Birding Around Calgary – Winter 2020 Photo Album

Having found some spare time over the past week or so, I’ve managed to go back through this winter’s image files and process my highlights from the last few months. First and foremost among the highlights, and a recent encounter, was this drop-dead gorgeous male Varied Thrush:

He was as skittish as he was handsome and I was only able to get a very few shots that I was happy with, but one is enough!

A day-long road trip though the foothills west of Calgary in late December yielded disappointingly very little wildlife, nevertheless it was pleasing to see a few of the local characters such as several Canada Jays watching some ice fishers in hopes of a morsel coming their way:

And this big, bold Raven still guarding his much-less-visited-in-winter picnic spot and checking out the few visitors that were coming though his area:

As the sun was just about to set, the day trip came to a successful conclusion when I spied a Great Grey Owl perched atop a dead tree perusing the surrounding snow-covered grassland:

This owl seemed content to watch us in the distance as we used our long zoom lenses and extenders and we left it as we found a few minutes later. For me, any owl day is typically a good day and this was no exception!

Closer to home, Calgary’s urban parks continued to offer opportunities to see lots of birds such as this Common Goldeneye:

As well as birds I seldom see in the spring and summer, such as the cryptically camouflaged Brown Creeper:

Which is a lot easier to see in silhouette:

Or during the golden hour before sunset:

Another winter visitor locally is the Pine Grosbeak, albeit in smaller number than some other years (but better than the years when we’ve had almost none!):

For reasons beyond me, I saw only one or two adult crimson-plumaged males – all the rest were females or rusty-coloured young males.

Nonetheless, all attractive birds to me!

And now while most of our lives are being, and will continue to be for some time, changed by the onset of Covid19, I take great comfort from the fact that birding is still an activity that I can continue to take great pleasure from, and we still have all the excitement of the spring arrivals just around the corner!