Author: Pat Bumstead
Alberta’s Native Prairie Sell-Off is Back
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Alberta Government has absolutely no respect for the people they are supposed to be representing. Last year, this same government attempted a secretive deal to sell off native grasslands to a private firm to grow potatoes. The resulting ‘Potatogate’ furor from all segments …
Wordless Wednesday: An Evening Drive
Surveys Pinpoint Critical Habitat for Migrating Shorebirds
Bird Studies Canada’s Ron Ridout recently returned from Ontario’s southern James Bay coast where he was part of a team of researchers monitoring the use of the extensive tidal flats by several species of migrating shorebirds. During their southbound journey, large numbers of White-rumped, Semipalmated, Pectoral and Least sandpipers, Greater …
Vulture Awareness Day 2011- Bone Bustin’ Birds
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. Always a fan of the underdog, I jump at the chance to talk about these birds, so for the past two years, I’ve featured Canada’s only vulture species- the Turkey Vulture. This year I decided to reprise an article I did on one of …
House Sparrow Explosions
Throughout most of the year, I have a good variety of birds passing through my yard, including the occasional rarity like a boreal owl or pileated woodpecker. During most of August however, I’m generally stuck with the good old house sparrow. Many, many house sparrows as the young of the …
Now I’ve Got You. Oops.
We’re into the dull birding month in my yard – I have house sparrows and more house sparrows, as the hatch year juveniles are now flying with the adults. House finches, mourning doves and black-capped chickadees make the occasional appearance, but it’s basically sparrow-world out there. A couple of days …
I’m Being Blackmailed By Squirrels
I used to like the squirrels in my yard. During the summer months, I generally cut back a bit on the bird food I put out. During the winter months the feeders are always full, but when there is so much natural food around, I put a smaller amount into …
Wednesday Wings: Noisy Neighbors
For the past few weeks, several times a day, I have been forced to quickly abandon whatever I’m doing in the house and run outside. No, it’s not an earthquake. We have (at least) four merlins playing in the sky above my house, all calling me with their continual ‘kee kee kee.’ …
Wednesday Wings: Confused Hairy Woodpecker
It took this young hairy woodpecker a while to figure out how to get any food from this busy feeder, but he managed it eventually. I resisted the urge to put captions on these photos, but it was hard!