Tag Archive | birds native to calgary

Fish Creek Park Birding

Sep28

I had a very slow birding summer, with a knee problem that kept me out of the field and off my bike for three months.  But now my knee is better and I am back birding with Gus Yaki and the Friends of Fish Creek Society.  I went out twice with this group to the Hull’s Wood/Sikome/Lafarge Meadows area in mid-September.  Here are some pictures from those trips (click on the pictures to enlarge them).

Two Double-crested Cormorants, and on the right, an Osprey, silhouetted against the rising sun.

A cormorant dries its wings.

Double-crested Cormorant, this time with the light on the right side of the bird.

The Osprey perched in a tree.

Red-tailed Hawk in flight.

Northern Flickers.

Greater Yellowlegs, in one of the ponds by highway 22X.

We found a single Wood Duck (centre) hanging out with the Mallards.

Great Blue Heron on its usual rock.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

This Cedar Waxwing was picking insects out of a spider web high in a tree.

American Kestrel.

Killdeer on the pond.

Killdeer on the river.

Common Raven calling near where they nested in Lafarge Meadows.

Finally, there is this bird, which we found sitting on a path that runs from the Sikome boat launch parking lot to the river.  I’ll tell its story next week.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Willet (or won’t it)

Sep24

As colder weather begins to descend upon Calgary, it can be nice to reflect a little bit on some birds that we were familiar with during the summer months.

Many species of birds vary greatly from region to region. The Willet is one of these birds that are highly variable with two distinct subspecies, the eastern semipalmata darker, browner and thicker-billed than the western subspecies inornata that we see both in Calgary, and down here on the Gulf Coast.

A western inornata Willet

A large shorebird with a flashy black-and-white wing pattern seen in flight,  the willet was given its name thanks to its territorial call: pill-will-willet. A very vocal bird, the Willet, as biologist William Vogt wrote many years ago, has another call, a ringing kaaaty. When William Vogt studied a breeding pair of Willets back in 1938  he couldn’t help but call them Will and Kate, thanks to their calls.

Another western Willet

Several years ago, before I was a big birder, I traveled out east for vacation. I observed my first Willet out there and now I have the chance to compare photographs of eastern and western Willets.

While the shots of the Western Willets are winter plumaged birds, you can still see the smaller size, darker color and stouter bill in the eastern Willet pictured above.

I always find regional variations in birds intriguing and the Willet is a bird with an easily visible difference, making it a good subject to view and compare from the east to the west.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Movie Monday: Bathing Crows

Sep5

Here is a video of three young crows at our birdbath, taken in July.  This was shortly after they fledged, and it looks like it might have been the first time they ventured into the water.  It’s interesting to compare their behavior to that of the juvenile Black-billed Magpie in the video in this post.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Must-see Birds: August

Aug2

August means migration for many birds here in Calgary while others are having a second brood of young ones or are concentrating on raising their first brood. This month’s birds are:

1. Common Loon

Best known for its lonely echoing calls that are considered by most people to be heard in unspoiled wilderness. The Common Loon has a seemingly star-studded back, a white necklace and a bright red eye that stands out in the right light. The Common Loon can stay underwater for long periods, up to a minute while feeding and longer if the bird is escaping from danger. Common Loons inhabit clear, open lakes where there are few people and plenty of fish. They can be seen in the mountains, foothills, parkland and boreal forest but are few in the grasslands.

2. Western Meadowlark

A stocky bird with a grayish brown back and a yellow breast with a black V on the bib, the male Western Meadowlark delivers a rich melodious song from posts in the grasslands. The Meadowlark breeds where there is a thick growth of weeds and grasses, laying 3-7 white eggs. The male bird is beautiful and defends his territory with various displays. Look for the Meadowlark in grasslands around Calgary.

File:Western Meadowlark.jpg

Image courtesy Wikipedia

 3. Yellow-headed Blackbird

Our third bird is the loud and noisy Yellow-headed Blackbird. The male is easily recognized by his bright yellow head and neck, black eye patch and white wing patch. the female is brown and mottled with a faint yellow head. The Yellow-headed Blackbird nests in the same marshes as Red-winged Blackbird and will displace the smaller Red-winged Blackbird from the prime nesting spots. The yellow-headed Blackbird is easy to see at Frank lake.

 

4. Black-crowned Night-Heron

A small stocky heron that at times appears to have no neck, the Black-crowned Night-Heron has a greenish black crown and long slender white head plumes. Most active at night, the Black-crowned Night-Heron was not observed in Alberta until 1958; it is now a local breeder. these herons colonize large bodies of water with dense emergent vegetation; I have seen them at Frank lake every time I have gone there during the spring and summer.

5.  Peregrine Falcon

Our final bird this month is the speedy Peregrine falcon.One of the swiftest birds in the world when diving at prey, it can attain speeds of over 300km/h when diving. The adults are blue-grey above with barred underparts and a dark head with thick sideburns. One of the most widespread birds in the world, the name peregrine means ‘wanderer’ and the Peregrine falcon has one of the longest migrations of any North American bird. Look for this fast falcon nesting on the U of C campus and at shorebird concentration spots like Weed lake, where a Peregrine will hunt the migrating shorebirds.

File:Falco peregrinus nest USFWS.jpg

Image courtesy Wikipedia

These are our 5 birds for August, see which ones you can find! We will have our final must-see birds post on September 1.

Posted by Matthew Sim

The Woodpecker Tree

Jul27

While on my latest bike ride into Fish Creek Provincial Park, I came across one very special tree. I have started calling it: The Woodpecker Tree. Standing proud and tall on the banks of the creek, this poplar tree seemed to be a gathering place for woodpecker food. I abruptly stopped on the dirt path I was riding on because I had heard a Hairy Woodpecker calling. I approached the tree for closer inspection and I was surprised to see 2 Downy Woodpeckers and a large female Hairy Woodpecker. Much to my surprise I heard another Downy Woodpecker calling high up in the tree and I looked up to see a male Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch. I then heard a tapping coming from the opposite side of the tree and found it to be a male Hairy Woodpecker tapping away. Eventually, my final count of woodpeckers came up to 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, 4 Downy Woodpeckers and the lone White-breasted Nuthatch.

This tree obviously fulfilled the nourishment needs for 7 woodpeckers and a nuthatch. As I continued to watch all these birds, I saw them eating insects, tapping at fungal growths on the tree and investigating sap.

After a dozen of  minutes or so, the woodpeckers started to spread out into the surrounding area to hunt down more food. Yet some of the birds, stayed on the woodpecker tree, clearly enjoying the abundance of good food.

Now, I can’t help but wonder if this is a regular occurrence at this tree, or was it a one-time event?

Posted by Matthew Sim

Bird Profile: Red-tailed Hawk

Jul26

Chances are you have seen this species before; this large hawk is one of the most widely distributed, numerous and commonly observed raptors in Canada. With a wingspan of up to 1.4m (58”) the Red-tailed Hawk is a highly variable buteo; soaring hawks that have wide tails and long, broad wings. Circling high up in the air, the Red-tailed Hawk can see mice scurrying about on the ground from 30 m (100ft) up .

This particular hawk in the photo appears to have done just that; he saw a mouse and then caught it, bringing the unfortunate rodent away to eat it, flying right over my head in the process of carrying off the mouse.

As mentioned before, the Red-tailed Hawk is a highly variable hawk with at least 14 recognized subspecies; ranging from the dark ‘Harlan’s Hawk’ to the ‘Krider’s Hawk’, a very pale subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawks love woodlands near open country; therefore, their habitat is diverse and they can be seen almost anywhere in Calgary. In summer, we tend to see light-colored morphs of the Western calurus the most and in migration and winter, we usually see dark morph ‘Harlan’s Hawks’. Also, in the southern part of Alberta, we have some krider’s Red-tailed Hawks. However, no matter what subspecies you see, they are still very impressive, especially when you get a good look at those talons!

Posted by Matthew Sim

Bird Profile: Red-winged Blackbird

Jul16

Up here in the northern part of the continent, we know when spring is here when the robins arrive. These are not the only harbingers of warmer days however; the Red-winged Blackbird heralds the arrival of spring as well, the males arriving before the females to claim their territory.

One of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America, the male is a striking bird; all-black plumage save for his bright red and yellow wing epaulets. The female is a heavily streaked brown bird with a light streak over the crown and above the eye. Males have harems of females living in their marshes, these harems can sometimes number up to 15, but up to one half of the nestlings turn out to be sired by a male other than the territorial bird. During the breeding season, Red-winged Blackbirds are rarely seen far from water and are communal nesters, often nesting alongside other species of blackbirds. Once nesting is over, the Red-winged Blackbird forms flocks and go out to forage over the countryside, returning to marshes to roost at night.

Red-winged blackbirds are a common victim of the parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird but this does not seem to affect the former`s numbers. The young are mostly fed insects, and this is exactly what the female Red-winged Blackbird pictured above is doing; she is feeding insects to a fledgling hidden in the grass. The male does a remarkable job and helps feed  the fledglings in is territory; there can be quite a few young birds to feed!

Red-winged Blackbirds may be seen at any marsh, lake or pond in Calgary with cattails and bulrushes. Don`t forget to listen; you can always tell if there is a Red-winged Blackbird nearby if you can hear the males distinctive “Conk-la-ree“ song.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Photo Feathers: House Finch

Jul13

When I first saw this bird I thought it was a Purple Finch.  It has raspberry-red plumage that extends over the top of the head and onto its back like a Purple Finch.  In all other respects it looks like a House Finch, so it is probably just another male House Finch with unusual colouration.

 

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Movie Monday: First Bath

Jul4

A fledgling Black-billed Magpie figures out how to use a birdbath.  June 17, 2011.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Friday Fun!

Jul1

See if you can identify the bird in the photograph below; then let us know what you think by posting a comment.

The bird in this photograph is a large, noisy and conspicuous shorebird typical of the prairie sloughs. Do you know what it is? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Posted by Matthew Sim