The next Calgary Birds & Beers meeting will take place this Friday.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Friday April 8, 2022, 6:00-9:00 pm
Greg Wagner will present a talk on “Will the Foothills Solar Project Impact Bird Populations At Frank Lake?” Greg manages the Frank Lake Important Bird Area and is the expert on the birds of Frank Lake and area. There is a proposal to build a large solar array immediately adjacent to the lake.
White-faced Ibis. These birds are relatively recent additions to the breeding birds of Frank Lake. Photo by Tony LePrieur
Everyone is welcome. The meeting begins at 6 pm, with the presentation to begin at about 7:15.
We have had to postpone the return of Birds & Beers once again, to Friday March 11. The programme remains the same:
Covid Protocols will be in place, but anyone who has a vaccine passport is welcome. If anything changes between now and then, I will post an update.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Friday March 11, 2022, 6:00-9:00 pm
We will be meeting in the smaller back rooms since the ballroom is not available. There will ba a very small charge to attend since we now have to pay for the rooms. Food and drinks are available at a reasonable cost.
Long-billed Curlew. Photo by Bob and Dianne Leonhardt.
The meeting begins at 6 pm. You may come early if you want to eat before most of the people arrive. At about 7 pm, a special presentation by Bob and Dianne Leonhardt will begin.
A Visit to Grasslands National Park
Grasslands National Park in South-western Saskatchewan is Canada’s only national park dedicated to the presentation and protection of the Prairie Grasslands Natural Region. It is one of North America’s best parcels of mixed grass prairie habitat. In late May of 2021 we visited the Park to explore and experience the beautiful scenery, birds and other wildlife of the region. We encountered about 100 species of birds, some of which we will show you in this presentation. Bob and Dianne Leonhardt
Depending on how things go with Covid, we plan to finally resume the Birds & Beers social events in February! Covid Protocols will be in place, but anyone who has a vaccine passport is welcome. If anything changes between now and then, I will post an update.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Friday February 11, 2022, 6:00-9:00 pm
We will be meeting in the smaller back rooms since the ballroom is not available. There will ba a very small charge to attend since we now have to pay for the rooms. Food and drinks are available at a reasonable cost.
Long-billed Curlew. Photo by Bob and Dianne Leonhardt.
The meeting begins at 6 pm. You may come early if you want to eat before most of the people arrive. At about 7 pm, a special presentation by Bob and Dianne Leonhardt will begin.
A Visit to Grasslands National Park
Grasslands National Park in South-western Saskatchewan is Canada’s only national park dedicated to the presentation and protection of the Prairie Grasslands Natural Region. It is one of North America’s best parcels of mixed grass prairie habitat. In late May of 2021 we visited the Park to explore and experience the beautiful scenery, birds and other wildlife of the region. We encountered about 100 species of birds, some of which we will show you in this presentation. Bob and Dianne Leonhardt
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we can meet in February!
The 2021-2022 Bird Study Group Speaker Series begins on Wednesday September 8th with a special presentation by Lyn Hancock, honouring Gus Yaki. This will be a virtual presentation using Zoom, and you have to be a Nature Calgary member to link to it.
(Nature Calgary memberships are available on their website here. If you already are a member, you should have received an email with the Zoom invitation.)
Almost forty years ago, Lyn Hancock took part in a 30,000-mile trip around North America led by Gus Yaki, the renowned naturalist who passed away just over a year ago. Gus lived in Calgary for the last twenty-seven years of his life, and he was an inspiration to many local birders.
Gus Yaki. Photo by Dan Arndt.
The trip in 1983 followed the route taken by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher thirty years prior, in 1953. Lyn documented the trip in her book Looking For the Wild.
From Nature Calgary:
Lyn’s special interest was the exciting climax of the trip on the remote Pribilof Islands in Alaska where she had close encounters with fur seals, murres and puffins, species she had raised as orphans in British Columbia in the 1960s and led to her interest in wildlife.
Lyn is the author of 20 books about her experiences with wildlife including THERE’S A SEAL IN MY SLEEPING BAG, LOVE AFFAIR WITH A COUGAR, TABASCO THE SAUCY RACCOON and THE RING: MEMORIES OF A METIS GRANDMOTHER, the pioneer love story of Sam Livingston and Jane Howse, the first settlers in Calgary.
The meeting begins at 7:30 pm and the Zoom link will open at 7:15.
Details of future Bird Study Group meetings and other Nature Calgary events and field trips can be found here.
Note: the books below have all been spoken for. Thanks for your interest. – Bob
If you live in Calgary and would like a copy of Lyn Hancock’s book Looking For the Wild, I have four copies to give away. They are all signed by Gus, and one is also signed by Lyn. I will give them to the first four people who respond and who agree to make a donation to either The Nature Conservancy of Canada or Birds Canada in whatever amount they wish. (These were two organizations that Gus supported.) The books are used, and one is a former library copy, but they are in good shape. Just email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com and we can make arrangements to get the book to you.
We were unable to get our usual late-February date for Birds & Beers, so we will be meeting next on Thursday March 5th.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Thursday March 5, 2020, 6:00-9:00 pm.
Dan Edwards will be presenting “Birds of the Great Ocean Walk,” a birding-oriented travelogue of his trip hiking the Great Ocean Walk in southern Australia last October. The presentation will begin at about 7:15 pm.
Kookaburra. Photo by Daniel Edwards.
Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers, and there is no charge. We will meet in the big ballroom at the Legion. Food and drinks are available at reasonable prices, and children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. Come early if you want to avoid the lineup at the kitchen.
The next Birds & Birds social get-together will be held this Thursday, January 23, 2020. Gavin McKinnon will give a presentation, featuring photographs like the one below, on his Big Year in 2019. Gavin’s goal was to record over 300 species in Alberta in the calendar year.
Evening Grosbeak, photographed in 2019 by Gavin McKinnon.
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Thursday January 23, 2020, 6:00-9:00 pm
Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers, and there is no charge. We will meet in the big ballroom at the Legion. Food and drinks are available at reasonable prices, and children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. Come early if you want to avoid the lineup at the kitchen. The presentation will begin at about 7:15 so if you can’t make it at six pm, come later.
The next Birds & Birds social get-together will be held on Wednesday November 27, from 6 to 9 pm, at the usual location:
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW.
Wednesday November 27, 2019, 6:00-9:00 pm
Note that this is a Wednesday, not our our usual Thursday.
We are very pleased to have Chip Scialfa do a presentation at this meeting. He will speak on “Birding With Uncertainty: Psychology and Errors in Decision-Making.”
Chip Scialfa
Avid birders are keen to add to their lists and often this means identifying birds that are uncommon and easily confused with other species. What are some of the psychological errors that we make when birding under uncertainty and how can they be minimized or avoided? Chip Scialfa, an experimental psychologist and keen birder, will talk about these issues in what will likely be a “mind-bending” presentation.
Chip is a very animated and entertaining speaker, so this promises to be a fun and informative talk. Some of you may have attended a version of this presentation at Nature Calgary’s Bird Study Group a few years ago, but Chip has modified and updated the talk considerably.
As usual, everyone is welcome to attend and there is no charge. We will meet in the big ballroom at the Legion. Food and drinks are available at reasonable prices, and children are welcome if accompanied by an adult. Come early if you want to avoid the lineup at the kitchen. The presentation will begin at about 7:15 so if you can’t make it at six pm, come later.
A few local photographers will have calendars with their bird and nature photos available for sale for the Christmas season, so bring cash! These usually sell for $20 for a full-size calendar.
The next Birds & Beers event in Calgary is on Thursday June 27, at the Horton Road Legion, from 6 to 9 pm. We will be in the big auditorium and will have a special presentation: “Birding and Botany on the Southern Alberta Walk with Gus Yaki” by Marshall Netherwood.
Pronghorn, a typical southern Alberta prairie species. Photo by Bob Lefebvre
Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch#285,
9202 Horton Road SW
Thursday June 27, 2019, 6:00-9:00 pm
In 2017 Gus Yaki led a walking group across Southern Alberta from the Saskatchewan border to Waterton Park. Marshall Netherwood has prepared a presentation on some of the birds and plants he saw and photographed on this trip.
Everyone is welcome to attend Birds & Beers. As is usual when we have presentations, these begin after 7 pm. So come at 6 pm (or earlier since the kitchen will be busy), order a meal and have a drink, visit with your fellow birders, and then stay for the presentation. If you can’t make it early drop in later for the show.
This Thursday there will be an exclusive sneak peek screening of the Great Big Nature project. Brian Keating and Bryan Smith, executive producer of MiMedia, invite you to learn more about their latest project. The video series will be launched later this year, but you have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the unique storylines and segments during a special viewing fundraiser.
Come out to hear Brian Keating talk about this exciting new project, and help to get it off the ground. They have a fund-matching opportunity up to $50K, until July 20th, therefore people can double their impact by donating now!
The fundraiser is Thursday June 20, 2019
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Place: La Cité Des Rocheuses (Community Centre and Theatre) Address: 4800 Richard Rd SW, Calgary, AB
Light appetizers and drinks will be served. Please RSVP by June 19th to j_bode[at]ducks.ca
