The amount of birding I have done this month is embarrassing. Between our continually crappy weather and the fact I have been designing a 100+ page website, we made one whole trip. But it was a good one! About an hour’s drive south of the city there is a large Ducks …
These photos were taken in my yard on April 16, 2011. I am running out of adjectives to describe our ‘spring’ weather, but I’m sure the robins, tree sparrows, house sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, nuthatches, northern flickers, house finches, black-capped chickadees, mourning doves, blue jays, black-billed magpies and red-winged blackbirds in …
There is a clear order of preference at my bird feeder. These pictures were taken in a two hour period during the storm on Saturday, in this order. Squirrels get first pick, followed by the black-billed magpie, blue jay, mourning doves, red-shafted flicker, house finches, red-breasted nuthatch and a busy …
The spring birds are returning to southern Alberta for another year. There are many reports of waterfowl, including swans, raptors and even mountain bluebirds in the area. Last week I was anxiously awaiting the weekend. I had the two days planned to within an inch, calculated to see the biggest …
This report is one that every birder should read. What is going on here in Alberta right now affects us all, in more ways than one. The amount of habitat destruction, both current and proposed, is immense. Strip-mining for the oilsands is expected to remove terrestrial and aquatic habitat (habitat …
The 2011 Great Backyard Bird Count was a huge success; nearly 92,000 checklists were submitted in North America. Canadians submitted a record 7462 checklists and counted 647,402 individuals of 243 species. These numbers are well above those from 2010, when 6653 checklists totalled 228 species. In Canada, the most widespread …
It’s so nice to have birding friends. Last Saturday, my husband and I were sitting at home wondering which direction to go looking for birds. Our March weather is extremely fickle, so we were gauging our chances of heading out to the mountains when the phone rang. A friend had …
Spring is slooowly returning to southern Alberta, and with it the reappearance of my main nemesis bird. If one more person tells me “oh, Eurasian wigeons are everywhere’… The first duck reports of the year came in last week. There is very little open water around, but nevertheless a male …
