This past weekend (December 14 and 15), I participated in two back-to-back Christmas Bird Counts in the Calgary area. On Saturday, December 14, I drove out to Canmore before sunrise to cover an area near Quarry Lake for the second year in a row, and on Sunday, December 15, I …
Everyone loves owls. Their big eyes, large size, and charismatic facial expressions can make even a non-birder sit up and take notice, and many birders have had their start with some incredible experience or other either chasing, discovering, or simply learning about them. Here in Calgary, there has been at …
These little chickadees are one of the few birds living completely in the boreal forest. Having grown up in the forests northern Alberta, each time I see one of these wonderful little boreal chickadees it’s like a visit from a family member. I heard the sicka-see-see call long before I …
I was making pumpkin walnut muffins yesterday when I looked out the window and discovered I had more than the usual number of big corvids out there. Four ravens and five black-billed magpies, to be exact, were quietly (?) perched on one of my spruce trees. Grabbing my camera and bins, I …