Tag Archive | migrating birds in calgary

When Migration Meets Modern Architechture

A Morning with the Calgary Urban Species Response Team.

By Cathy Warwick

The last time I was hiking in the hills of Kananaskis south of Calgary I could see the downtown core, an island in the middle of an ocean of prairie. Hearing that birds tend to die in Calgary downtown I look at all the space to the left, and all the space to the right. Why don’t they just go around?

I had the pleasure of tagging along with Calgary Urban Species Response Team (CUSRT) volunteer Jenny for the post-dawn shift. I have since learned that, in fact, the birds are migrating 1-3 km up so they go over.

CUSRT is a team of volunteers who survey the downtown for any birds or bats affected by architectural hazards. They go out in shifts throughout the day. The team is most active during spring and fall migration. Roughly 80% of birds migrate at night so the morning shifts are most popular.

The birds will descend from their flight 1-3 kilometers up to roost and then become active during the day to forage. When they descend you can imagine that the downtown core becomes an island of light in the darkness. So birds may collide with glass as they enter the city at night. They also get into trouble during the day as well, when they find themselves in a confusing glass maze.

Bird Collisions — Image from the Global Bird Collision Mapper showing bird collisions, downtown Calgary, circa Oct 22, 2026.

Prevention is Key

A major takeaway from my tag-along is that birds and glass don’t mix well. This completely obvious statement needs to be said because many of the high kill spot buildings in downtown Calgary are covered in reflective glass. Perhaps designers should make a left turn and go back to brutalist architecture? I used to like glass, somehow it looked more natural. I don’t like glass anymore! Bring on the concrete I say.

Many of the collisions in downtown Calgary happen in the northern part of it. The theory is that birds drop down to the vegetated area around the river for a rest. Once rested they attempt to continue their migration. Many follow the vegetation that continues south. The reflective buildings could be disorienting, causing them to collide with the glass as they try to continue.

The +15’s (pedestrian overpasses) found downtown garner their fair share of the kills. The bridges that cross the road are usually all glass, so people can see out. Just as reflections are hazardous to birds, so too are “fly throughs”. A fly through is a situation where clear glass may have an attraction on the other side, such as a tree, a clear route or an inside plant. Birds don’t see the glass – so they try to “fly through” and collide.

Sure, the glass is a nice design choice, it makes you feel like you’re outside. However, I don’t think that the people walking the +15 level would even notice some ‘Feather Friendly Film’ on the windows. These are little dots at regular intervals which are shown to improve bird safety. This film would improve the safety of all windows, residential and secondary homes included. There are also many other options for making glass safe, such as using art or well-spaced strips of readily-available bus wrap.

Most birds die if they collide with a window. If you see one and it seems to revive and fly away, unfortunately studies show that they actually don’t recover. It’s critical that injured birds are secured right away, and taken to a wildlife rehabilitation clinic for appropriate examination, diagnosis and treatment. Prevention of those strikes really is key.

During our survey I noticed Magpies starting to follow us, watching what we were doing. We had flashlights and were looking in the corners of the building and in planters. Once you notice Magpies around these buildings they are hard to un-notice. They are the clean up crew for deceased migratory birds. Often the CUSRT volunteers will document a pile of feathers, instead of an actual bird.

The other clean up crew are the human cleaners that work in the buildings. These hard working folks are up early looking and tidying around the buildings. The CUSRT volunteers have developed relationships with the workers. The survey team asks if staff can please put the dead birds in planters for the team to document and collect.

Bright Lights, Bird Unfriendly

At night some buildings are all lit up with spotlights. This attracts the bats as well as birds. They use lights as a cue to their navigation during migration. If there are lights bright enough to rival the sun it’s no wonder issues occur.

The Bird Friendly Calgary group has a ‘Lights Out for Birds’ initiative that is aimed at spring and fall. From March 15 to May 30 and August 15 to October 31 they ask that we turn out lights at night. Particularly from 11 pm to 6 am. Light pollution affects many species including plants, trees, fish and people so reducing lights is wise year-round.

Lights out campaigns are critical for many reasons, certainly including birds during migration. The team points out that this isn’t enough action, though. After all, it’s the glass that actually kills the birds.

Roosting Crows

On the morning of my migration season tag-along we didn’t find any small songbirds deceased, however we did find two dead crows. Interesting fact, crows have chosen to roost around the southern edge of downtown – on 8th Ave and 9th Ave. One look at the white-splattered sidewalk and you can guess there are a lot of them. Jenny has counted 120 live roosting crows here before.

Jenny wrapped up the Crows and recorded them.

Jenny is a knowledgeable and hard working volunteer. Her reasons for joining CUSRT include seeing birds up close and getting closer to wildlife.

This Fall season the CUSRT team has documented over 460 birds and bats as of October 25th. Forty-six different bird species are included in this statistic, many birds that you would never associate with downtown, including Sora, Varied Thrush, Townsend Solitaire, and Mourning Warbler.

Mourning Warbler found in southern downtown. (Jenny)

Chipping Sparrow — Chipping sparrow. The most common deceased migratory bird found.

Bats in Downtown

The downtown core provides habitat for several species of bats, including migratory and non-migratory bats, some of whom are thought to roost there permanently. There is still a lot to learn about bats in cities, such as what attracts bats into the downtown, how light affects bats, how often do they actually collide with glass and what causes them to become grounded. For whatever reason they are there. Becoming grounded in an unnatural setting leaves bats vulnerable.

Bat — A bat grounded in downtown Calgary.

I enjoyed looking in the corners of downtown buildings, wielding my flashlight like a misguided cat burglar. After a couple of large coffees I went to my job with a feeling of accomplishment. It felt good to help out documenting a problem humans have created.

More information from Kathleen Johnson, Co-Founder – CUSRT

Highrises , like Calgary’s downtown core, are indeed problematic for birds. Research shows that 99% of collisions occur outside of the core. This means it’s important for every one of us to make our homes, schools and offices bird-safe.
Collision birds do not “shake it off”. When YOU find a surviving collision bird, please get them to a wildlife rehab asap. Please see the poster below for detailed instructions.
Window treatments – they need to be effective. Treatments need to be on the exterior of the glass, be spaced appropriately (no more than 2” apart if direct on glass or 4” apart for parachords), be visible (be wary of the over-the-counter UV products) and cover the whole surface.

The family-friendly videos below share accurate information about window collisions and are great for all ages, including adults!

About window collision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9eMFS7UMP0
Small spaces made bird safe: https://youtu.be/j08DLF7uqXk?si=mHR3uMO8CmigTxdX
How to install Feather Friendly: https://youtu.be/SfvEXm_SEEw?si=iyFndS-K9EYiNWjQ
How to install Acopian BirdSavers: https://youtu.be/FVsHa4VPnlE?si=UoX9lv-DP_1oCByb
The whole series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4_HDAcESJsCnSsf_g17vZ-7JU63Oq1WY

“Fun Birds Calgary fact… when I first went out in Spring 2019 to explore this situation for Calgary, Bob Lefebvre and Chris Fisher did our very first bird ID’s via Twitter! Two Chipping Sparrows and one Orange-Crowned Warbler. Bob of Birds Calgary has always been a wonderful support and is so very much appreciated. I’m so glad you got to go out with Jenny. She’s tremendously knowledgeable and will have been a fantastic host on your survey walk. Big shout out to Sara, Jenny and each of the team for all you do ” – Kathleen Johnson

Information about what you should do if you find a Bird or Bat

If you have found a live bird:

If you have found a deceased bird you can add to the data by logging it at the Global Bird Collision Mapper Or iNaturalist.

Welcome Back Mountain Bluebirds!

Apr4

By Cathy Warwick

The Mountain Bluebirds are back in Calgary and surrounding areas! The “Friends of Fish Creek” birders saw five at Carburn Park on March 21st. The Bluebirds appear to arrive faithfully on the Spring Equinox every year. This picture Carole Steeves took of a Mountain Bluebird sort of sums it up. Imagine you fly all night from the Southern States and, exhausted, you land in Calgary only to be greeted by a cold wind and snow covering all the food. Perhaps I am projecting my own “snow-fatigue” onto this bird in the picture. Hang in there little guy, things will turn around soon. And then it will get bad again, and then better again… this is Calgary after all.

This cold Bluebird is probably stuck eating seeds and old berries it finds. When the weather gets warmer it will switch to its main food source – insects. According to Audobon.com, it especially likes caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers. Maybe that’s why it makes its home in the open fields around Southern Alberta, a lot of bugs.

Years ago my family traveled up to the Ellis Bird Farm near Lacombe expecting to see a flock of Mountain Bluebirds in the spring. It was there that I learned that the bluebirds are very territorial while breeding and, according to their fact sheet, need to nest about 2-3 acres apart. That is why the nest boxes are put on what is called a ‘Mountain Bluebird Trail’. There are many such trails in Alberta and the efforts of volunteers building and monitoring nesting boxes can be read about all over the internet. It’s fun to slowly drive down a Bluebird trail. If you’re lucky you will see the unmistakable bright blue of a Male Mountain Bluebird. They are like a piece of the summer sky come to life. If you see a bird pop out of the nest that is more navy blue with a bright white chest then is probably a Tree Swallow that has taken a nest box.

Like the Blue Jay the blue comes from the structure of the feathers and the way it refracts the light. There is no actual blue pigment in the Mountain Bluebirds feathers. This is probably one of the more irritating facts that you can tell a beginner birder – “That bird isn’t really blue you know.” Birders already have a nerdy reputation so let’s use this fact sparingly. It’s interesting though, this bird really is sky blue, as the sky is also just refracted blue wavelengths.

The Mountain Bluebirds are in a hot competition for nesting cavities. They fight Tree Swallows, House Sparrows, other Mountain Bluebirds and worst of all – the European Starling. Yes, these aren’t your blue birds of song, flitting around Cinderella and landing on available shoulders. Reading about them on the internet the adjective “aggressive” comes up a lot. The Mountain Bluebirds are tough fighters scraping out a living. Needless to say, their population numbers fluctuate and although they are currently listed as ‘Least Concern’ their peak in population was in the 1940’s. According to the Nature Conservancy of Canada they have decreased by approximately 26 per cent between 1966 and 2014. Their scrappy, fighting spirit will be needed, as well as the help from the nest box volunteers.

Here is a link to the Calgary Area NestBox Monitors Society

Note: In addition to a number of migrating Mountain Bluebirds that have been seen along the Bow River in the past two weeks, there was a pair of Western Bluebirds seen at Carburn Park up until March 30. This species is rarely seen in Alberta, and this is likely the first sighting ever in the city.

More about Mountain Bluebirds at All About Birds.

Lights Out For Migration!!

Apr30

Help migrating songbirds by keeping our night skies dark.

Spring migration is well under way, but as far as songbirds go, it will really pick up steam for the month of May. Songbirds migrate at night, and they can become disoriented by artificial light. This can cause them to be drawn off their normal path and into a more dangerous urban area, where they may collide with windows and other human structures, or be taken by predators.

Sparrows, warblers, and other songbirds will soon be moving through the city in large numbers. Lincoln’s Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler. Photos by Bob Lefebvre.

In 2021, Calgary became one of Canada’s first certified Nature Canada Bird Friendly Cities. Bird Friendly Calgary is the local organization whose mission is to highlight and mitigate threats that have contributed to a decline in bird populations of an estimated three billion over the last fifty years. As part of these efforts, Bird Friendly Calgary has a “Lights Out” initiative they would like to pass on to the local birding community. It is asking for everyone to turn off all unnecessary lights between 11:00 PM and 6:00 AM during the migration periods of spring and fall. For spring they are targeting April 1st to June 15th with special emphasis on the month of May.

Please try to keep your houses and yards as dark as is safe at these times.

Lighted office towers are also a great threat to migrating birds and bats, and a huge number die or are injured each year in collisions with office buildings across North America. The Calgary Urban Species Response Team is active during migration in searching for such birds and bats in the downtown core, and trying to rescue any injured ones. The hope is that they can find out where the major problem areas are, and find ways to mitigate the loss of bird and bat life. See their site to find out more about this problem and the great work they are doing.

Birds, Bats, and Building Collisions

Aug22

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Window strikes, or birds colliding with windows, is a big problem – not just in residential yards, but in urban downtowns where tall glass structures are a big obstacle to migrating birds (and bats too). Many birds migrate at night, and skyscrapers can cause a lot of bird mortality. You may have seen some of the disturbing photos of hundreds of dead birds of many species that are collected in Toronto’s downtown every year by the Fatal Light Awareness Project (FLAP). A similar effort is undertaken in Ottawa by Safe Wings Ottawa.

Toronto, unlike Calgary, is located on a major migratory flyway. So how big is the problem here, and what can be done to minimize the damage? This is what Kathleen Johnson has set out to discover, by creating the Calgary Migratory Species Response Team.

Kathleen has done an amazing job of assembling a team of experts and setting up a detailed and well-prepared group of volunteers to begin surveys of Calgary’s downtown. The CMSRT will plot the locations of all birds and bats found, to learn where the problem areas are. The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society is directly involved as well, so that any injured animals can be rescued.

This weekend there will be a two-part orientation session for anyone wishing to volunteer. The first part will be an information and training session at the Central Library downtown, and the second part will be in the field (downtown) early Sunday morning. See the event on Facebook here.

Please visit the group’s Facebook page to learn more about this effort. You can also follow them on Twitter (@CalgaryResponse). If you want to volunteer, email them at calgaryresponse[at]gmail.com.

Tonight, August 22nd, Kathleen will give a brief overview of the project at the Birds & Beers event (6-9 pm, at the Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW) and will have more information available for anyone interested in getting involved. This is a really exciting initiative and I hope everyone can get behind it and help out!

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 1

Sep2

Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Nature Calgary 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 September 1.

August 28

— SHORT-EARED OWL, n of Rge. Rd. 24 and s of Twp. Rd. 263, by Phil and Rosemary Evans

August 29

— RUDDY TURNSTONE, Weed Lk., by Mike Mulligan; 3-4 at Cattleland Slough n of Strathmore

August 31

— PEREGRINE FALCON, Weed Lk., by Ian Halliday

— RED KNOT(5), n end of same, by IH

— BONAPARTE’S GULL(20), same, by IH

— CASSIN’S VIREO, Confederation Park, by Bill Wilson

— BLUE-HEADED VIREO, same, by BW

— PHILADELPHIA VIREO, same, by BW

— PALM WARBLER, Tillebrook PP, e of Brooks, by Malcolm and Joan McDonald

— MACGILLIVRAY’S WARBLER, same, by MJM

— NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, Confed. Park, by BW

September 1

— TOWNSEND’S WARBLER, North Capitol Hill Park, by BW; Bowness Park, by MJM

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday September 5.

Sunday Showcase: Loon Acrobatics

May15

These gorgeous shots of a Common Loon were sent in by Rob English. Thanks for sharing! Click pictures for a larger view.

Backyard Birds: White-crowned Sparrows

May10

It’s a sure sign of spring in my yard when I see the White-crowned Sparrows are back.

A fairly large sparrow at 5 1/2-7″ (14-17 cm), White-crowns don’t fit the miscellaneous sparrow category of LBJ’s – little brown jobs – that are hard to distinguish from one another. These dapper little sparrows are always in bright white and black, and easy to identify.

The white crown has two black stripes, they have a black eye line (a line going to the back of the head from the eye), and a yellow-orange bill. They have white streaking on a brown back and wings, and their underparts are pale grey. Males and females look alike.

Small flocks of White-crowned sparrows pass through Calgary in late April to May, and then again in Sept-Oct. Their spring visits to our city are just a stopover for their trip to their breeding habitat in the northern boreal forest. They prefer open environments with shrubby meadows, alpine and willow shrubs, and build cup nests in shrubs or small conifers.

These sparrows are tireless singers, and are known to even sing under the light of a full moon.

Sparrows forage on the ground, usually in fairly open areas, and fly up into a small tree or hedge when flushed. We have a dedicated bird area at the back of our yard, and spillage from the hanging bird feeders provides an excellent sparrow feeding ground. Like other sparrows, the hyperactive White-crowns make quick jumping back and forth movements, scratching the ground to expose insects and seeds.

If you have White-crowned Sparrows in your yard right now, enjoy them while you can. They won’t be here for long, and then we’ll have to wait for their re-appearance in the fall.

By the way, the bird singing in the video background is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which I’m still attempting to capture with my camera.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Birds Calgary

A birding blog for Calgary, Alberta and area

Tag Archive | migrating birds in calgary

When Migration Meets Modern Architechture

A Morning with the Calgary Urban Species Response Team.

More information from Kathleen Johnson, Co-Founder – CUSRT

Information about what you should do if you find a Bird or Bat

More Links:

Welcome Back Mountain Bluebirds!

Lights Out For Migration!!

Help migrating songbirds by keeping our night skies dark.

Birds, Bats, and Building Collisions

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Sept 1

Sunday Showcase: Loon Acrobatics

Backyard Birds: White-crowned Sparrows

A Morning with the Calgary Urban Species Response Team.

More information from Kathleen Johnson, Co-Founder – CUSRT

Information about what you should do if you find a Bird or Bat

More Links:

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Help migrating songbirds by keeping our night skies dark.

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