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Sunday Showcase: Bow Valley Birds

Michael Kim is a 13-year-old photographer from Canmore. He has been taking photos of wildlife in the Bow Valley, and here are some of his pictures from last summer and fall.

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Belted Kingfisher, Canmore, September 8, 2016.

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Great Horned Owl, Canmore, October 2016.

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Bald Eagle, Lac des Arcs, August 1, 2016.

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Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, August 1, 2016.

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Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, August 2, 2016.

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Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, August 3, 2016.

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Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, August 4, 2016.

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Great Blue Heron, Lac des Arcs, August 5, 2016.

Sunday Showcase: Swan and Woodpecker

Photographs by Tony LePrieur.

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Young Tundra Swan at Carburn Park, November 13, 2016.

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The same swan at Carburn Park, November 13, 2016.

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American Three-toed Woodpecker photographed at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Provincial Park, November 13, 2016.

Sunday Showcase: Ruffed Grouse; Pileated Woodpecker

Tony LePrieur got this close-up photograph of a Ruffed Grouse west of Calgary, and this Pileated Woodpecker in the city, both on the weekend of October 30, 2016.

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Ruffed Grouse.

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Pileated Woodpecker (male).

 

Sunday Showcase: Migrating Sparrows

Leanne Ross photographed these birds this fall in her yard in Okotoks, just south of Calgary. She reports that the Tree Sparrow only stayed for a day, whereas the White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows were around for a week or so, usually accompanied by Dark-eyed Juncos.

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White-throated Sparrow (left) and White-crowned Sparrow (right).

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American Tree Sparrow.

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White-crowned Sparrow.

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Downy Woodpecker (male), a year-round resident.

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Hairy Woodpecker (male), also a resident bird.

If you have good photographs of birds from the Calgary area, email them to us and we may post them.

Sunday Showcase: Autumn in Calgary’s Parks

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Catching up with some great autumn photos of Calgary Birds and Mammals, taken by Tony LePrieur from September 25 to October 16, 2016. The locations were the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Carburn Park, Fish Creek Provincial Park, and the Weaselhead Nature Area.

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Boreal Chickadee, Bebo Grove, FCPP, September 25, 2016. The bird has no tail. Birds don’t molt all their tail feathers at once, so this indicates it probably survived an attack of some kind.

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Great Horned Owl, Bebo Grove, FCPP, September 25, 2016. These resident owls are fairly common it the city. Pairs will be spending the days resting on their winter roosts now, and by February (or sometimes even January) they will be on their nests, incubating eggs.

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Great Blue Heron, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, October 16, 2016. The herons have usually all migrated by mid-October, but a few may stay later.

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Harris’s Sparrow, seen at the south end of the big bridge over the Elbow River in the Weaselhead on October 16, 2016. The bird was seen for at least a week, from October 16 to October 25. These Sparrows mostly migrate well east of Calgary and are a bit of a rarity here. They sometimes overwinter, so it is worth looking for.

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American Tree Sparrow. These arctic breeders are passing through here now and some overwinter here.

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Dark-eyed Junco. These sparrows are pretty common here in the winter and can be seen in residential areas right now, often feeding on the ground under bird feeders.

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American Robin bathing.

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American Robin. They passed through here on migration in huge numbers a few weeks ago, but there are always quite a few that overwinter here, mostly in the river valleys.

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Northern Flicker (male). A migratory woodpecker, but again there are always lots in Calgary in the winter – either some local breeders that overwinter, or birds that bred farther north and migrated this far. They will readily come to suet and nut feeders.

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Downy Woodpecker (male). A year-round resident that also will come to feeders.

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Coyote.

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Black-backed Woodpecker. A bit of a rarity in the city, they are occasionally seen in the west end of Fish Creek Park, from Bebo Grove to Shannon Terrace. This one was photographed there on October 23, 2016.

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Pileated Woodpecker (male). Another resident woodpecker.

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Rough-legged Hawk. This is the common buteo in our region in the winter. They have arrived in good numbers from their northern breeding grounds. Most commonly seen outside the city, especially west of the city.

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Black-capped Chickadee. Year-round resident.

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Muskrat. They are active all winter in open water.

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Mule Deer buck.

See more of Tony’s Photos on his Flickr page.

Share your bird photos from the Calgary area. Just email them to birdscalgary@gmail.com.

Sunday Showcase: Birds of Carburn Park and IBS

Bird and mammal photos taken by Tony LePrieur on September 11, 2016. The Wood Duck and Great Blue Heron were at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, and the rest were at Carburn Park.

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Osprey.

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Wood Ducks.

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Great Blue Heron.

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Belted Kingfisher.

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Wilson’s Warbler.

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Yellow-rumped Warbler.

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Merlin.

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Eastern Gray Squirrel.

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American Mink.

Do you have some bird photos you’d like to share? Send them to our email address and we may post them on the blog.

 

Sunday Showcase: Carburn Park, September

Photos by Tony LePrieur, taken at Carburn Park in Calgary on September 4-5, 2016.

Can you identify the warblers? Put your ID’s and reasons in the comments.

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House Wren.

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Fall Warbler #1.

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Fall Warbler #2.

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Fall Warbler #3.

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Fall Warbler #4.

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Least Flycatcher.

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Least Flycatchers.

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Great Horned Owl.

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White-tailed Deer.

Sunday Showcase: Long-eared Owls

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

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Adult Long-eared Owl. Photo by Tony LePrieur, Calgary, June 26, 2016.

Long-eared Owls are fairly common in the Calgary area and breed in and around the city, but they are nocturnal and so secretive that many birders go years between sightings. In early summer I was told of a Long-eared Owl nest in the city with young in the nest. Here are some photos of this family taken by several local birders.

(Note: The birds are secretive since they are vulnerable to predation from Great Horned Owls, magpies, ravens, crows, porcupines, and hawks. It is very important when observing them to not give away the location of the nest. This nest was very close to a public pathway.  Although the young have fledged long ago now, the owls may nest in the same area again next year, so I won’t reveal the location. I did share it with Dan Arndt, Andrew Hart, and a couple of young birders who had never seen this species before, but we didn’t want to put undue stress on the birds or draw attention to the location by having too many people go to see them.)

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Adult Long-eared Owl, Calgary, June 9, 2016. Photo by Dan Arndt.

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June 9, 2016, Calgary. Four young were in the nest. Photo by Dan Arndt.

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June 11, 2016. Only one young remained in the nest. We were concerned that they had been predated, so stopped visiting for a while. But later on we saw two fledged young together near the nest, so they may just have fledged at slightly different times. Photo by Dan Arndt.

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Another adult on June 9. They are about 14 inches (36 cm) tall. Photo by Dan Arndt.

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A close-up of one of the young in the nest, June 9, 2016. Photo by Dan Arndt.

On June 26 Andrew Hart and I went to see if the last of the owls had fledged. The nest was empty, but we found two very vocal and active young owls nearby.

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Recently fledged Long-eared Owl, Calgary, June 23, 2016. Photo by Andrew Hart.

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Photo by Andrew Hart.

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Vocalizing fledgling. Photo by Andrew Hart.

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Photo by Andrew Hart.

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Photo by Andrew Hart.

Tony LePrieur had found this same nest independently and visited it a couple of times.

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Long-eared Owl, Calgary, June 26, 2016. This looks like a younger owl than the ones Andrew and I saw three days previously. Photo by Tony LePrieur.

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Vocalizing adult Long-eared Owl, Calgary, June 26, 2016. Photo by Tony LePrieur.

Sunday Showcase: Summer in Alberta, Part 4

More summer bird photos from Tony LePrieur, taken in and around Calgary, except for the Western Kingbirds, which were near Brooks in SE Alberta.

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Horned Grebe with chick.

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Tennessee Warbler.

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Tennessee Warbler.

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White-throated Sparrow.

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Western Kingbird (adult).

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Western Kingbird (very young bird, just fledged).

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Warbling Vireo.

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Savannah Sparrow.

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Song Sparrow.

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Swainson’s Hawk.

Sunday Showcase: Summer in Alberta, Part 3

Birds and Mammals photographed by Tony LePrieur on August 7, 2016 in Fish Creek Provincial Park and in Carburn Park in Calgary.

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Juvenile American Robin feeding on Chokecherries.

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Black-crowned Night-Heron (adult).

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Black-crowned Night-Heron (a first-summer bird, not yet in adult plumage).

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Eastern Kingbird.

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A wet Black-billed Magpie.

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Orange-crowned Warbler.

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White-tailed Deer.

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North American Beaver.