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
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
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
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
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
Posted by Matthew Sim
Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at zoxox@shaw.ca To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.
This report was prepared on Monday June 6.
May 28/29
–CAPE MAY WARBLER(11), Brown-Lowery PP, May species count weekend.
No further details.
June 4
–WESTERN SANDPIPER(2),Twp Rd 232, 1.5km W.of Hwy.297, by Terry Korolyk.
June 5
–LARK BUNTING(F&M),Grassy field of Tsu Tina Reserve, S.Glenmore Res.700m.W.on paved footpath accessed from the parking lot W.end of 90Ave.
June 6
–OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER(2),along Twp Rd 290 near Winchell Lake, by Andrew Slater.
–BLUE-HEADED VIREO(1),Twp Rd 290 and Rge Rd.52 by AS.
–CONNECTICUT WARBLER(1), same location as above, by AS.
–LE CONTE’S SPARROW(3), Horse Creek Rd, 10km.N.of Hwy 1a.by AS.
–NELSON’S SPARROW(3A), same location and observer as above.
–SWAMP SPARROW(1), Twp Rd 290 near Winchell Lake, by AS.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday, June 6.
Have you seen a flash of yellow in your yard lately?
The Wood Warbler family is famous for their diversity in plumage, song, feeding and breeding biology. All of them are small birds with long, thin bills used for snapping up insects and larvae. Perhaps one of the easiest to identify is the Yellow Warbler, which has more yellow in its plumage than any other member of the family.
In spring breeding season, males have rusty streaks on the breast and flanks, a bright yellow face with conspicuous black eyes, and yellow upperparts. They are known to build another nest on top of an old one when Brown Cowbird eggs appear in it, which can result in up to six different layers.
Yellow Warblers can be seen around the city from mid May to mid September. These birds are widespread in most shrubby and second-growth habitats in North America, where they can be seen quickly hopping from branch to branch. This bird was busily flitting from the saskatoons and lilac shrubs to the poplar trees in my yard.
Posted by Pat Bumstead
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
Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at zoxox@shaw.ca To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.
This report was prepared on Thursday, June 2.
May 29
— LARK BUNTING, One on 402Ave.SW,E.of 288, W.of Millarville, by Terry Korolyk. One W.of Nanton along Meridian Rd, by Mike T.
— BOBOLINK(2)(M),W.of Nanton along Meridian Rd, by M.T.
May 29/30
— SABINE’S GULL(30),SE Frank Lk. Bob Worona. For details, call Bob at 403-984-7655.
— MEW GULL, Glenmore Reservoir, reporter not known.
May 31
— RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, in backyard of Richard Rappel, High River.
— WESTERN KINGBIRD, La Farge meadows, E.Fish Creek PP, by Dave Vernon.
June 1
— BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, S.Glenmore park, west end, Ray Wershler et.al.
— LARK BUNTING, Fish Creek PP,west of Votier’s Flats , by Peter Roxburgh.
Other recent reports included a BOBOLINK SE of Frank Lk. and a LARK
SPARROW N.of Strathmore. No details available on these reports.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday, June 6.