My Year of the Bird – Summer Edition


Lincoln's Sparrow

The flurry of new life and birdsong subsided as the warmer, longer days of summer came on. The neighbourhood seemed quiet as birds got down to the important work of finding food for their fledged young. With the trees back to full-leaf it became difficult to see birds; with the addition of juvenile birds to the mix, I found it tricky to identify what I was seeing at all. I turned my attention to the explosion of wildflowers in bloom and my bird counts fell to the wayside.


A couple of trips outside of the city were in order to see some new (to me!) birds. The first was a quick drive out to the Langdon sloughs. How did I not know that these exotic-looking species lived so close by? Along with American Avocets, Wilson’s Phalaropes, countless Redwinged Blackbirds, ducks and geese I saw the following:

Black Tern

Black-necked Stilts

A weekend in the backcountry at the end of July yielded another fun surprise. As we descended from Molar Pass in Banff National Park toward the highway, we saw a Spruce Grouse on the trail ahead. She sat so still as we approached. As we got closer we noticed vibrating balls of yellow fluff coming from under her wings – almost as if she were covered in bumble bees. Just then she stood up to walk away and four tiny chicks emerged from under her wings, following her into the forest.

Spruce Grouse and chicks

Back in Calgary, my suburban backyard was pretty quiet. I caught a quick glimpse of a Rufous Hummingbird in July but the weeks wore on without any other notable sightings. All of that changed, though, come mid-August, when there seemed to be a new bird to identify almost every day. First came the Flycatchers. Any bird watcher will tell you that the birds in the Empidonax genus are among the most difficult to identify down to the species level. They are difficult to identify by sight and are best distinguished by their song. Unfortunately they were extremely quiet as they feasted on the berries of my Dogwood shrub and caught the small insects that flew by. With some expert help from Wlad, my ever-helpful teacher, we narrowed this first one down to the Pacific-slope Flycatcher.

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Empidonax Flycatchers

Then came the Eastern Kingbird – another Flycatcher, but not from the genus Empidonax. This bird’s latin name is Tyrannus tyrannus and is much easier to identify than its flycatching cousins.

Eastern Kingbird

Up until this point in my Year of the Bird I had not seen a Vireo of any kind. Then this Warbling Vireo showed up on my Mayday Tree.
Warbling Vireo

In the following weeks I would add three more Vireos to my life list. A Blue-headed Vireo spotted at Confederation Park, a Philadelphia Vireo in my backyard, and a Red-eyed Vireo at Carburn Park. The Red-eyed Vireo was smart to flee the scene as a Sharp-shinned Hawk came through.

Philadelphia Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Sharp-shinned Hawk

 Then came the Warblers, the best of all. There is such a variety of Warblers that come through Calgary during migration. Identifying Warblers is a fun challenge. I spent many hours taking pictures of them as they came through the yard, examining my pictures for field markings, and then sending my pictures to Wlad to help with identification. The Wilson’s and Yellow-rumped Warblers were the most common to spot and easy to identify.

Wilson's Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

With a little experience, I was able to differentiate between the Orange-crowned and Tennessee Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

And then this beauty. Using my Sibley’s Field Guide and my new favourite app – The Warbler Guide I learned this was a Townsend’s Warbler.

Townsend's Warbler

Summer may have started slow, but by the time Autumn officially arrived, the birds were coming through at a frantic pace. I was loving every minute of it.

White-throated Sparrow


Citizen Science in Action

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