Amazing In-Flight Video

While there are a variety of views on falconry in the birding community, there is no denying that this is stunning footage.  This video captures a female peregrine hunting, then taking a freaking duck out of mid-air in a triple digit km/h stoop dive (starting at around 2:45).....  (note: "freaking duck" is neither a new species nor a poorly pronounced Chinese menu item, but simply a reflection of how cool this video is)

....and for an even faster version, minus the carnage, check out this video for the full >300km/h potential.  (note: >300km/h is not a typo, if you were flat out in a Porsche 911, this bird would overtake you)

This video was found on kottke.org, a recommended repository of random cool things.

Christmas Bird Count Continued

As promised, a few more Christmas Bird Count images to brighten up your mid-week.  More on Flickr if you're interested and Dan Arndt posted his own recollections of our count over on the Birds Calgary blog.

Our count group in the Weaselhead

Common Redpolls busy feeding

Hairy Woodpecker hammering away

A fairly appalling photo of a lifer juvenile Northern Goshawk

I believe I already mentioned there were a LOT of Pine Grosbeaks (male above, female "on approach")

Calgary May Species Count

This weekend brought the annual spring species count - a team of birders fanning out to count all the bird species within an 80km radius of Calgary.  My partner and I were assigned an area north of Strathmore - a fairly unremarkable stretch of rolling prairie that was nonetheless filled with birds and we managed to round up 61 species on a lovely sunny day of birding.  The sloughs were filled to the brim from the past week of rainy weather so duck counting was a large part of the day with many Mallards, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, and Northern Shovelers.

Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, looking a little goofy

Last week, when we drove out to Kinbrook Island, we had seen lots of hawks in the area immediately east of Strathmore so I was expecting more good things today.  We saw a total of 14 Swainson's Hawks and 7 Red-tailed Hawks, some at very close distances as they performed aerial courtship displays, and some on or around nests.  Another raptor highlight was a Northern Harrier, easily identified by its trademark low altitude hunting across a field and along a roadside ditch.  For one heart-stopping moment we thought that the hawk was going to be hit by a passing truck but fortunately it continued its leisurely glide to the other side and then circled around to make another close pass behind us.

Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni

There were relatively few shorebirds to be found, perhaps due to high water levels, but we did see a number of Marbled Godwits, several Wilson's Snipe, and a huge flock of Wilson's Phalaropes.  We also found a Long-billed Curlew which was very cooperative while we admired the cinnamon belly through the scope and double checked our field guide.

Wilson's Snipe, Gallinago delicata

Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus, Digiscoping skills are slowly improving!

Birding by ear is not an area of strength for me but I had lots of practice and a good teacher on this trip.  We found many sparrows including Savannah, Clay-coloured, Vesper, Lark and Chipping, but the "small bird" highlight for me was a large flock of Cliff Swallows swooping around our heads and under us through a culvert!  Just a short distance down the road from that experience we found three Horned Larks, another new bird for me.

Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris

Another great day out on the prairie and I found once again that participating in a bird count is a wonderful way to hone one's birding skills.  I'll wrap this post up with a map of the route we took through the area and a list of species seen.

View Calgary Area Bird Count 2011 Route in a larger map

1	Canada Goose
2	Gadwall
3	American Wigeon
4	Mallard
5	Blue-winged Teal
6	Cinnamon Teal
7	Northern Shoveler
8	Northern Pintail
9	Canvasback
10	Redhead
11	Lesser Scaup
12	Bufflehead
13	Common Goldeneye
14	Ruddy Duck
15	Ring-necked Pheasant
16	Pied-billed Grebe
17	Horned Grebe
18	Eared Grebe
19	Great Blue Heron
20	Northern Harrier
21	Swainson's Hawk
22	Red-tailed Hawk
23	American Kestrel
24	Merlin
25	American Coot
26	Killdeer
27	American Avocet
28	Willet
29	Spotted Sandpiper
30	Long-billed Curlew
31	Marbled Godwit
32	Wilson's Snipe
33	Wilson's Phalarope
34	Rock Pigeon
35	Mourning Dove
36	Least Flycatcher
37	Western Kingbird
38	Eastern Kingbird
39	Black-billed Magpie
40	American Crow
41	Horned Lark
42	Bank Swallow
43	Cliff Swallow
44	Barn Swallow
45	House Wren
46	Marsh Wren
47	American Robin
48	European Starling
49	Yellow Warbler
50	Chipping Sparrow
51	Clay-colored Sparrow
52	Vesper Sparrow
53	Lark Sparrow
54	Savannah Sparrow
55	Red-winged Blackbird
56	Western Meadowlark
57	Yellow-headed Blackbird
58	Brewer's Blackbird
59	Brown-headed Cowbird
60	American Goldfinch
61	House Sparrow

Update to Inglewood Return

Moments after posting the last post, I noticed that Birds Calgary has posted the results of the Big Sit, and apparently bumped into the same very friendly Swainson's Hawk.  Details here.

Return to Inglewood

A breezy but sunny morning greeted me as I headed out on Saturday morning for a second trip to Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in as many days.  After the success of Thursday's trip I wanted to see what I could find early in the morning and also join the BirdsCalgary group for the first part of their Big Sit.  The first sighting of note was a Swainson's Hawk flying low across the open field and then landing in the line of spruce trees that separates the field from the lagoon.  I took a guess at where it was likely to be found in the tree line and stuck my head out between the trees.  At first it seemed like the hawk was gone, until I looked right up beside me and had a big surprise.  You might think the hawk would be surprised too but there was no alarm call, no fluffed up feathers and no gaping - just "beautiful buteo" about 5 yards away from me.

Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni

In the woods on the far side of the lagoon I found "first of year" Tree Swallows which were very vocal and chasing each other on and off perches in the tallest snags.

Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor

Directly below all of this dogfighting I heard a rustling in the leaf litter.  Initially discounting it as another one of the many American Robins that kept hopping across the trail it seemed a little too quiet and a little too close.  With a little persistence I made out the following spectacularly helpful view.

Given recent reports of White-crowned Sparrows, I played that call note on my iPhone to no response.  The call of a White-throated Sparrow elicited a very different reaction - the sparrow shot up onto a branch over the trail.  As if to say, "I hear your call and raise you" he performed several refrains of "Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada" and then returned to foraging in the undergrowth.  You can hear the call at Xeno-Canto. 

White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis

C.S.I.: Ornithology

The past week has been a slow one for both birding and blogging as school has been busy and various members of the family have been fighting colds.  On the bright side we're all doing much better than the bird below, whose remains I found earlier in the week in Queen's Park.

I was looking for a reported Varied Thrush but all I found was a whole bunch of American Robins that frustratingly kept looking exactly like Varied Thrushes out of the corner of my eye.  There were also Kinglets calling (and responding to an iPhone recording - hurrah for iBird!) but remaining firmly out of view - disappointing as I'm not counting heard birds for my Alberta list.  Anyway, the mess of feathers was an interesting find and here are a couple more pictures.  See if you can figure out what happened, I'll explain my theory, and then you can let me know what you think in the comments.

This is the branch above and slightly to the left of the path

My thought was that the feathers were in a relatively neat circle suggesting that they had been dropped from the low perch above the remains.  Looking at that perch closer up, there was some blood as well as other tissue.  Perhaps more tellingly, there was some bird faecal matter and clear scratch marks, which seemed too small for a hawk-sized bird but much too large for a merlin.  The creek at the north end of the cemetery, where I found this scene, has tall deciduous trees above a narrow gully lined with spruce trees - perfect hunting territory for an accipiter.

With those observations in mind, I think the bird was a Rock Pigeon killed by a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which enjoyed it's meal on the low branch across the trail.  That's obviously just a bit of harmless speculation but I think it's fun to try a little bit of nature interpretation.

In any case, it's clear that this bird met with a "fowl" end.

Ospreys Return (and Mate)

Thursday gave us great weather for a class field trip to the Calgary Zoo.  Having read some reports of returning Ospreys on Albertabird earlier in the week I had one eye on the nesting platform on the east end of the Zoo island.  Sure enough, there was a pair on the platform, although a little too far away to effectively show to my students.  Fortunately, while we were touring the Canadian Wilds area after lunch, the same pair put on a great display soaring over our heads.

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus

After these sightings, I decided to bike out to the nest platform at Crowchild Trail and Memorial Drive.  There was another osprey pair here and I was able to get some photos of this pair mating.  Coincidentally, the theme of our Zoo field trip earlier in the day had been reproductive strategies - the above photo was taken at the whooping crane exhibit just as we were discussing the "cloacal kiss".  This momentary contact between the male and female urogenital openings allows sperm from the male to pass into the female.  To illustrate just how momentary this contact was I've included the camera's timestamps for each image in the sequence below, taken from the pedestrian overpass east of Crowchild Trail.

4:40:15, both birds on nest

4:40:34, Bird on nest takes off and does rapid wide loop around valley

4:40:37, Approach

4:40:38, Landing

4:40:42, getting lined up

4:40:48, "Cloacal Kiss"

4:40:49, Done!

If anyone has any more specific information about Osprey's mating feel free to add it in the comments.  My impression was always that they mate for life but according to Sibley's "Guide to Bird Life and Behaviour" Osprey's may demonstrate polygyny.  In any case they are beautiful raptors and here's a photo of the female (I assume the female is on the bottom?) from the sequence above.  The pair at the zoo have a nestcam which can be found at the Enmax website.

Raptor Commute

Another sunny day meant another pleasantly meandering bike commute.  I headed for Confederation Park where I soon heard a harsh "jaaay, jaaay" from the bushes that took my mind back to Ontario.  Sure enough there was a Blue Jay, noisily foraging in the bushes.

Further down I met an experienced birder - really nice binoculars are a good sign of someone who might be able to teach me something!  He kindly put me on to an accipiter which he identified as a probable Cooper's Hawk.  I had some good views and snapped a few shots but, as I re-examine the photos, the size (11-13" based on the branch diameter) and the squareness of the tail have me thinking Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Comments would be appreciated as Cooper's would be a lifer for me so I am particularly wary on rushing to judgment.

Unidentified Accipiter, top image is 1/4 frame crop of 170mm image, bottom image is further crop from same, Click to Enlarge

Further along I found a Northern Flicker, looking very unconcerned about traffic, cyclists, or accipiters...

Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus

...as well as this muskrat feeding in the creek.

Muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus

After picking the kids up I was heading up the 10th St. hill when I spotted a Merlin engaged in what I can only describe as a dogfight with an American Crow.  I watched these aerobatics for a moment, until they disappeared from view over the crest of the hill.  Rounding the corner at the top of hill and somewhat out of breath from the climb, I was pleasantly surprised to find a merlin, presumably the same bird, sitting in the top of a spruce tree.  A beautiful falcon and this one nicely showing off the paler brown of the prairie subspecies. 

Merlin, Falco columbarius (richardsonii)

 Not bad for an hour of cycle commuting!

Owls and Pintails at Frank Lake

On Friday, I took advantage of a March break day off and headed out to Frank Lake, just east of High River to catch sunrise and hopefully some of the reported Short-Eared Owls.  Despite the struggle to haul myself out of bed, I'm confident I made the right choice based on the 15-20cm of snow I'm looking at out of the window as I write this post!  And besides, sunrises are pretty spectacular...

Sunrise, Frank Lake, AB

I started out at the south-east access point to the lake (Marked as "A" on the Google Map below).  The track was flooded past the last farmhouse so I walked a short way on foot.  Thousands of Northern Pintail were congregated in the ponds on either side of the road.  They were taking off in huge flocks, circling around and landing in neighbouring fields.  Their flight is quite elegant with their narrow pointed wings and when small groups flew past it was possible to hear the flight feathers of individual ducks cutting through the air.

View Frank Lake Birding in a larger map
There had been no owls in sight on the way to the lake so I was thrilled when I turned around to head back to the car and saw a Short-eared Owl take off from a utility pole and glide across the field, circling once before disappearing over a low ridge.  Moments later a pair of Gray Partridge flushed from the field beside the road, landed a few hundred yards away, and then did a poor job of trying to be inconspicuous with a red-orange face among the yellow stubble.

Gray Partridge, Perdix perdix

After this excitement it was time to move on to the other side of the lake.  Enroute ("B" on the map), this Rough-legged Hawk caught my eye and seemed quite happy to finish his meal while I pulled over and set-up to try digiscoping.  As you can see, holding my point-and-shoot up to the eyepiece is not working all that well - results are comparable to shooting with my 300mm lens on my SLR and then cropping down to the 1600mm equivalent magnification of the scope.  It's okay for a stop-gap measure and I'll look into a proper bracket in the future.

Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus

Further down the road (C and D) on the map there were several more small sloughs that afforded close-up views of more Pintails and a pair of Tundra Swans.

Northern Pintail, Anas acuta

Northern Pintail in flight

Tundra Swan, Cygnus columbianus

Arriving at main Frank Lake access, I parked at the gate and walked down the track.  An American Tree Sparrow popped into view in the grass, gave a couple of short songs then vanished into the tussocks of grass.  Much of the lake was frozen but the open water on the south side of the track contained a great variety of waterfowl species including Canada Goose, Mallards, and Common Goldeneye with a seriously skewed sex ratio that was leading to the few females being swarmed by frantically head-bobbing males.  There was also a lonely looking Bufflehead among a few Redheads, Canvasbacks and Scaup spp.  Seeing these last three together, at times literally in the same field of view through the scope, was a great help in sorting out their identification.

On the way out, I bumped into another member of the Albertabird community.  We traded notes and he put me on to a Great Horned Owl nest.  For obvious reasons, I didn't want to walk away from the car for photos but admiring the pair, one on the nest and one in nearby tree was a fantastic way to cap off the day.