Tag Archive | Weaselhead

May Species Count – Day 2 – Weaselhead, North Glenmore Park, and Pearce Estate Park

Posted by Dan Arndt

I thought I was prepared for a second long day in a row of birding, but I was nowhere near as prepared as I thought. An early start at the Weaselhead at 5 AM netted us great looks at a couple of Veery, the haunting and somewhat creepy calls of a Swainson’s Thrush, and two mystery calls which completely stumped us. I just wish we’d had the foresight to record them so we could get some expert advice!

We joined up with a small group for our regular Sunday group, with some out of town, others sick, and still others not quite up for the grueling day ahead. 16 km and 6 hours later (map below), we emerged with a whole lot of really great birds, a couple of awesome sightings, and expressions of nothing less than pure joy at some folks’ first close sightings of both Calliope and Rufous Hummingbirds in the wild.

Weaselhead Natural Area

The Weaselhead Nature Area encompasses both the mudflats of the Glenmore Reservoir, the boreal forest of the central woods and meadows, the riparian environment lush with warblers, sparrows, finches and the odd duck or three and even a few large ponds stocked with waterfowl and shorebirds. It’s funny that as a native Calgarian of over 30 years, my first visit to the Weaselhead was late last fall. It’s such a beautiful, scenic, and massive natural area that rivals Fish Creek Provincial Park for diversity, and again, right in the heart of the city. Most people, myself included, have a relatively limited experience with it, as the multi-use pathway that runs down the middle of it links North Glenmore Park to South Glenmore Park, but the unpaved path network is simply massive.

Some of the best sightings in the Weaselhead included the Veery, Eastern Phoebe, Calliope Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, a very brave Yellow Warbler that nearly landed, comedy-style, on the binoculars of another birder, and a Northern Waterthrush that was heard long before it was seen.

Over on the Glenmore Reservoir we were given great directions to a resident Brown Thrasher that has been seen there for a few years now, and had great views through the scope of a Common Loon, Western and Clark’s Grebes, and a slightly lost Surf Scoter.

The day wore on, and the visit to Pearce Estate Park loomed on the horizon, but it was far less painful than it could have been. The recently rebuilt park now has a wonderful boardwalk and blinds over the ponds, which allowed us to get very close looks at the often frustratingly cautious Belted Kingfisher. We heard quite a few Warbling Vireo, and I got my first ever looks at juvenile Common Goldeneye, which are even more adorable than any gosling or Mallard chick that I’ve ever seen before.

Veery

Eastern Phoebe

Calliope Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Yellow Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Brown Thrasher

Clark’s (far left) and Western Grebes

Warbling Vireo

Belted Kingfisher

Goldeneye and chicks

Spring Birding in South Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead

Apr13

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

April marks the beginning of the spring session of the Friends of Fish Creek birding courses. For this three-month session, Dan Arndt and I decided to lead a group at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays. This might seem a little early to be going out in April, but by May and June the sun will be high before we get under way, and we hope to see and hear more birds than we would later in the day.

Dan is away for the first two weeks, so I will be reporting on what we saw, with photos provided by two of the course participants, Glenn Alexon and Paul Turbitt.

The first outing, on Easter Sunday, was in North Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead. We spent about an hour checking the west end of Glenmore Reservoir first. It is still almost completely frozen, with only a few small areas open in the west end, but there were some waterfowl there, notably some impressive Trumpeter Swans.

Trumpeter Swans landing on the water. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Common Mergansers: female (left) and male (right). Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Canada Goose taking off. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Then we headed down in to the Weaselhead. A highlight there was a Townsend’s Solitaire singing from the top of a very tall spruce.

Townsend’s Solitaire. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Male Downy Woodpecker. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Female Downy Woodpecker. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Black-capped Chickadee. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

These chickadees expect to be fed. Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker. Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

There were quite a few Red Squirrels around, and a couple of Least Chipmunks were also seen.

Red Squirrel. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

We saw three Red-tailed Hawks overhead, including this dark Harlan’s Hawk.

Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk. Photo by Paul Turbitt.

We had hoped to see Pine Grosbeaks and American Tree Sparrows at the feeders. There were none around when we first went through, but on our last stop on the way back we found a pair of each.

Pine Grosbeak. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Pine Grosbeak. Photo by Paul Turbitt.

American Tree Sparrow feeding on the ground. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Back up by the parking lot, an early Richardson’s Ground Squirrel was the last species of the day.

Richardson’s Ground Squirrel. Photo by Glenn Alexon.

In all, we saw 28 bird species and four mammals. The eight groups who went to this area during the first week of the course collectively saw 48 bird species and six mammal species. The Weaselhead is a great place for spring birding!

To see more of Glenn Alexon’s photos, go to his Flickr page.

To read about one of the Saturday morning course outings, go to David Pugh’s blog.

Boreal Birds of the Weaselhead

Jan23

Another weekend, another excursion (or three) with the Friends of Fish Creek Birding Course. Once again I joined Gus Yaki on his Saturday walk, and returned a little later that day when the clouds cleared and the light allowed for some better photos. The Sunday morning course was business as usual, but staying behind briefly to catch up with Bernie Diebolt, who would be leading the afternoon group along with Janet Gill, allowed me to tally another bird on my 2012 list, and one that I hadn’t seen in nearly two years. Stay tuned until the end for those photos!

Saturday morning stayed fairly cool, at around -15 degrees Celsius, but was considerably nicer than the week leading up to it. Sunday was much warmer, around -5C to -2C towards the end of the walk, but we walked a slightly different route in hopes of seeing a few different birds.

Saturday Route

Sunday Route

Saturday began with the sighting of a number of Pine Grosbeaks at the parking lot, and then many more we trekked down the hill into the Elbow River Valley.

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeaks

Midway down the hill, as the path curves, a number of feeders have been set up and are regularly filled by a few local birdwatchers. This week though, these feeders have been empty each day, due to the cold. Whether that is due to the birds emptying them each day, or that they’re not being refilled currently, we’ve been filling them with some black oil sunflower seeds, much to the delight of the resident Black-capped Chickadees, Common Redpolls, and both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.

Black-capped Chickadee

Down at the bottom of the hill are a number of other feeders, and one of the only Hairy Woodpeckers we saw this weekend was down there, tapping away at the birch and poplar trees, looking for a tasty snack, though I’m sure while we weren’t looking, he may have eaten a sunflower seed or two as well.

Hairy Woodpecker

Across the bridge and through the woods, we were led to a small clearing behind a line of spruce trees where the Boreal Chickadees have been seen all week. At least three came down Saturday morning, and paused to allow for a few photos, though I was determined to come back later in the day once the location was confirmed.

Boreal Chickadee

I thought that nothing could top that, as we sat there for close to half an hour as the Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees ate out of our hands. Through the woods and towards the river we trekked, and I will admit a very bad identification moment, when I spotted this Red-breasted Nuthatch at the peak of a spruce tree, swearing it was something new and that we hadn’t seen all day. I don’t recall seeing these little guys sitting at the top of trees very often, if at all before. Needless to say, almost every birder I know has misidentified a bird from time to time, even the best of us. If we didn’t, there’d be no point in having Field Guides and databases of photos to refer to from time to time.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

At the fork in the path, we headed back towards the vehicles, preparing to end our trip for the day, though we were pleasantly surprised to see this Rough-legged Hawk being harassed by Black-billed Magpies on the north wall of the valley, across the river from our vantage point.

Rough-legged Hawk

After that, it was back to the main path, and up to the vehicles, though I was not quite done for the day. After stopping to have some lunch, I headed back to the Weaselhead as the clouds had burned off and the light was much better. In retracing my steps, I happened to get some photos of some more Boreal Chickadees, a very large flock of Bohemian Waxwings, and a Bald Eagle flying about 100 feet overhead.

Boreal Chickadee

Bohemian Waxwing

Bald Eagle

Sunday morning was similar early on, with the Pine Grosbeaks meeting us at the parking lot.

Pine Grosbeak

The feeding station midway down the hill was occupied as we approached by a number of Common Redpolls, which flushed after a few minutes of observation, but not before everyone had seen them. They really are quite pleasant birds that way!

Common Redpoll

Over the river we spotted a Rough-legged Hawk being chased down by a number of Common Redpolls before it stopped to rest at the top of this spruce tree.

Rough-legged Hawk

After stopping at the Boreal Chickadee location again and only coming up with a very small number of Black-capped Chickadees, we opted to head down the main pathway a little further and loop back again, in hopes that they would arrive later in the day. Though there weren’t too many other species around, we did have a few Black-capped Chickadees on the path, and a Rough-legged Hawk at the far west end on the southern valley slope. As we headed back north, I spotted another Red-breasted Nuthatch once again sitting atop a spruce tree. Two in less than 24 hours doing this same behaviour? Maybe it’s not as uncommon as I previously thought!

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Before we reached the Boreal Chickadee clearing, a flock of 50+ Bohemian Waxwings flew into this spruce tree nearly about a hundred meters away.

Bohemian Waxwings

After a brief few minutes of searching the clearing, we were preparing to leave, but as I turned to head home in defeat, a lone Boreal Chickadee flew towards the group. I was very pleased to get to see this beautiful little bird again today.

Boreal Chickadee

Calling it a day, we headed back towards the vehicles, and while I chatted with Gus a bit before heading home, I wanted to give Bernie a call to let him know what we saw, and where we saw it. As we talked, I noticed a shape in one of the trees near the parking lot, and just had to put him on hold while I grabbed some photos of it. The last Dark-eyed Juncos I had seen were in Waterton Lakes National Park, back in the summer of 2010, so these were a very pleasant surprise!

Dark-eyed Junco

Thanks for reading!

Posted by Dan Arndt

Christmas Bird Count in the Weaselhead

Dec19

This year marks my first ever Christmas Bird Count. As the date approached and the weather forecast flip-flopped from cold and blustery to a warm winter chinook, I was confident that no matter the weather, I’d make the best of it and tough it out. Thankfully, we had a beautiful day. Almost no wind to speak of, and the birds were out in force.

The organizer, Philip Cram, had put me in one of the walking groups by request, with Rob Worona, David Pugh, and Bernie Diebolt, all familiar names to me, but my first time birding with Rob, the group leader, and David, a fellow photographer.

Starting at western-most parking lot at South Glenmore Park, we made our way across the valley wall and westward into the Weaselhead proper. It started out quiet, with the usual suspects making their appearances. The Common Redpoll, the Black-capped Chickadees, and the White-winged Cross-bills we’ve seen so much of lately.

: Common Redpoll

: Black-capped Chickadee

: White-winged Crossbill

As we headed further toward the bridge spanning the Elbow River, we were mobbed by a group of Black-capped Chickadees, and were alerted to the presence of a rarer Chickadee species, the Boreal Chickadee. As the Black-capped Chickadees flocked, the wheezy, higher pitched nasally tones of the boreal species edged closer and closer, until finally it made an appearance. Though not brave enough to hand-feed, it did come close, and finally dropped down to eat some of the black-oil sunflower seed on offer.

Boreal Chickadee

Continuing down the path we were greeted again by another new sight. Perched high up across one of the smaller tributaries to the Elbow River was this juvenile Northern Goshawk. The bright white eyebrow and the jagged tail-bars were distinct enough for Rob to confidently make the species ID.

Juvenile Northern Goshawk

Finally we reached the bridge, and in amongst the Common Redpolls earlier, we thought we may have seen a Hoary Redpoll or two in amongst the flock. We were granted a second, much closer view of one of them, and as we compared it to the others, we became more and more convinced. Another first for me, the Hoary Redpoll:

Hoary Redpoll

We stopped for lunch to compile our count numbers and to re-energize, but again were mobbed by hungry birds and a Red Squirrel or two, but as we were finishing up, a couple of very brave Red-breasted Nuthatches flew in for a bite.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Though it was a fairly warm winter’s day, the sun hadn’t really made much of an appearance, but when it did, these Pine Grosbeaks began singing and for the first time, I heard a soft cooing from the females, almost like that of a Rock Pigeon or Eurasian Collared Dove. I was completely unaware that Pine Grosbeaks made sounds anything like this.

Female Pine Grosbeak

At this point, we stopped once again for a water, coffee, and snack break while this Common Raven vocalized above us with its unearthly and very unusual croaking call. I’m always amazed at the variety or Raven behaviour and vocal range. I’ll have to follow-up with a post on the variety and uniqueness of corvid behaviour among the birds.

Common Raven

Around a bend and over another tributary channel of the Elbow River and we were back to the base of the southern valley wall. At the crossroads of the trail heading back to the top of the southern wall we stopped at a feeding station to where a number of species were found. The White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, and Downy Woodpecker:

Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

The last few hundred meters did turn out productive though, granting us a Ruffed Grouse, a few House Finches, a Pine Siskin, and a very good angle at some close Pine Grosbeaks atop the spruce trees bordering the path.

Ruffed Grouse

House Finch

Pine Siskin

Male (R) and Female (L) Pine Grosbeak

All in all, a great day both for the birds, and for the hardy birders who were out in Calgary yesterday. Once the numbers are tallied up and made public in the New Year, they’ll be posted here, though I suspect we’ve got a banner year for finches with the huge number of Grosbeaks, Redpolls and Crossbills seen in the last few months.

Posted by Dan Arndt

Walking the Weaselhead

Dec12

As a Calgary native, I consider it a particularly unfortunate state of affairs that it’s only in the last two years that I began exploring the Weaselhead. Accessed from either North or South Glenmore Park, it is quite likely one of Calgary’s most unique micro-environments, in which three species of hummingbird can be found in the summer, and the Boreal Chickadee can be found in winter. Hearing that it would be the location for our final birding walk of the autumn birding course, I was excited at the opportunity to see some new and exciting species.

It began by walking down the winding trail from the 37th Street parking lot at the western entrance to North Glenmore Park. After stocking one of the feeding stations, we briefly left, but rushed straight back when we noticed a robin-sized bird fly in and land on the ground at the feeder. It was another photo first for me to be able to snap some very close-up shots of a Pine Grosbeak. One of the distinctly beautiful birds both for its song and plumage, with a brutally sharp bite.

Heading down to the bottom feeder stations, we were delighted by the number of Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Common Redpolls taking advantage of the free food available at the feeders.

This Downy Woodpecker also was taking an interest in the feeders, and seemed entirely unfazed at how close we were able to get.

Across the bridge we were treated to the sight of a few more Common Redpolls, followed by Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches feeding at the fence-posts along the pathway.

I think our best bird of the day though was this Pileated Woodpecker who made an appearance and actually sat still long enough for us to get some shots of it.

The feeding station where the Boreal Chickadee pair had been seen all week was productive, but unfortunately the Boreal Chickadees didn’t show up. We did get some nice close views of the Red-breasted Nuthatches again, and the more common Black-capped Chickadees and a single Northern Flicker.

Finally we headed back, only seeing the same species at those feeders on the way back, and nothing in particular that really stole the show from the beautiful Pileated Woodpecker.

And that wrapped up the Autumn Birding course for us. In the new year, Bob Lefebvre will be leading a Sunday walk with the same group until mid to late April, and between now and then are a few important outings on my list, the biggest of which being the Christmas Bird Count, which I’ll post my photos and stories from next week.

Posted by Daniel Arndt.

Flying Squirrels of Calgary

Nov14

I seem to be doing a lot of mammal posts lately, but as birders, we are interested in the entire web of nature. I find that the more birding I do, the more interested I become in all other animals, and in plants as well.

Last Saturday, Dan Arndt and I, plus assorted wives and girlfriends, took a hike at dusk in the Weaselhead with the intention of finding and photographing Northern Flying Squirrels. These rodents are strictly nocturnal, so many people aren’t even aware that they exist here. But in fact they range across the entire northern boreal forest of Canada and Alaska, and down into the continental United States as well.

Photo by A. Freeman, from Wikimedia Commons

I first saw these animals in March of 2008 when I attended a Nature Calgary “Owl Prowl”, led by Gus Yaki, to listen for Northern Saw-whet Owls. We didn’t hear any owls that night (according to Gus, it was Christmas – “the First No-owl”), but as we walked back through the woods in the dark I saw a shape streak through the trees against the dim sky. I assumed it was a bird going to one of the nearby feeders, but what bird goes to a feeder in the dark? Then someone shone a flashlight on the trees, and we saw that it was a small squirrel with very large reflective eyes!

Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Service, from Wikimedia Commons

Since then Nature Calgary has had annual outings to this spot to see these amazing animals, and we did see them again in 2009 and 2010. This spring they didn’t show, so I wondered if they were still around.

On Saturday we arrived a little early, so we walked around the forest on the south side of the Elbow River bridge for a while, hoping to see an owl. Again there was no luck spotting any owls, but we did see one Pine Grosbeak and one Common Redpoll, plus dozens of Canada Geese overhead. At dusk we headed back across the bridge to the feeders to set up our cameras.

Sunset was at 5:05 pm and two Northern Flying Squirrels glided in at 6:05 pm, right on schedule, as it seems that they make this feeder their first stop of the night, a half-hour or so after it gets dark. The squirrels seemed reluctant to go right to the feeder – they hid in the trees somewhere for ten minutes or so before we saw them again. We saw a few more gliding shapes and some squirrel silhouettes on tree trunks, and heard them scrabbling up and down the bark, but never got a good look at them. Finally, my wife snapped a few shots with a flash when she heard one on the tree in front of her, resulting in a couple of fuzzy images as the squirrel tentatively climbed down toward the feeder. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

We will certainly be heading out again in search of the Northern Flying Squirrel. Maybe someday we’ll get a photo as clear as the one below.

Photo by Bob Cherry from Wikimedia Commons

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The Lookout

Jun29

In South Glenmore Park, just where the trail drops down into the Weaselhead, there is a path leading through the bush to a spot with two benches.

Not only does it provide a great view of the pond and Weaselhead, but someone has turned it into a feeding station for the birds. I have been there a few times, and there is always birdseed on the rails and ground, and oranges in the trees. If you sit still and are patient, you get great close-up views of the birds. These pictures were taken on June 17, and we saw 23 species from the lookout that day. Here are some of them. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Downy Woodpecker:

Hairy Woodpecker:

Clay-colored Sparrow:

Black-capped Chickadee:

Rose-breasted Grosbeak:

Brown-headed Cowbird:

Some small mammals got in on the action as well. Red Squirrel:

Least Chipmunk:

A Pine Siskin and a Red-breasted Nuthatch squabble over a good feeding spot:

Pine Siskin:

Red-breasted Nuthatch:

White-breasted Nuthatch:

Finally, this little Red Squirrel rested his head on his hands while he patiently waited his turn at the feeder:

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Photo Feathers: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (?)

Jun20

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.