Tag Archive | NMT Birding

Oh What a Canada Day!

Canada Day, last Friday, I rode my bike out to Fish Creek once again to see what I could find. At a storm water pond, I found a total of 9 cute Common Goldeneye ducklings; swimming and diving about.

In Hull’s Wood, I was alerted to a Common Raven and her two young by some loud croaking, the immature birds hungrily calling for food, despite being able to feed themselves.

As I passed by the Bow River, I could hear a Song Sparrow singing and after a quick search, I located this melodious little sparrow.

As I worked my way back to the intersection of Canyon Meadows and Bonaventure Dr. I passed over Bridge #11. As I did so, I could hear a pair of House Wrens scolding me.

I soon found out why I was being scolded. Just beyond the bridge, was a railing, and inside the railing was the Wren’s nest with several young on the inside. The parents flew inside several times to feed the young and it was quite a tight squeeze!

I continued on my way, not wanting to bother the young family. As I came to the last storm water pond between the ranch and the Glennfield area of Fish Creek, I saw an interesting shape in a tree. I stopped my bike, took a closer look, and found the object to be a porcupine! This was great, as I had never seen one before.

Almost out of the park, I saw a perched Osprey near a small path through long grass. I stopped and approached for a closer view… And got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. I added to my bug bite collection by at least 20 in less than 5 minutes!

Oh what a great Canada Day it was!

Posted by Matthew Sim

Family Time For The Birds

Jun24

I had a day off this last Tuesday so I took the opportunity to go biking and birding in Fish Creek Provincial Park. It was a beautiful morning; the sun was out, the sky was blue, the birds were singing and the weather was warm; finally! I got to Fish Creek at around 8:30 a.m. entering the park just off the intersection of Canyon Meadows drive and Acadia . I was preparing to go down the steep hill into the park only to find that the trail was flooded! Instead I followed the trail around the ridge until I entered the park beside the ranch.I did some random wandering on small paths through Fish Creek, finding a pheasant, a kingfisher, several catbirds and 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, among other birds. I then carried on to bridge number 11, leading to Hull’s Wood. Rounding a bend in the path I was surprised to see a male Pileated Woodpecker, just meters from the path. Before I could get my camera out of my bag, he had flown further away; apparently he was surprised to see me!

I reached Sikome Lake and rode my bike up the hill, in hopes of finding some Great Horned Owls and their owlets; I was not disappointed! There in their regular tree, was the Great Horned Owl family, two young ones and one adult.

As I continued my circuit, I found some more interesting birds, including some Green-winged Teal.

And the Pelicans! The water is so high in the river that pelicans are everywhere; I was able to count up to 27 pelicans at one time, half in the water, half circling in the sky, their bright white feathers contrasting magnificently with the clear blue sky. Another post on the pelicans will follow this one. However, this day, was truly the day of families. At one secluded spot near the river, I found 4 different nests all within a couple of feet of each other. The first belonged to a Downy Woodpecker, the second to a House Wren and the last two to Tree Swallows.

At the Downy Woodpecker nest, the male would visit the hole every couple of minutes and would be instantly greeted with the call of the hungry young in the inside. He continued his work incessantly, feeding his ever hungry offspring.

The House Wrens hardly ever came in and out of their nest but the male was always nearby, singing very loudly and stopping only for the occasional break.

The Tree Swallows would vigorously defend their nests from potential threats, such as the kestrel that flew over several times. The Kestrel in turn would chase away a Swainson’s Hawk that could have been a potential threat to the Kestrel’s family.

As I was leaving the park in late morning I came across a coyote sitting on a hill, looking very content as well as many Savannah Sparrows singing.

Family time for the birds is a busy time of year; I saw 52 species of birds that morning and I had luck as I got to see some of them raising their families.

Posted by Matthew Sim

NMT Birding

Jan7

Birds Calgary 2010 has several categories you can enter when you submit your counts:

The Big Year – biggest bird lists for the entire year.
Big Quarters – biggest bird lists in each of the four quarters of the year.
Big Day – all the birds observed during a single calendar day.
Big Sit – all the birds observed during a single calendar day within a 5-metre circle
Yard List – all the birds seen or heard from within the residence or yard
Best Bird Find of the Year – all participants are eligible to be the finder of the best bird of the year.

Mountain Chickadee by Anne Elliott

One of the categories you may not be familiar with is NMT Birding.

NMT stands for non-motorized transport. One establishes a fixed home base (e.g., one’s house), and all NMT trips have to start from that home base. All NMT birds have to be seen without using motorized transport at any time from home base to when the bird is seen.

There are two versions of the rules for getting back to home base. Some people think of NMT birding primarily as a way of improving fitness, and being green is a nice byproduct. In that case, motorized transport is permitted on the return journey, but the moment one steps onto motorized transport, no further birds are countable NMT until one reaches home base again.

The other interpretation is for the NMT list to be a green list, and getting fit is a nice byproduct. This interpretation usually requires no motorized transport out or back.

Either interpretation is acceptable for the contest.

In my own case, when I’m on my bike I ride out and back, but when I walk I generally take the bus or C-Train back. This doubles the distance I can reach on foot, because a 30-km round trip walk only gets me to Beaverdam Flats, but a 30-km one way trip (& C-Train back) gets me all the way to Hull’s Woods in Fish Creek park.

A year of great NMT birding has come to an end (only to start anew!) Good exercise, good weather (usually), good birds.

Totals for 2009 seen (heard): Calgary city, 159 (160); Calgary region, 179 (180).
Total cycling: 1008 km. Walking: 375 km.
Longest trip cycling: 95 km. Walking: 35 km.
Regrets: None.

I’m not sure what qualifies as a best bird, but here are some contenders, in the city unless otherwise specified:

Pacific Loon
Black-crowned Night-heron
White-faced Ibis (region)
Cackling Goose
Broad-winged Hawk
Gyrfalcon
Prairie Falcon (region)
Glaucous Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Sabine’s Gull
Alcid – none (well, at least it was fun looking for them!)
Mountain Chickadee
Magnolia Warbler
Ovenbird
Connecticut Warbler
Harris’s Sparrow

Bill Wilson

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Birding the Irrigation Canal

Oct30

Inspired by Pat’s recent post about birding the irrigation canal in Calgary, I headed down last week to check it out. I started at the bridge on Gosling Way by the Inglewood Golf Course in southeast Calgary and headed south. I often bird this area in the summer, but I’ve never been there in the fall after the water flow is stopped in September. Trout Unlimited did their annual Fish rescue near the Max Bell arena on September 30. They remove a lot of the larger fish, which would die in the winter, but there are many small fish left in the canal. There is still quite a bit of standing water, and some mudflats and exposed mats of vegetation.

The Canal near the Inglewood Golf Course

On the canal I saw several Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls, one Blue-winged Teal, one Common Goldeneye, and six Greater Yellowlegs. The yellowlegs would occasionally catch small fish. Also hunting in the water was a juvenile Great Blue Heron. A man who walks there every day told me that the heron had been there daily for about three weeks. He also saw a lone swan there about two weeks previously – the only one he has ever seen in the canal. I’m not sure if there was enough water now for a swan to be able to take off.

Juvenile Great Blue Heron

There was one Merlin in the trees on the west side of the canal, which took a run at a squirrel and then chased off a harassing magpie. Bald Eagles nest on the golf course and have overwintered here for the past few years, but I didn’t see them that day. As I walked south (still only about 100 metres from the bridge), I came across a group of eight Common Mergansers and two groups of Hooded Mergansers, twelve in all, including five adult males.

Hooded Mergansers, conveniently demonstrating 3 different positions of their crests.

On the way back, some new birds had arrived. There were three Long-billed Dowitchers feeding in the canal (very late migrants), and then a group of six Rusty Blackbirds on the mudflats. These birds are not very common, and these were the first ones I’ve ever seen.

I returned to the canal on the weekend to get some photos and see what was new. Most of the same bird species were there, plus one male Redhead.

Redhead (right) with female Hooded Merganser.

I also walked north from the bridge to the source of the canal north of the Max Bell arena. There were Mallards, Ring-billed Gulls, Canada Geese, and a muskrat building a lodge in the middle of the canal. I’m not sure how he’ll make out when it gets colder – he’ll probably have to move to the open water on the river.

Muskrat at lodge.

The canal is a great place for fall birds, and seems to get some late migrants. Lately it has been freezing over at night, and there are birds there only on warm afternoons.

The canal stretches east for many miles, so there is a lot to explore. It is also a good location to do Non-Motorized Transport birding, since there is a paved pathway running alongside it. In the summer I have ridden my bike all the way to Lake Chestermere (25 kms) and back, birding all the way.

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