Tag Archive | Birds of Canada

Birds & Beers, March 12, 2026

Mar5

Next Thursday’s meeting features the return of Jody Allair!

Calgary Birds & Beers resumes next Thursday, March 12th, at the Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW. Jody Allair of Birds Canada will deliver a presentation called Inspired By Birds – An engaging look at the captivating world of birds and their uncanny potential to motivate people to make positive changes for nature.

Bald Eagle Jody Allair
Jody Allair with a Bald Eagle. Photo courtesy of Jody Allair.

The doors to the ballroom at the Legion will be open for us at 5 pm. Come early if you wish, and dine, drink and visit. Jody’s presentation will begin at about 7 pm.

Jody Allair bio:

Jody is an avid birder and naturalist who enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for the natural world. He has been birding and banding since his teens, when he began volunteering at Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) in Southern Ontario. He is now the Director of Communications at Birds Canada where he manages the organization’s public relations and media, is the co-editor of BirdWatch Canada Magazine, producer of the Warblers Podcast and a coordinator of eBird Canada.

Over the years Jody has coordinated a variety of different bird-related projects including the Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Program, the Ontario Nocturnal Owl Survey, Birds Canada’s Youth Education Program, and the Southern Ontario Forest Birds at Risk Program.

White-tailed Ptarmigan
White-tailed Ptarmigan. Photo by Jody Allair.

Jody regularly speaks about birds and conservation to audiences across Canada and has written numerous articles on birds, birding and connecting with nature. He is the monthly birding columnist for CBC Radio’s Daybreak Alberta, has appeared on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report, presented at Ideacity, was a featured bird expert on Season 2 of the Love Nature Television series ‘Battle of the Alphas’ and is a regular guest, and occasional guest host, on the American Birding Association podcast.

In addition to his 20+ years at Birds Canada, he has been leading birding tours with Eagle-Eye Tours since 2008. 

Jody Allair
Jody guiding a tour in Yellowknife. Photo by Jody Allair.

Everyone is welcome to join us at Birds & Beers, including children if accompanied by an adult. There is a small fee to pay for the room, so we ask for an optional donation of $1 per person. Any extra money beyond the room cost is donated to the Legion. See you there!

Birds & Beers meetings are held monthly at the same time and location, on the second Thursday of each month, except July, August, and December.

[Subscribers who recieve these posts by email can click on the title above, or here, to go the Birds Calgary website for more content.]

Ghosted By A Sora

Sep8

By Catherine Warwick

One of the birds leaving Calgary this September is the Sora. Were you one of the lucky few who saw it at the North Glenmore storm pond?

Sora
Sora. USFWS Mountain Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A few years ago I saw one of these charismatic birds at Inglewood, I was with my sister who is not really a birder. The conversation went like this:

(a Sora just casually standing in a pond in full view)

Me: Holy Cow! A Sora! Wow I can’t believe it, look at it! Wow! We are so lucky, how rare!

Sister: That’s nice.

Me: We are so lucky! This is amazing!

Sister: Uh huh (starts walking).

And yet if she became a birder and started looking for a Sora it would probably take years to see one. I trolled that North Glenmore Storm pond so many times this summer and nothing! The Sora is one of those birds only birders know about. Even though they are common they are really good at hiding in the reeds.

Sora
Sora, Valleyview Park, SE Calgary, 2008. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

The Sora is a plump little chicken-like bird that belongs to the Rail family. They frequent ponds and wetlands. The Sora has very long toes that help them walk on floating mats of vegetation. They are grey and brown with an impossibly yellow triangle beak. The first time I saw one at the storm pond I thought it was floating because it was standing in water that came up to its undercarriage. I was flipping through my Sibleys looking for a duck with a yellow triangle beak. The most obvious identifier is their call, a descending laughing sound. Although lately I feel like the Red Winged Blackbirds around the storm pond are mimicking it which has caused me a lot of disappointment. Birding – what a roller coaster!

When a Sora walks it puts its head forward with each step as it looks for aquatic plant seeds or bugs to eat. It’s been known to use its long toes to rake the vegetation. Their long legs are great for running away really quickly, often you will just get a glimpse of them. A brown blur with a yellow streak.

Sora
Sora. Photo by Diane Stinson, June 2, 2025, North Glenmore Park.

Now that it’s September our little storm pond Sora will be departing on a very long journey, possibly as far as South America. They fly further than any other Rail despite their circular form and long legs. Hopefully it is back next year and I can have another season of attempting to spot the beguiling Sora.

Oh Canada Jay!

Apr20

By Cathy Warwick.

Canada has an unofficially “official” bird and it is the Canada Jay, also known as the Gray Jay. It was chosen after an online poll by the Canadian Geographic Magazine in 2016 but our government never formally adopted it as our national bird. The Canada Jay definitely lives in Canada, if you look at the range map of this bird it looks like someone, very poorly, highlighted our country on a map. It is in every province and territory from sea to shining sea. 

Canada Jay
Canada Jay, Wikimedia Commons: Folini CC BY-SA 3.0

If you have ever been hiking in our beautiful mountains you probably have seen the Canada Jay in the forested areas. As you walk you may have noticed some swooping shapes following you in the trees. You sit down for lunch and remark on the sweet birds watching you from the trees. Look at those expressive eyes! Its head will dart around, appearing to size you up. You may have thought you were having a special nature moment. Then you may have noticed your sandwich fly off, as I have at Chester Lake, never to be seen again. Nicknames for the Canada Jay include “camp robber” and “venison-hawk”. Now when I see one on a hike I yell as if we are under attack, “Incoming!”

Canada Jay
A very tame Canada Jay. Photo by Dan Arndt.

The latin name of this bird is “Perisoreus canadensis”, the nod to Canada was built right into the name and it was originally called a ‘Canada Jay’. However in 1957 the American Ornithological Society changed this bird’s name to the americanized “Gray Jay”. They righted this wrong in 2018, flip flopping it back to Canada Jay at the urging of Dan Strickland, famed Algonquin Park naturalist. Another name is the anglicized ‘Whiskyjack’ which comes from the names used by Indigenous Tribes. The Whiskyjack is the star of many legends and stories passed down through generations of First Nations people.

The Canada Jay is very loyal to Canada, it sticks with us all winter. Dan Strickland was instrumental in discovering one of the strategies that helps it through the cold days. It stores food in the summer months by using sticky saliva to glue it to high tree branches. This bird also has feathers all over its body, including its nostrils, and can puff them up to make a cosy full body parka. It also helps that it will eat almost anything: seeds, insects, frogs, small mammals, trail mix, sandwiches, you name it. 

Canada Jay
Canada Jay, Photo by Dan Arndt.

With their expressive black eyes and fluffy grey feathers they are ‘deceptively cute’ according to All About Birds, which really could describe Canadians also. So to the Canada Jay: “We Stand on Guard for Thee” – if we don’t stand guard you will probably steal our sandwiches.

Birds & Beers, April 10, 2025

Apr4

Featuring a presentation by Jody Allair on the state of Canada’s Birds.

The next Birds & Beers meetup is next Thursday, April 10th. This is a social get-together of birders, open to everyone. We meet at the Royal Canadian Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. Doors to the big ballroom open at 5 pm. If you can, come early to socialize, eat and drink.

Jody Allair of Birds Canada.

At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Jody Allair of Birds Canada. The topic is “The State of Canada’s Birds and actions we can take to help our feathered friends.”

Jody Allair with a Bald Eagle.

About Jody Allair:

Jody is an avid birder and naturalist who enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for the natural world. He has been birding and banding since his teens, when he began volunteering at Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) in Southern Ontario. He is now the Director of Communications at Birds Canada where he manages the organization’s public relations and media, is the co-editor of BirdWatch Canada Magazine, producer of the Warblers Podcast and a coordinator of eBird Canada.

Over the years Jody has coordinated a variety of different bird-related projects including the Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Program, the Ontario Nocturnal Owl Survey, Birds Canada’s Youth Education Program, and the Southern Ontario Forest Birds at Risk Program.

Jody regularly speaks about birds and conservation to audiences across Canada and has written numerous articles on birds, birding and connecting with nature. He is the monthly birding columnist for CBC Radio’s Daybreak Alberta, has appeared on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report, presented at Ideacity, was a featured bird expert on Season 2 of the Love Nature Television series ‘Battle of the Alphas’ and is a regular guest, and occasional guest host, on the American Birding Association podcast.

In addition to his 20+ years at Birds Canada, he has been leading birding tours with Eagle-Eye Tours since 2008.

See you on Thursday!

Bird Studies Group: Fur & Feathers Big Year

Apr2

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!

Fur & Feathers Wrap-Up

Jan15

I’m sure many of you have followed the Fur & Feathers 500 blog. Four Calgary bird watchers (and mammal watchers) did a bird and mammal Big Year in 2012, trying to see as many species as they could within Canada. They were successful in reaching their goals of seeing 500 combined species as a team, and of visiting each Territory and Province in Canada.

Brian Elder has summarized their efforts in two excellent posts, which highlight some of the most interesting species they saw, and which feature their great photographs too.

A Look Back at the Birds of our Big Year

A Look Back at the Mammals of our Big Year

Now that the Big Year is over, Brian has launched a new blog to document his efforts to reach a life list of 5000 bird and mammal species worldwide. Follow him at:

Fur and Feathers 5000

At Birds Calgary we will be following this with great interest, and we wish him luck!