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Foothills Birds – Live Bird Cameras

Most Calgary birders know of Barb Castell’s home in the foothills SW of the city, near Priddis. Many have been there, and it is a great place to see birds, including some uncommon species, that come to her feeders and bird baths. It’s one of the most reliable places in the area to see Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, and even Black-headed Grosbeaks.

Of course this is private property with restricted access, but there is a YouTube Channel which has a daily live stream from three cameras set up on the property. You can watch the birds live, and participate in the chat about what is being seen. There are also many archived past live streams, and clips of highlights on the site.

Here is the YouTube page: Foothills Birds.

They also have a web page with more information and a link to the YouTube site: foothillsbirds.com

Below is one of the clips from YouTube, featuring some brave Blue Jays.

With fall migration now under way, as many as 26 species have been seen in a day recently, including migrating warblers and hummingbirds. Archived streams feature birds like Northern Goshawks, Northern Saw-whet Owls, Ruffed Grouse, and Mammals like Red Squirrels, Northern Flying Squirrels, and Bats. It is very entertaining and educational to watch!

I’d like to urge you to go to YouTube and subscribe to this channel. It’s as simple as clicking on the “Subscribe” button if you are a regular YouTube user. If not, to get your free subscription,

1. Go to: https://www.youtube.com/foothillsbirds

2. Log into your Google Account, if you aren’t already logged in, top right corner.

3. Click on the red SUBSCRIBE button on the right side.

4. It should change from red to gray and say UNSUBSCRIBE.

Being subscribed to a channel is not obtrusive. For you, it just means that the site appears in your feed as a suggestion from time to time when you are already on the YouTube site. Any new clips that they add will appear in your suggestions. It will also be easy for you to re-find the site since there will be a link to it under your subscriptions.

But it is very important for Foothills Birds to get more subscribers! Even if you do not plan to visit the site much, please subscribe so that it will be suggested to more and more YouTube users and seen by more people. There are currently about 444 subscribers, and if they get to 1000, it will allow them to get more advanced features from YouTube and allow them to do more to support the birds.

Some photos of birds seen at the feeders, from the web site:

Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker, male
Evening Grosbeak
Evening Grosbeak, male
Varied Thrush
Varied Thrush, male

The best time to view the birds is when they are hungry early in the
morning. The camera is usually on from from dawn to dusk.

This location is now an eBird HotSpot, so you can go on eBird and see what has been reported there every day. There have been 105 species observed at the location this year, and 140 species all-time!

If you are on Twitter, follow them @FoothillsBirds. They regularly post photos of birds that are at the feeders and in the area.

So visit the site, watch some clips and live streams, and subscribe. Let’s help them reach their goal of 1000 subscribers!

Get Involved in the Calgary May Species Count

The Calgary count on May 29 and 30 still has some areas that need surveyors.

The May Species Count is an annual event in which birders count the number of birds of each species within the 80-km diameter circle centred in Calgary. The circle is divided up into many smaller territories, and there are a few that so far are not covered this year.

  • Area 2: FCPP Bridge 6 to Macleod Trail (Votiers Flats)
  • Area 3: FCPP Macleod Trail to Bridge 13 (Glennfield)
  • Area 4: FCPP Burnsmead South to Lafarge Meadows
  • Area 31: Irricana
  • Area 37: Acme/Carbon
  • 43b: Confluence Park – pending
  • 43g: Pine Creek Water Treatment Plant
  • 43j: Nose Hill Park – pending
The Calgary count circle with the rural territories marked. The city is also divided up into many territories.

If you are an experienced birder and want to participate by covering one of the areas above, contact John McFaul at alpglow[at]telus.net. He will provide details of the procedures and a description of the territory to be covered.

Online Film – Avian Summer

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Photographer and filmmaker Rick Andrews has produced a wonderful wildlife documentary about some of our local birds. Avian Summer has fantastic high-resolution video of birds that migrate into Southern Alberta each spring, where they come to find a mate and raise the next generation, before migrating south again in the fall. Watch the trailer below.

Avian Summer by Rick Andrews – trailer.

The full film is available to rent or purchase on the Vimeo platform. The cost is $8 for a three-day rental, and $25 to buy. You can watch it on your phone, tablet, or computer. (I played it on my phone and streamed it to our TV, and it looked fantastic.) Proceeds from Avian Summer will benefit the Growing the Grassroots Endowment Fund in support of nature-based interpretive programming at the Helen Schuler Nature Centre in Lethbridge.

I really enjoyed this thirty-seven minute film. It focuses mostly on waterfowl, raptors, herons, and cranes, and a few songbirds. There are a lot of great sequences of birds raising their young.

Rick Andrews is a conservation wildlife photographer and filmmaker from Southern Alberta. He has many other excellent films available for free on Vimeo, so be sure to check them out. (It is free to sign up on Vimeo.) Rick’s collection of films showcases resident wildlife in Southern Alberta, including the full-length documentary Wildlife of the Oldman River Valley (2018), as well as several documentary shorts including Great Horned Owls (2020), Country Club Marmots (2019), and Lethbridge Wild Turkeys (2018).

Here is the poster from the film’s online premier, which was on June 25. The question & answer session with Rick is available to view on the Helen Schuler Nature Center Facebook page here.

Check out these excellent productions, and help support conservation in southern Alberta.

You can follow Rick Andrews on Facebook here.

Friends of the Helen Schuler Nature Centre Society.

Stay-At-Home Birding: Some Backyard Birds

Here are some birds seen recently by local birders in their yards. Lots of great birds can still been seen while staying at home! Some of these are migrating and won’t be seen in the summer, but others are year-round residents.

Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Patrice O’Brien.
Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Patrice O’Brien.
Blue Jay
Blue Jay, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Patrice O’Brien.
American Robin
American Robin, Okotoks, April 2020. Photo by Lloyd Bligh.
Downy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Jane Potter.
Northern Flicker
Northern Flicker, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Jane Potter.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Jane Potter.
House Finch
House Finches, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Jane Potter.

Finally, here is a photo of a Varied Thrush that Karen Bout photographed in her yard in April. I have heard of three or four reports of Varied Thrushes passing through the city this spring, and there were at least three that overwintered here this year.

Varied Thrush
Varied Thrush, Calgary, April 2020. Photo by Karen Bout.

May can be even better for migrants passing through city yards, so if you are isolating at home, keep an eye open!

Thanks to all the readers that submitted photos.

Birds & Beers, January 23, 2020

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
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.

See you there!

The Winter Bird Lists

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

For many years Richard Klauke has maintained a list of bird species reported in Alberta during the winter birding season, December 1 to the end of February. This list shows us which species we can expect here every winter, which ones are not here every winter, and which ones are rarely seen in winter. It also allows us to monitor trends over time.

The Edmonton Nature Club has also maintained a winter list for their 80-km radius birding region for the past several years. A couple of years ago I started doing the same for our Calgary region, and Caroline Lambert has added a list for the Bow Valley birding area. Caroline has been maintaining a site where you can see all four lists, and she has been doing almost all of the updating of both the Calgary and Bow Valley lists this year.

Eared Grebe
Eared Grebe. One has been seen at Frank Lake this winter – a new bird for our Calgary winter list. Photo by Dan Arndt, Glenmore Reservoir, November 3, 2016.

Click here to see the Calgary Winter List. From that page you can navigate to the Alberta, Edmonton, and Bow Valley lists.

The Calgary list stands at 93 species. Last year’s total at the end of February was 100, and it was 103 the year before. It might seem like we’re getting close to those numbers, but it gets pretty hard to add new species from here on. Have a look at the lists and see if you know of any missing birds that were seen in each region. You can report your sightings on eBird or on Albertabird.

The Pacific Wren that was reported in Bowness in Calgary has been removed for now, since there is no agreement on whether it is a Pacific or a Winter Wren. It was seen and photographed several times, but no definitive conclusion has been reached, as far as I know.

Some recent additions to the list are Gyrfalcon (photographed in North Calgary on December 23), American Tree Sparrow (four birds seen at a feeder NW of Calgary on December 23, and seen and photographed again today), and American Kestrel (reported in the Strathcona neighbourhood on December 28).

American Tree Sparrows, NW of Calgary, December 29, 2019. Photos by Glenn Alexon.

New species for the three years the list has been maintained are Tundra Swan, White-winged Scoter, Eared Grebe, and Boreal Owl.

Notable species which were seen in the two previous winters but not reported yet this year (and which should be around somewhere) are Wild Turkey and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. Harris’s Sparrow has also not yet been reported, and there could be one lurking somewhere in the 20,000 square kilometers of our circle.

The Bow Valley List now stands at 54 species. Last year’s total was 67. No Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches have been seen here either, and surprisingly, no Great Horned Owl. If you see these, or any other species not listed yet, report it on eBird, Albertabird or to the Bow Valley Birding Facebook Group. The Bow Valley region is not a circle, so see the Winter Bird List page linked above to read the description of the area.

The Edmonton list is at 70 species. Although they have some excellent birds this year, they had a record year last winter, with 91. You can follow the progress of the Edmonton list on the ENC Nature Talk group.

Finally, the Alberta Winter Bird List is one you can contribute to from anywhere in the province. The total right now is 126, with 6 of those not confirmed. Last year was a record total of 166. This includes some subspecies that may not have been on the list in earlier years (or were not yet recognized as subspecies). The important thing is what hasn’t yet been seen. Of the 110 “core” species (seen every winter, or are elusive winter residents) only Wood Duck, Ruddy Duck, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Mourning Dove, Long-eared Owl, and possibly Cooper’s Hawk have not yet been reported in the province.

Have fun trying to add to these lists in your region!

Merry Christmas From Birds Calgary!

Snow Angels. Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Wing prints
Snow Angel, Inglewood Golf Course, December 14, 2019. Photo by Kathleen Johnson.

During the recent Calgary Christmas Bird Count, we saw an amazing number of animal tracks in the fresh snow on the Inglewood Golf Course. But the most extraordinary tracks were these wing impressions (sometimes called snow angels) left by some of the local Bald Eagles as they skimmed low over the snow.

Wing prints
Photo by Kathleen Johnson.

In two places we saw a series of over twenty of these in a row, where an eagle had taken off from the ground or a low perch and flew across the open fairway, leaving an impression with every wingstroke, usually with impressions of the feet between the wing prints as well.

Wing prints
Some of the prints were over five feet across, despite the wings not being fully extended. Photo by Kathleen Johnson.
Wing prints
Bob pointing to talon impressions. Photo by Kathleen Johnson.
Wing prints
Photo by Bob Lefebvre
Wing prints
Photo by Matthew Wallace

Ghostly Blue Jay

This beautiful bird was photographed on an acreage near Big Hill Springs, NW of Calgary, on September 22nd by Shelley Mohl.

Blue Jay
Leucistic Blue Jay, NW of Calgary, September 22, 2019. Photo by Shelley Mohl.

This Blue Jay has some sort of colour abnormality, likely leucism, caused by a deficiency of melanin in its feathers. The areas that should be black are brown, and there isn’t enough pigment to scatter the light to create much of a blue colour on the rest of the bird.

Blue Jay
Leucistic Blue Jay with normal Blue Jays, NW of Calgary, September 22, 2019. Photo by Shelley Mohl.

The Road To 300: Success!

When we last checked in on Gavin McKinnon’s quest to find 300 species of birds in Alberta in 2019, he was at 291 species. That was at the end of July (see this post). Since he had already seen almost all of the more common species, progress was expected to be slow for the rest of the year, as he would have to track down rarities that showed up during fall migration.

I’m happy to report that Gavin did reach 300 species on October 11th! He was slowly adding new species until he reached 299. On October 9th an Ash-throated Flycatcher was reported in St. Albert. This is the first confirmed record of this species ever in Alberta. It is native to the SW United States and the Pacific northwest. On October 11th Gavin travelled to St. Albert and saw and photographed the bird.

Ash-throated Flycatcher, St. Albert, October 11, 2019. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Ash-throated Flycatcher, St. Albert, October 11, 2019. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Ash-throated Flycatcher, St. Albert, October 11, 2019. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

Not only was this bird #300 for Gavin and a first Alberta record, but it was a life bird for him. A great way to reach his goal!

Here are few of the birds that got Gavin within striking distance of 300. He tried to photograph as many of the species he saw as he could.

Black Swift. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Vaux’s Swift. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Western Sandpiper. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.
Sabine’s Gull. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

By October 12th Gavin had reached 303 species, which is where he stands today. He has also seen a total of 370 species in Canada this year, which is tied for the third-highest total in the country. Here are links to those eBird pages:

Top 100 eBirders in Alberta. Top 100 in Canada.

You can see previous posts with photos and updates of Gavin’s Big Year here:

January and February

March and April

May

The Road to 300: June

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

I was away quite a bit in July so there’s lots to catch up on here. First of all, here is an update on fifteen-year-old Gavin McKinnon’s effort to find 300 species of birds in Alberta in 2019.

Gavin had 216 species at the end of May, and as I mentioned last time, you need to get to at least 240 by the end of June to have a good shot at 300. Gavin had a great month in June, and finished the first six months of the year with 278 species. Here are photos of some of the new species he added in June, along with his descriptions of where he saw them and some of the other notable species. Gavin did quite a bit of travelling with his dad looking for rarities, which sometimes necessitated camping in the back of their car.

Great Gray Owl
Great Gray Owl

“On the first of June we were out at Winchell lake and Horse Creek Road marshes where I got half a dozen new songbirds plus Great Gray Owl. The following day We went to Dinosaur Provincial Park where we heard Yellow-breasted Chat. I also added Rock Wren and Lark Sparrow there. The following weekend we went up to Cold lake where I got 35 year birds, the highlights being Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, lots of Connecticut Warblers and a Great Crested Flycatcher. The next day I was able to see a flock of five White-rumped Sandpipers along the rocky shore of Lower Kananaskis Lake as well as a singing male Townsend’s Warbler. A few days later I got the chance to see a Black-chinned Hummingbird that was visiting Pat Lucas’ feeders near Hillcrest Mines.

Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird

“Between then and Cypress Hills I got to see Clark’s Grebe and Great Egret. On our way to Cypress we made two stops, one for McCown’s Longspur and another for Burrowing Owl.

Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl

“I got three year birds within my first hour at Cypress Hills: White-winged Scoter, Dusky Flycatcher, and a pair of Eastern Bluebirds that have been nesting along the southern border of the park.

Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird

“In the afternoon I was able to see a pair of Bullock’s Orioles and after about an hour of checking the Bullock’s Oriole tree I found a nest with two chicks.

Bullock's Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole at nest

“There were also three Common Nighthawks roosting nearby. On our way back to Cypress we found three Greater Sage Grouse.

Greater Sage Grouse
Greater Sage Grouse

“At night we were driving around the Graburn Road area and we were able to detect two Common Poorwills, one heard only, but the second one swooped in front of our headlights.”

Below is a photo of the car where they camped on some of these trips.

Camping in the car for birding.
The camping setup in the car.

Here are more photos of some species Gavin added to his list in June.

Calliope Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Cassin's Finch
Cassin’s Finch
Cassin's Vireo
Cassin’s Vireo

I will do another update when Gavin Gets to 300 species. Not to keep you in suspense, at the end of July he had 291 species. Of course, as the year goes on it becomes harder and harder to add new birds to the list, but Gavin hopes to reach 295 by the end of August.

You can also follow his progress on eBird by viewing the list of top 100 eBirders in Alberta on the “Explore” tab. Here is a link to that page. You can also check out the top 100 in Canada, where Gavin is at an amazing 362 species, the second-highest total in the country!

You can see previous posts with photos and updates of Gavin’s Big Year here:

January and February

March and April

May