An Exploration of my blog

Over the 30 months or so I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve covered a lot of ground – quite literally – and it’s getting trickier to know how to find older entries.  This is the first step to improving that.

I’d like to highlight some posts and categories you might like to read.  Let me start with my book review of “North AIMG_6126merican Owls“.

I have regular series on “What Bird Wednesday” and “Feathers on Friday” – check them out.

Also look at the Categories section on the right hand side – you may need to scroll down to see it.

 

You won’t be surprised that a bird blogger likes to get out and see birds, so let me show you some of my favourite trip reports.  Maybe you’ve seen the movie “The Big Year”? Well this year I did a “Big Day“.

Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

We’re fortunate enough to live close to the southern end of the Snowy Owl’s winter range; find out what happened on our Snowy Owl Hunt!  And whenever – and wherever – we travel, I enjoy nature.  One of my Birding Trips is reported on here.

I’m grateful for all the people who have helped me as a birder, and wrote about some other things why in my series “The Twelve Days of Christmas“. Other posts in the series can be found using the ‘Search’ box at the top right of this page.

One way we can give back to birds and the wider environment is through the(formorly Baillie) Great Canadian Birdathon.  Read about how I raised just over $1,000 doing what I love to do!

I also like to consider and examine the birds, in such posts as “Perplexing Plumage” and “The Birds are Back!“.

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I’d love to know what you think of my blog.  Find out more about me and leave your thoughts there or on any post.  Thanks for visiting!

List Updates

I am pleased to say that I will be updating my life and year lists soon, as the numbers have increased greatly. The Baillie Birdathon, the Bowkan Birdcount, and other random occasions have given my numbers a large boost!

On the Birdathon, I got 4 “lifers,” those being  Blackpoll Warbler, Least Flycatcher, Forster’s Tern and Swamp Sparrow. Then I also got many year firsts, including Eurasian Collared-Dove, Orange-crowned Warbler and Peregrine Falcon. Next came the Bowkan Birdcount, giving me a tally of only one lifer – Magnolia Warbler – but a vast number of year firsts, such as Rufous Hummingbird, Tennessee Warbler and others.

And only Wednesday, we saw a male Barred Owl in Canmore!

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Barred Owl, male.

I have seen many others as well, so don’t forget to check my Year and Life Lists as soon as possible!

My Baillie Birdathon Experiences 2014

The Baillie Birdathon was a great success, however I can not provide full results as I am still analysing the count. When we [our friend Tommy, my dad, and I] started on Friday, we were expecting bad weather. It was great! The sun shone through a blue sky, with not a cloud to be seen. My dad and I had started without Tommy, at the U of C, trying to see one or both of the Peregrine Falcons that nest there. As we didn’t want to start the 24 hour period before 11: 45, we wasted as much time as we could at the University, hoping that the falcon we’d seen would stay in the place that we had seen it in earlier. When we finally pulled out of the university, our eyes glued to the falcon, it was 11:46!

Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon

After that, we drove to the north end of Glenmore Reservoir, where we most definitely would have got more if I owned a spotting scope! Be as that may be, we did get a few species, namely Bonaparte’s Gull and Say’s Phoebe.

Say's Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe

At about 1:00, we met Tommy at Carburn Park, and it was a huge species gain [in many different lists!]. We started in the parking lot, with a male House Sparrow, then continued down to the nearest small pond, where some Canada Geese were lying, their goslings close by.

Canada Goose goslings
Canada Goose goslings

I don’t have much time now, so I will be posting more on the Birdathon soon. Thanks for donating – those who aready have – and if you haven’t, please do so by the end of May!