Bob Lefebvre