We are having the gentlest October I can remember in a long time. Sunny days hovering around 20C (70F), not a breath of wind, and lots of yellow leaves gently drifting down. The weather gods are obviously trying to apologize for the dismal drenching we got in September. When camping …
Bird News The Sprague’s pipit, a threatened species in Canada for 10 years, will not get help in the US because “federal wildlife officials are too busy saving other species to conduct the studies and hold meetings necessary to get them on the U.S. endangered species list.” Four years overdue, …
We have been fortunate to obtain a seasonal camping spot for the summer at a large, cattail lined lake an hour and a half away. There are not a lot of lakes here in southern Alberta, so shoreline campsites are always at a premium. Naturally, as a blog person, I`ll …
The 2010 Doug Tarry Natural History Fund’s Young Ornithologists’ Workshop will be held at Long Point Bird Observatory near Port Rowan, Ontario, from Friday, July 30 to Sunday, August 8. Participants will receive hands-on field ornithology training, including bird banding, censusing, field identification, birding trips, preparing museum specimens, guest lectures, …
The Mute Swan, a native of Eurasia, was introduced to this continent from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. Due to their graceful appearance on water, these swans were imported to many areas of North America as an adornment to city parks and large estates. All North American Mute Swan …
We took a prairie birding drive yesterday, looking for snowy owls. Naturally enough, this post is therefore about black-billed magpies. This is the countryside where we looking for owls. White owls. Some trips they are easy to find, perched on power poles, fence posts, graineries and hay bales. Some trips …
While I have been birding as long as I can remember, I am relatively new to photographing birds. Now that I’ve finally moved into the world of digital cameras. I’ve become a picture taking fool. Some of my photos are even decent shots, and I love the surprises I get …
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 …