As we near the end of the decade, some birding bloggers are compiling lists of various bird sightings over the past ten years. I thought that sounded like a fun idea, so here’s my list of my most memorable birds. Not all of them were lifers, but all of them …
Today is one of those days Canada is famous for. During the ‘warmest’ part of the day, the temperature here in Calgary was -28C, which equates to -18F. There is not the tiniest breath of wind, and a light snow has been coming down intermittently throughout the day. Yesterday evening …
In 1900, to oppose the so-called “side-hunt” wherein groups of hunters competed to see who could shoot the most wildlife on Boxing Day, American ornithologist Frank Chapman asked North Americans to head out on Christmas Day, to count the birds in their communities and submit the results as the first …
Bird Studies Canada is entering its seventh season of Short-eared Owl monitoring in Ontario. North American and European researchers are working together to learn more about this poorly-understood species, which appears to be declining across its global range and is classified as a species of Special Concern in Canada. Bird …
Birds of many different families mimic the sounds they hear around them. Blue jays give a perfect rendition of the call of a hawk, which as sent me running to the window with my binoculars more than once. Crows have been heard to imitate the whine of a dog, the …
Yesterday on Twitter, someone mentioned some stunning pictures of chickens. Which immediately made me think of Las Vegas. A few years ago, a friend and I were in Las Vegas for a business convention. One day we had a free morning, and not being interested in casinos, we were at …
The highly-anticipated Fraser River Valley Bald Eagle Festival occurs annually over the third weekend of November (21-22) and works with 15 individual sites to offer a wide variety of activities and adventures from Mission to Chilliwack. The area hosts North America’s third-largest population of over-wintering Bald Eagles, arriving to feast …
I admit it – the birding gods have smiled on me when it comes to owl sightings. I grew up in the northern boreal forest, where Great-gray and Great-horned owls were commonplace. In a South Carolina cypress swamp, a Barred owl flew in and landed about 12 ft away. A …
Sometimes the birding urge just overtakes you. Completely ignoring a mountain of work at home, my husband and I decided to spend a sunny November Sunday tooling around the prairie countryside looking for snow geese. When we left at 8:30 am, it was a brisk 2C, and the sun was …
This is the sixth in a series of posts on birds at risk in Canada. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) lists 73 bird species as endangered, threatened or of special concern. This is a cautionary tale. A tale of how quickly a species numbering …