Tag Archive | alberta birds

Short-eared Owls in Winter

Short-eared Owls are scarce in the Calgary area in the winter, but sometimes a few can be found hunting meadow voles around fields that have not been cultivated for a few years. Ron Chiasson photographed these owls near Calgary this winter. Short-eared Owls are a sensitive species so we won’t give the location. They have declined in the Calgary area over the decades as native prairie has disappeared, but they have an almost worldwide distribution and their conservation status is “Least Concern.”

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

You can see more of Ron’s photos at Ron Chiasson Photography.

Backyard Birds: White-throated Sparrow

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

White-throated Sparrows are a common summer bird of the boreal forest, and in Calgary you can see them and hear their beautiful song in places like the Weaselhead and the west end of Fish Creek Park, where they breed. Their wintering grounds are in the eastern and southern United States and on the west coast from Washington to California, a long way from Calgary. Nevertheless, it isn’t unusual for a few to overwinter here, and if you feed birds in your yard they will come looking for seeds. I have had one coming to my yard all winter. Gus Yaki has also had one in his yard all winter, and a couple of others have been reported around the city.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow (left) and a Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco (right), Calgary, January 2018.

I first saw this bird in November 2017, feeding with a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. I have seen it periodically up to as recently as March 2018. It is always with Dark-eyed Juncos, another native sparrow species (the two sometimes interbreed and produce infertile offspring). These native sparrows prefer to feed on a flat surface like a tray, or on the ground.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow (left) and Dark-eyed Junco (right).

The distinguishing features of the White-throated Sparrow include the white throat which has a sharply defined lower border, the yellow lores (the spot in front of the eye), and the alternating dark and light head stripes. In this individual, an adult, the stripes are black and white. First-year birds have tan and brown head stripes, and there is also another adult colour morph which has tan and brown head stripes. The two adult colour morphs occur in roughly equal numbers. Interestingly, each adult almost always mates with the opposite colour morph, so both traits persist.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow (left) and Dark-eyed Junco (right).

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow (right). The other bird is a male House Sparrow.

In the above photo you can see the rufous colour in the wing of the White-throated Sparrow and the blurry streaks on the sides of the breast.

Sometimes a White-throated Sparrow will be feeding on the ground with a flock of House Sparrows. Even without binoculars you can usually pick them out by their feeding behavior. Like other native sparrows (the Dark-eyed Juncos and Lincoln’s Sparrows, for example) they tend to scratch for seeds with both feet simultaneously, jumping quickly ahead and back. House Sparrows (which are not native sparrows but an introduced European species) never do this. The White-throated Sparrow also has a longer tail than the House Sparrow.

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow foraging for seeds in the snow.

Here is the song to listen for in the spring:

(Song is from the Xeno-Canto website.)

 

Sharp-tailed Grouse Portrait

Gavin McKinnon took this close-up of a male Sharp-tailed Grouse in mating display this spring in southern Alberta. The bird has his yellow eyebrows flared and his purple neck air-sacs exposed.

Sharp-tailed Grouse (male), Southern Alberta, spring 2017. Photo by Gavin McKinnon.

Follow Gavin’s blog at Canadian Birder.

Sandhill Crane Migrating Over Calgary

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Here’s something you don’t see very often: a Sandhill Crane flying over the city.

Sandhill Crane, South Glenmore Park, April 29, 2017. Photo by Max Ortiz Aguilar.

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Sandhill Cranes can be seen in huge numbers on their northward migration if you go well east of the city on the prairies. Dan Arndt photographed huge flocks in the Castor area on April 4th. See his Flickr page here. These birds do nest in the Calgary area, near Bragg Creek and in the Water Valley area, so you can see a few in those areas even in mid-summer. But they are not often seen in Calgary.

To see more of Max Ortiz Aguilar’s photos, see his website.

Bird the Irrigation Canal

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The Western Irrigation District canal in SE Calgary has had the water supply from the Bow River shut off and the water level is falling. The next few weeks until freeze-up are a great time to go birding along the canal as there is a lot of food concentrated in the remaining pools and on the mudflats. The best birding is from the Max Bell arena to 50 Avenue SE, with the most productive stretch being the 500 m or so south of the Gosling Way bridge, on the entrance road to the Inglewood Golf and Curling Club.

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Birds on the canal, October 2011.

Trout Unlimited Canada normally does a fish rescue when the water is shut off, but due to funding cuts they were unable to do it this year. There will be some big fish left in the water and it will be interesting to see if this keeps the Herons and Kingfishers around for a while longer.

The canal is a great place for bird photography as the waterfowl and shorebirds are often quite close to you. Walk along the east side in the morning and along the west side in the evening to keep the sun behind you, and you can get some great views!

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October 2011, looking back towards the Gosling Way bridge. Throughout October the water level gradually falls, concentrating the waterfowl into smaller pools.

Here are links to a few of the posts that Dan Arndt did about birding the canal with the Friends of Fish Creek in the past three years, with photos of many of the birds you can find there.

October 2015

October 2014

October 2013

 

Birding Locations: Marsland Basin

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

A little-known gem of a birding location near Calgary is Marsland Basin, a Ducks Unlimited wetland on a private farm about halfway between Eagle Lake and Namaka Lake, southeast of Strathmore. A 75-acre lake with mud flats and cattail marshes can be viewed from the edge of a wooded farmyard.

The homeowners have created a great natural environment for all kinds of birds here, and they invite any interested birders to come by at any time. There are chairs set up at the viewing area, and you can walk around the farmyard as well. Sign the guest book.

Marsland Basin

To get to Marsland Basin, take Twp Road 232 one mile east from the village of Namaka, then go north a half mile on RR 242. This road dead-ends by the yard. Just drive right up into the yard.

Birders are encouraged to enter their sightings on eBird. Use the Marsland Basin HotSpot. Having a lot of public reports of both nesting birds and migrants is a good way to ensure that the importance of a wetland is recognized, and it is more likely to be protected and preserved.

There is an upcoming Nature Calgary field trip to this location on Sunday July 26. Meet at the parking lot at Carburn Park at 8 am to carpool.

Birding Call-in Show Today

Today, Friday December 19, CBC Radio 1’s Alberta@Noon show will feature local bird expert Sid Andrews taking calls from listeners about their bird sightings. The show starts just after the 12:30 news.

In Calgary, CBC is at 99.1 FM or 1010 AM.

Tundra Swans Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm 1/1250sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 400

Tundra Swans
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1250sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 400

Tundra Swans with Canada Geese by the Bow River. Photo by Dan Arndt.

The Latest From Fish Creek Park

Tony LePrieur photographed a nice variety of wildlife in the park on October 5.

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Pileated Woodpecker.

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Greater Yellowlegs.

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American Three-toed Woodpecker (male).

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Boreal Chickadee.

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White-breasted Nuthatch.

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Yellow-rumped Warbler.

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Red-breasted Nuthatch.

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American Robin (immature).

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Downy Woodpecker.

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Muskrat.

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White-tailed Deer.

Hummingbird in Snowstorm

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Last week’s late summer snowstorm in southern Alberta flattened crops and gardens, caused power outages, and damaged or destroyed trees numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It must also have been devastating for many migrating birds. A storm like this, lasting for several days, blanketing the ground with snow throughout the southern half of the province, and accompanied by temperatures as low as -7 degrees Celsius, must surely have caused high mortality among warblers and other neotropical migrants.

Here are some photos taken on September 10 of a hummingbird caught in the snow. I believe this is a Rufous Hummingbird, the last of which usually move through Calgary in early September. Fortunately there are still plenty of flowers around so perhaps it was able to find enough food to continue on its southern migration.

All photos by Debbie Reynolds.

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