Bird Behaviour Archives - Page 4 of 6

The Rarest of the Rare

I’m sitting here in shock. Looking through the photos, checking Sibley’s, looking at the photos. There’s no doubt that I saw what I immediately identified. I just still can’t believe that it’s over here.

Back it up. I had just been out for a walk along the best birding areas in Canmore, but I hadn’t seen much. Instead of turning home with a book full of warblers and thrushes, I had a few Mallards and an American Crow. I turned into my yard and saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and then another, and a third. Kinglets are tiny and bounce around a lot, and it was while I was watching them that something else flew into the large bush.

I looked over, expecting to see a Dark-eyed Junco, or a White-crowned Sparrow, and instead see a stunning, male warbler. And not just any warbler. A Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Of course, as I maneuvered around the cars and trees (yes, they were that close together, this is Canmore) I was thinking about this eastern species. Suddenly I remembered. If you see a rare bird, especially one like this, you take a photo to confirm it.

It naturally flew away very soon after that thought and I was left with forgetfulness to blame for my few snatched photos as it hopped around on the other side of the bush.

So, I’m sorry that I can’t give you better shots, but I will try again today, if I can find it.
A Black-throated Blue Warbler is quite the find in Alberta, never mind in this little mountain town. And, of course, in my own yard.

Drive to Drumheller and Back Again

We were going out to Drumheller for the Saturday. I knew what this meant. No more than fifteen minutes out of our way was Langdon Corner Slough. I had been preparing all week – for what? For the first time ever, an Arctic Tern was nesting in Alberta, and we were going to see it.

I know Langdon Corner Slough pretty well, and I knew that the tern was nesting on an island a good distance out, too far for our cameras too do much good. That was why I had my Uncle’s gleaming fixed 400 ml. lens beside me with two extenders. The extenders would slow down the shutter speed by a stop or two depending on which one we used, but it would give us the extra distance I needed to get a half-decent shot.

Sadly, the ARTE is not the one flying, but second from the left sitting.

I found it almost immediatly, but could not get a good photo because of the distance and heavy camera. Through my scope, we found also the two hybrid Common/Arctic immatures, but they were hidden by the long grass. Here is a Common feeding its baby (not a hybrid).

The terns were active quite a bit, and the one time that the Arctic flew and I caught it, it was out of focus. Here is the shot. The Arctic is in the bottom left corner.In one corner of the Slough, we saw a large number of Marbled Godwit. I haven’t really looked for one, so if anyone sees a Hudsonian in there, please let me know.

That was it for Langdon, but there will always be Upland Sandpipers on the way out East.

I also got a nice photo of the all too common White-crowned Sparrow. If your ebird checklist doesn’t have one here, you’re cheating.

And that’s it! I will post again soon.

Best Photos of The First Half of The Year

This post is for the photos, so I’ll keep the words short. All of the photos after a certain header are from that place/event, and they are the best that I took there. Enjoy!

CRANBROOK

LONG-EARED OWLS

JUNE FOURTH BIG MORNING

THE BOWKAN BIRDCOUNT

MY GREAT CANADIAN BIRDATHON

BIRDING AROUND THE VALLEY

EAGLE-WATCHING

ENGLAND

Certifying a Golf Course at 8:00 AM

After eight, we started seeing other people around the course. That didn’t bother us too much, as we were mostly staying away from the holes, and doing pretty well there anyways (read the first post in this series of two here). We found a nice little creek containing Red-eyed Vireos, Warbling Vireos, and 3 Cape May Warblers.

They flew in a large circle around us, pausing occasionally in a tree, so we could get some photos.

Going closer to the green, we saw an American Goldfinch, and heard a Lincoln’s Sparrow in a cluster of bushes and trees near hole 11.

A Tennessee Warbler sang from on top of a tree close by.

Almost back at the entrance, an Osprey flew by too quickly for a photo. In the pond that we had first seen, a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds were singing nicely

Red-winged Blckbird — Red-winged Blackbird

The other group appeared, and since birders are never competitive, we checked our numbers. 49 species was quite good, until we realised that they had 50. Considering everything, it wasn’t that bad of a result. the full list of species (including the drive home) is here. Thanks for reading my posts!

Certifiying a Golf Course at 5:00 AM

Every year, a bird search is conducted on the Livingstone Ranch Golf Course. This isn’t a legal requirement, but apparently the golf course is “Audubon Certified” if we do it. We went out, with the courses permission last Saturday, June 4th.

My Dad complained good-heartedly about getting up at 4:30 a.m. – don’t ask me why. It was a pleasant morning, still an hour to sunrise, but we could see quite well. Upon meeting the Calgary part of our group (everybody but us), we learned that they had seen a Grizzly in the middle of a field with two Coyotes. What’s with that, I wonder? We birded the area around the gates until we were let in by a man working on the golf course.

We found an American Kestrel, a Yellow Warbler and some Swallows around the gates.

We split up into two groups, one to go on the more plentiful north side of the course, and one for the south.
My Dad an I ended up going down the south side, but we started by walking along the ridge that formed a natural barrier between the two sides. Tossing down the occasional golf ball, we listned and watched, but there was not much around. A House Wren burbled ahead, and a pair of Grey Jays burst out from the tree-tops.

We stood for a time near a Sapsucker’s nest hole. We had seen a young bird, but it was fully fledged and did not come back while we watched. At the end of the ridge, we met a Red-tailed Hawk and a dozen Clay-colored Sparrows. Continuing into a small grove of trees, the leader of our group unknowingly flushed a Ruffed Grouse. He hadn’t even realized until I pointed it out.

The grouse strutted around imperiously, and for a minute it looked as though it might drum, but no luck.

An unexpected sighting came next. There are usually plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds around the course, but Yellow-headed? Not often. When a dozen females flew over, we were surprised, but when 20 males followed hot on their tails, we were excited. 30 Yellow-heads was the most unusual sighting so far.

At the back end of the Golf Course’s property, we found a pair of White-crowned Sparrows, some Savanah Sparrows, and a Wilson’s Snipe on top of a tree.

It was only 8:00 AM by now, so I will write about the rest of the morning later, to keep it kind of
short. So expect a sequal in short order!

The BowKan Bird Count

It seems like every Saturday is a big birding event right now! The BowKan Bird Count is the bird count that I’ve been doing since I was 6 years old. We have two counts per year, one in the spring and one in the winter. While in England, I missed the first count since I started. Back for the Spring count, I car-pooled with 4 other counters for the whole day. We started (as usual) at the Lac Des Arcs campground where we saw the all the regulars exept Belted Kingfisher. It was gloomy and overcast, but that didn’t hold the birds down.

At the Al Lesann Bridge Trail, we were walking along, trying to hear that little peep in the bush when a pair of Rufous Hummingbirds whizzed around us. It was all good fun, until they started trying to kill us. Having a tiny red bullet shooting throught the air at our heads is kind of unnerving, but that was nothing compared to my shock when, after ducking under a low branch, I straightend up and was hit! At first I was worried about the hummer’s health, but when it was obvious that the bird was ok, I started to take photos. I actually got some nice ones of the bird sitting, preening in a tree 30 feet off.

A quarter-hour later, we were stepping out of the van at the Buffalo Bill Pond Trail-head. Chipping Sparrows and Juncos were prominent, with many invisible Least Flycatchers, some Mountain Bluebirds, and a Vesper Sparrow all there.

Farther down, we found one of the two Kingbird species that were there last year.

At the pond itself, there were 5 swallows, many Coot, and a Ruffed Grouse boomed behind us. There were some Spotted Sandpipers and Yellow Warblers down the shoreline. A Pied-billed Grebe in the water.

And lots and lots of Little Blue Butterflies.

We ended the trip back at Lac Des Arcs, but on the other end. Strolling down the path, we came upon some (very) fresh bear scat. It was a place that bears frequented, so this was not surprising. We continued down the path, and found one spot that was rich in birds. Stopping there to watch the Warbling Vireos, Warblers and Redstarts, we followed as the flock moved down the path a little ways. Turning a corner brought us the sight of a large and healthy Black Bear, so we, disappointed, turned back, having completed about 17% of what we wanted to do there.

We decided to end the day then, as it was already 3:45 pm. It was a successful count, on which I found 61 species over two days, in about 11 total hours. I’ll post some photos and the story from the next day soon.

A Special Day

The Canmore Eagle Watch is a volunteer-run bird count targeting the Golden Eagle Migration. Everyday from late February to mid April and mid August to mid October. The purpose is to count all the migrating eagles and others that pass through our area.

A Golden that was released a few years ago, after being treated for lead poisoning.

Last week, I was invited to join some of the people who were on duty on Thursday (April 7). I gladly accepted, and so it was that I was out of the door by 6:30 on the day. we drove to Hay Meadows, where the viewing point is, and were set up by 8:15.

There were Varied Thrushes calling every 30 seconds, a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Northern Shrike among many others. We didn’t see an eagle until just past 11:00 , but on the two short walks I took that morning, I saw Mountain Chickadees, Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Flickers and a Ruffed Grouse on it’s drumming log.

At about 11:45, our main observer was checking the temperature a short distance away and I was scanning the skies when the third member of our trio tapped me on the shoulder and pointed behind me. As soon as I saw it, I was groping for my camera.

That’s right. A Lynx. Literally, a once in a lifetime experience.

That seemed to cost us some eagles, though, as by 7:00 we had seen only 3 Golden and 2 Bald, but, as soon as we had packed up our scopes, we started seeing them every 5 minutes! by the time we left (about 8:45), we had seen 7 more Goldens!

We ended the day having seen 10 migrant and 2 resident Golden Eagles, and 2 resident Balds. And of course, a Lynx.