Northern Saw-whet Owl

On Friday Mike and Phil had struck out on the Northern Saw-whet Owl found the previous day in Carburn Park in Calgary by a group led by Gus Yaki. Gus and another group re-found the bird yesterday, so a phone call to Gus seemed in order, and Gus kindly provided details on the bird's day roost. We had likely walked right past the bird.

Today was a very mild day for late January: 12 deg this afternoon. On arriving at the parking lot just after noon, we ran into Bob Lefebvre and Dan Arndt and learned that the owl was back on its regular roost. A few minutes later we were observing the bird, whose celebrity status had attracted the attention of several wildlife photographers.

A very nice addition to our list. Unfortunately our camera-toting Fur and Feathers companions are away at present, so we hope the owl will stay around until they return, and a picture can be posted.

Clark's Nutcracker and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

Mike and I headed west of Calgary today, and added two bird species and one mammal species to the team list. Some of our resident species are often best seen in winter. We had no difficulty in finding two Clark's Nutcrackers in the community of Harvie Heights, which sits close to the Trans Canada Highway just before the entrance to Banff National Park. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches come down from the mountains in winter, and the hamlet of Exshaw is usually a reliable place for them. A flock of 100 birds obligingly festooned trees beside Barrier Mountain Drive. Between Harvie Heights and Exshaw we encountered a flock of about 30 Bighorn Sheep, a new mammal for the team list.

We had started our day in Carburn Park in Calgary, in hopes of re-finding a Norrthern Saw-whet Owl seen there yesterday. We spent almost half an hour searching the area where the bird had been reported, but saw no sign of it. Good numbers of Black-capped Chickadees and Common Redpolls in the area might have led us to it, but they displayed no agitation.

As our drive home from Exshaw to Calgary took us close to the Water Valley area, we were unable to resist a detour in hopes of finding an owl there, but again we came up empty. These guys are proving problematic.

Temperature today in the minus 7 to minus 1 range, generally not too windy.

South-west of Calgary

Our two recent team outings in the foothills NW of Calgary had not been very productive, so today Ray and Phil decided on a change of scenery and we went to the Millarville, Turner Valley and High River area south-west of the city for a full day outing. It was very mild for the middle of winter, the mercury soaring to +5 deg in the afternoon, and only a very light wind during the morning. Good weather conditions do not always translate into good birding, but today was very enjoyable in all respects.

The signature bird was undoubtedly Rough-legged Hawk, which we saw throughout the route, perhaps 20 birds in all. In contrast to last winter there are plenty around this year. While we were unsuccessful with our principal target, Northern Pygmy-Owl (which by contrast are in very short supply this season), we did pick up four new bird species. A pleasant half-hour walk in Brown Lowery Provincial Park, yielded two male American Three-toed Woodpeckers (bird species no. 104), the first of five woodpecker species we saw today. The town of High River turned up three new species: Eurasian Collared-Dove (no. 105), Bohemian Waxwing (no. 106) and House Finch (no. 107). There was no sign of the Red-bellied Woodpecker which had been seen in High River until recently.

Other good birds we saw today, while not new for the list, were Northern Shrike, Northern Hawk Owl, Mourning Dove and Evening Grosbeak. We also heard, but did not track down, a drumming Pileated Woodpecker in Brown-Lowery PP. Our grand total for the day was 30 species of birds and 4 mammals, very respectable for January.

Thousands of Mallards in Ralph Klein park in SE Calgary heralded our return to the city. There has been some speculation that these may be very early returning migrants rather than part of the city's resident winter population. Whatever their status, it was an impressive sight.

An Owl and a Falcon!



Immature Snowy Owl,

 Taking advantage of our improved weather and some recent good sightings to the north of Calgary, Phil, Mike and I spent a pleasant afternoon cruising the rural area between Symonds Valley Rd and Balzac looking for a Snowy Owl and a Prairie Falcon.

The owl showed up almost immediately on exactly the same power pole where I encountered it on a solo outing last week! There must be a decent food supply in the area. About an hour later, a Prairie Falcon swooped down right in front of us, providing us with a wonderful view as it raced away to the south, eventually coming to rest on a distant fence post. Both of them new team birds bringing our Fur & Feathers tally to 111.

Also of note in the area was a Rough-legged Hawk and three Pine Grosbeaks.......and several hundred Canada Geese feeding in the surrounding fields. Just eight species in total for this little outing but great to see the owl and the falcon!

A Search for Owls (2)

Having found a Northern Hawk Owl on our last team outing, we decided this week to look for the two other owl species—Northern Pygmy-Owl and Great Gray Owl — often found in the Water Valley area NW of Calgary.

Mike, Ray and Phil set out before dawn in foggy conditions reminiscent of our journey from Halifax to Lunenburg two weeks earlier. The fog dissipated as we left the Bow Valley behind and our hopes were high, especially as Ray had seen some good birds on a solo outing two days earlier. Unfortunately birds were very few and far between. We saw no owls at all, and only 12 bird species in total, nothing new for the year. A lone Coyote seen by Grand Valley road as we returned to Calgary, a new mammal for our year list, prevented us from being completely shut out.

The very cold spell of last week is over, and we’ll look forward to birding in warmer conditions over the next few days.

A Search for Owls

After a day off following our trip to the east coast, we took
advantage of a mild spell in Calgary before the expected first wintry spell of
the year. Brian, Mike and Phil spent the morning NW of the city looking mainly
for owl species more readily found in winter. It was a bright, crisp morning,
and birds were few and far between. However, about 3 km SW of Water Valley Mike
spotted a Northern Hawk Owl atop a broken poplar. Our 100th bird
species! As we watched, the bird flew to a lofty perch on a spruce tree, from
which it made several powerful falcon-like flights into the forest in search of
prey, an awe-inspiring sight.
Other hoped for owls were not in evidence today, and we had
to be satisfied with a flock of Mountain Chickadees and a distant Moose as the
only other additions to our count.

East coast wrap-up

Our week in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland has come to an end.  Today, we added some new birds for the province but no new year birds.  It was cold and windy and two of our rental van doors were frozen shut.  However, the sun was shining and, apart from our feet, we stayed warm as we waited in vain for the Blue Grosbeak to show.  We were still hoping for the Slaty-backed Gull and checked out all of the local gull haunts, once again in vain.

Rob Woods

James Hirtle

Anne Hughes

Overall we had a very successful and enjoyable trip.  Not only did we get most of our target birds, we also enjoyed seeing this part of the country and meeting some very nice people.  In Nova Scotia, Rob Woods and James Hirtle each birded with us for a day; Blake Maybank helped us out and we spent a morning with the NS Bird Society field trip.

James put us in contact with Anne Hughes in St. John’s and she came out birding with us for 3 mornings despite some pretty bad weather (well, maybe not for Newfoundland!).  We were also struck by the friendliness and inquisitiveness of the people on the street.  While we were birding around town, many people stopped to talk with us and showed a genuine interest in what we were looking for.  Anne also introduced us to the local delicacies of Cod Tongues and Scrunchion.

One of our goals was to see many of Canada’s interesting places … Nova Scotia’s coastline and the city of St. John’s certainly qualify.  Most of the birding in Nova Scotia was along its magnificent coastline and, in January, there were few tourists to clog the roadways.

Coast near Lunenburg

St. John’s, apart from its historic sites, has a wonderful network of ponds and streams (they call them rivers) throughout the city. 

Rennie's River walk

The ponds provide an attractive resting spot for the 12,000+ gulls.  We didn’t pay too much attention to the immatures as the rarities found by the local experts were (fortunately!) all adults.  The gulls are also attracted to a sewage outlet in St. John’s harbour – I’ve got a nice picture of a Mew Gull with a piece of you-know-what in its bill!

We will be staying in Alberta the next 8 weeks and hopefully will get a few owls and grouse as well as improving our rather sad mammal list.

Brian