Tag Archive | birds calgary blog

The Lookout

Jun29

In South Glenmore Park, just where the trail drops down into the Weaselhead, there is a path leading through the bush to a spot with two benches.

Not only does it provide a great view of the pond and Weaselhead, but someone has turned it into a feeding station for the birds.  I have been there a few times, and there is always birdseed on the rails and ground, and oranges in the trees.  If you sit still and are patient, you get great close-up views of the birds.  These pictures were taken on June 17, and we saw 23 species from the lookout that day.  Here are some of them.  You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Downy Woodpecker:

Hairy Woodpecker:

Clay-colored Sparrow:

Black-capped Chickadee:

Rose-breasted Grosbeak:

Brown-headed Cowbird:

Some small mammals got in on the action as well.  Red Squirrel:

Least Chipmunk:

A Pine Siskin and a Red-breasted Nuthatch squabble over a good feeding spot:

Pine Siskin:

Red-breasted Nuthatch:

White-breasted Nuthatch:

Finally, this little Red Squirrel rested his head on his hands while he patiently waited his turn at the feeder:

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Movie Monday: Common Goldeneye

Jun27

At Valleyview Park pond in SE Calgary, I recently saw a single Common Goldeneye chick trailing after its mother.  I took a little video of the pair.  Watch the instinctive reaction of the chick when it hears the “sputter” call of a Red-winged Blackbird.  It obviously hasn’t yet learned that this sound doesn’t mean danger!  (Sorry about the helicopter noise.)

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Perfect Pelicans

Jun25

Last Tuesday when I was down at the Bow River, I was witness to a great birding spectacle; photogenic pelicans putting on a show of flying, landing and swimming. I was able to count up 27 of these social and gregarious birds at one time, half of them circling in the sky while the other half loafed around on the banks of the river. Among the world’s largest birds and gracing the air with a wingspan of over 2 meters, the American White Pelican can swallow fish up to 30cm (12 inches) long and must eat 2 kg (4 lbs) of fish a day.

Several Pelicans made a show of coming in for a landing.

They came closer and closer…

Until it seemed as though they were right beside me…

Their feathers were absolutely stunning against the blue sky.

This Pelican was demonstrating the mechanics of a good landing…

Before finally putting down the landing gear.

If you look carefully at this last photo, you may just be able to make out a Franklin’s Gull at the far right of the screen. This gull was flying at roughly the same altitude as the pelicans and shows the massive size difference between the two. After Tuesday, Pelicans have become a bird I love to watch.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Birds of the Weaselhead

Jun22

Last week we went for a walk through the Weaselhead area of SW Calgary.  It was very wet and the rivers were high, but we did manage to find some nice birds.

The creek near the junction with the Elbow River.

Eastern Phoebes are nesting under both of the wooden bridges…

There are lots of Least Flycatchers in the area…

It appears that Beavers have chewed through this retaining wall, just to make it easier for them to get from the forest to their pond…

We saw this male Calliope Hummingbird do its spectacular U-shaped display flight, where it climbs to a height of about 80 feet, and then dives rapidly towards the ground, and up again…

We never saw any Pileated Woodpeckers, but there is evidence of their activities on many of the big trees…

Cliff Swallows at their mud nests under the bridge over the Elbow River…

A Spotted Sandpiper was feeding on top of some logs in the river…

Cedar Waxwings were busy flycatching along the waterways…

And there were several Red Squirrels, looking for handouts…

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Photo Feathers: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (?)

Jun20

I took these pictures in the Weaselhead/South Glenmore area on Friday June 17.  I have seen male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks there before so I assumed this was a female Rose-breasted, but it’s possible that it is a Black-headed Grosbeak or hybrid, or a juvenile.  All opinions on its ID are welcome in the comments.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Bird Profile: Western Kingbird

Jun17

A large flycatcher with a yellow belly, pale grey head and breast and a black tail with white stripes down the sides, the Western Kingbird is one of my favorite birds. Eating mostly insects, the Kingbird is always ready to snatch its next meal; whether from a perch or on the ground.

Nesting in tall cottonwoods along river valleys, the Western Kingbird can be difficult to find in Calgary. Probably the best spot in the city to look for this neat bird is Lafarge Meadows, in Fish Creek, south of 22x where they nest.

More social than other kingbirds, at times, several pairs of Western Kingbird may be found nesting in the same tree. They readily attack crows, ravens, hawks and other larger birds that can be potential predators to them and their young.

The Western Kingbird has a distinguishing lemon yellow belly.

Posted by Matthew Sim

May Species Count – Longview Area

Jun6

One of the areas that I surveyed for the May Species Count on Sunday May 29 was the Longview area, an hour SW of Calgary.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get to some of the best birding spots due to the wet weather, but the conditions were pretty good.  There was water flowing across some of the side roads but I did get through.

This creek was very high…

There was still quite a bit of snow at high elevations…

The Bar U Ranch road, looking west to the mountains…

I managed to find 75 species, which is a good total for that territory.  I was quite frustrated near the end of the day by my inability to find a House Sparrow anywhere in the town of Longview!  No House Finches there either.  I also saw about 35 Black Terns in a pond that was just out of my territory, and they refused to come over to a perfectly good pond on my side of the boundary.

But I did have some unexpected birds as well, including two Red-breasted Mergansers.  Here are some other highlights (as usual, you can click on the photos to enlarge them).

Mountain Bluebirds are commonly seen near the bluebird boxes…

Female Mountain Bluebird…

Tree Swallows are nesting in many of the Bluebird boxes…

I got a good look at this Red-eyed Vireo…

Male Red-naped Sapsucker…

Because of the high water, there were few shorebirds other than Spotted Sandpipers and a few of these Wilson’s Snipe…

I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Harlequin Ducks on the Highwood River at the Green View campground…

I only saw one pair of Green-winged Teal, but this male swam very close to me…

The final surprise of the day was this beautiful Red Fox, which seemed to be completely unconcerned with my presence, and walked right by me…

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

May Species Count

Jun4

Last week, I, along with many other keen birders, did the Calgary and area May Species Count. Two other great birders and I were assigned the south part of the city, our borders were; north to Glenmore Trail, west and south to the Bow river and east to the City limits.  We had a great time, birding for 9 hours on Saturday, driving 139 kilometers and recording 87 birds. We saw many great birds, some of the highlights being 2 Hooded Mergansers, a Western Grebe, a Ferruginous Hawk, a Veery, a Blackpoll Warbler and a Townsend’s Solitaire. The Solitaire was a real surprise as it was far away from its normal habitat and was way too far south.

A Townsend’s Solitaire, way off course.

The Solitaire caught a bug and attempted to swallow it…

But had some difficulty. Eventually, the Solitaire got the bug down the hatch.

Other birds seen included several coots on nests…

Many Red-winged Blackbirds…

And a posing crow.

The May Species Count is held annually and will therefore be held again next year, if you haven’t done it yet, it could be a great time to start.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Oranges for Orioles

Jun1

For the last couple of years I have been putting out slices of oranges in my yard in the hopes of attracting Baltimore Orioles or Gray Catbirds.  I place the oranges on my tray feeder and in suet cages.  So far this has attracted only ants.  Last Friday morning, I thought that perhaps the heavy rain might force some migrants down, so I put out two fresh orange halves on a flower planter.  Within a half hour of arriving home in the afternoon, I looked out to see this bird feeding on the orange.

This first-year Baltimore Oriole stayed around the yard for two days, feeding on all the oranges, including the ones in the suet cage that I had placed there about two weeks before.

So if you want to see a Baltimore Oriole in your yard, putting out oranges really does work.  Now I’m just waiting for that Catbird.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre