The snow has all melted and the sun came out for a beautiful day of bird watching and games with our group of Grade 1s and 2s. We acknowledge that this land where we learn and play is the traditional territory of the Treaty 7 people.
In preparation for our visit, each of the students had chosen a Focus Bird to learn about. Several were lucky enough to spot their Focus Birds today!
No bird walk in Calgary feels complete without a Black-capped Chickadee!
We were fortunate again to have Wlad from the Friends of Fish Creek Park lead us on our walk today
A pair of Downy Woodpeckers
What a surprise to come across a small flock of White-winged Crossbills! They stayed in place, feasting on this Poplar tree for long enough for everyone to get a good look.
White-winged Crossbills
We all became quite familiar with the song of the American Robin as several serenaded us all along the way.
Meanwhile, back at the school, half of the group enjoyed playing bird-themed games with Vanessa from CPAWS. She's the master of fun!
Here's Vanessa as a Peregrine Falcon with her egg. She is explaining how now-banned DDT caused the Falcon's eggs to grow thin, frail eggshells that would break during incubation.
Here our Peregrine Falcon in the middle is waiting to wake up and guess where the mouse is in the circle!
This pack of coyotes is heading towards a Whooping Crane's nest in hopes of stealing a delicious egg. Will our Crane catch those sneaky coyotes?
Can these Burrowing Owls survive in their shrinking habitat?
All told we saw 13 different species of birds today, including these juvenile Common Ravens playing in the wind above Nose Hill.
Common Ravens
We also saw several House Finches, House Sparrows, a Dark-eyed Junco, two Franklins Gulls, Black-billed Magpies, three Mallards flying high, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. And thanks to Wlad's well-trained ear we heard and saw a White-crowned Sparrow - the first of many to be seen in Calgary this Spring!
A White-crowned Sparrow spotted in a Calgary garden last Fall
Our Young Citizen Scientist's were ready to put their new eBird accounts to good use. We headed back to the classroom where Stephanie from Green Calgary showed the students how to submit the birds we found to eBird.
Working together to upload our checklist to eBird
With tomorrow being Global Big Day these new Citizen Scientists are ready to put their new skills to work to contribute to the biggest day of birding the world has ever seen! May the natural world and all of its wonders never cease to delight us all!
A big thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and Alberta Ecotrust for making this program possible!
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