♫ and a partridge in a pear tree ♪ … oops no pear trees.
I took a very brief trip (5 days) to see the winter birds of Calgary Canada. I did this at the end of January and beginning of February. My primary reason for traveling to this area was to look for Snowy and Hawk Owls. In the continental United States these two owls are not very common. Small numbers usually do show up though most years in the northern states. Hawk Owl would be the most uncommon of these two species. Along with the owls, the mammals and winter birding this far north promised to offer other interesting species. These would include several that I would not find in Southern California. There would also be some that may not be very common in the lower 48 states at all.
Grey Partridges
The Grey Partridges are a pleasure to find. There were several coveys in the area. These were new to me. They are fairly common this far north although I had never seen one. I have been singing 🎼♪ “and a partridge in a pear tree” ♫ every Christmas since I was a kid. It was a pleasure to actually have a picture in my mind of what they look like. Seeing them in action was a pleasure. They seemed quite similar to our quail being in groups running around on the ground (missed any in pear trees!). I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to bring a pair of Zeiss Victory SF 10×42 Binoculars with me for review. For now, all I will say is “WOW, The views through these binoculars are incredible”.
Searching for the Winter Birds of Calgary
Looking west from Calgary is the Canadian Rockies. Our first destination was along the base of these mountains.
With a smile at the thought, the cold was a wake-up reminder. This is what winter really is away from my home near Optics4Birding. At -10°C (14°F) in the day it could have still been much worse. Nonetheless, it wasn’t warm Southern California weather. In birding terms, I froze my tail off. I planned the trip, primarily, to see the birds of Calgary. I am nevertheless always busy enjoying and looking at all the wildlife (bars excluded). Additionally, interacting with the people of the area and seeing new places.
I was scheduled to leave out of Los Angeles early Saturday morning 1/30/2016. Unfortunately, I missed my flight and didn’t manage to get to Calgary until late Saturday afternoon. For a quick trip, this took essential time away from the 5-day exploration of the area. The wonderfully friendly people of the region certainly helped to mitigate my stress. Looking west, heading towards the mountains promised to be a beautiful drive and experience.
Black-billed Magpies
Black-billed Magpies were fairly common. Obviously, a very hearty bird to live in the cold temperatures. Also a beautiful and colorful addition to the landscape.
After getting a car and meeting up with a friend, we headed west. We spend a couple nights in Cochrane about 45 minutes from of the airport. This was a convenient place to make home for the next two nights in our search for the birds of Calgary. We explored the area along Grand Valley Road the next two days. This road heads north from just west of Cochrane. Regularly spotted Hawk Owls are along this stretch. There were also recent reports from this road. Historically Hawk Owls seem to frequent a belt along this road in the winter. There had also been sporadic reports of Great Gray Owl. We had hoped to find one in the densely wooded areas along the road. We did some preliminary scouting on Saturday. Since we had minimal time we didn’t manage to see much for wildlife other than the prevalent Black-billed Magpies.
Hawk Owl
Northern Hawk Owl was the main reason us to travel this far north. It is a diurnal owl, very bold and seemed very unconcerned about his human admirers.
Our second day searching for the birds of Calgary was much more productive as we looked further along Grand Valley Road. About 45 minutes north-west along this road we came upon a group of birders who were looking at a nice Hawk Owl along the roadside. The area hosted a very large meadow that our owl was hunting. He certainly didn’t seem disturbed by the onlookers and kept a sharp eye on the adjacent meadow for potential prey from his perch atop a small pine tree.
I had to wonder why he chose this location right along the roadside amongst several onlookers who had come to see the reported owl. Maybe he had hoped that some considerate onlooker might bring him a mouse to supplement his hunting. Sadly, a high percentage of the owls who have traveled out of their boreal habitats and come this far south in search of food will die of starvation.
Elk
One evening we came upon a large heard of elk that were grazing in the fields at the base of the mountains.
After about an hour of watching the obliging Hawk Owl we spent the remainder of this day with another couple, who were also there from California, searching for Great Gray Owl and hoping we might find another unreported Hawk Owl. Although we were unsuccessful in our owl searches it was a pleasure to have made new friends and to explored the beautiful wintery countryside. Late in the afternoon the couple with us went back to their hotel and we decided to stay into the early evening to try some night searches for Great Gray Owl. Our evening searches revealed a large heard of elk but no owls. The elk may not fall into our “Winter Birds of Calgary” topic, they are part of the wildlife. We are certainly looking at all wildlife in the field be it big or small.
Canada Geese
The view of the farmlands to the east of Calgary. Very flat terrain with high numbers of Canada Geese. This is where to also find Snowy Owls.
My brief time had come to an end on the west side of Calgary. After a very little bit of sleep I was to leave my friend and head towards the east side of Calgary to search for Snowy Owls. Spending a few hours before and after daylight to give one last try in the area for Great Gray Owl. I then slowly headed towards the plains to the east of Calgary in my search for the winter birds of Calgary. In the plains I would hopefully find Snowy Owls.
I had figured that Strathmore, about 45 minutes east of the Calgary airport, would be a good place to make a home base for my last two nights. There had also been several reports of Short-eared Owls in this area so I had hopes of finding both owl species. With days very short at this time of year, by the time I had made it to Strathmore and got a room there was only a few hours of sunlight left before it would be dark. There is a nice grid of roads east of Calgary in what is mostly very flat farmland habitat. I certainly know now where the name Canada Geese comes from. There were incredible numbers of geese in the fields.
Hoary Redpoll
A Hoary Redpoll was a pleasure to find amongst the common Redpolls.
The agricultural areas to the east of Calgary offer a new set of life that were not along the base of the mountains where I had been to the west of Calgary. Although here primarily to see Snowy Owl, the differences in habitat and wildlife made for an enjoyable change. Some of the same birds and animals I had seen before were here. All changes in habitat, though, bring a new set of life. That was the case here.
Since this article is about the winter birds of Calgary I don’t want to immediately stray from that topic. One of the birds I had hoped to see was the Hoary Redpoll. Hoary Redpolls are very unusual in the lower 48 states. I was pleased to find one amongst a group of Common Redpolls. I had run across several groups of redpolls. It is possible that that Hoary and Common Redpolls may be merged. None the less, it was nice to find this distinctively light bird in a flock of redpolls.
Rough-legged Hawk
Rough-legged Hawks were a fairly common raptor.
The open habitat of this area also meant several raptors that I had not seen to the west. I was pleased to see several Rough-legged Hawks in my forays which are certainly not common in Southern California. This seemed to be the most prevalent of the raptors although I did also see a few Red-tailed Hawks. With days very short, this first afternoon gave me just enough time to get a feel for the grid of roads that crisscross the area. In general, there are small country roads running north/south at about one mile apart and small country roads running east/west about every two miles apart. This grid of roads was ideal for my searches of the birds of Calgary.
Healthy Coyote
This healthy appearing coyote in his beautiful, thick winter coat was in the open fields to the east of Calgary.
In this first afternoon I did not manage to find any Snowy Owls although did run across a beautiful coyote in a field with a nice thick winter coat. It may seem unusual to mention this but as the picture here shows he appeared to be in good health and well fed. Other new birds of interest included partridge, Redpoll and Snow Buntings. Tomorrow I would hopefully find some of the many reported Snowy Owls in the area.
Northern Shrike
A young Northern Shrike was atop a bare tree at the edge of an open area was presumably looking for prey.
As a note here I must also mention the people. I had contacted some of the people who had made reports in their rare bird alerts along with other birders who I could find contact info for. Early in this post I had mentioned the wonderfully friendly people. This is not to be undervalued in travel. All contacts I had made and all of the Canadians I came in contact with were extremely helpful. Coming back to my room on my first day I had a conversation with the girl at the desk who I think may have known more about our upcoming presidential candidates and election than I did. The people are extremely friendly, helpful, and very knowledgeable about what is happening here in the US. With favorable exchange rates between the US and Canadian dollar this is a prime area for current travel.
Female Snowy Owl
This female Snowy Owl was in an open field and seemed quite calm about me walking over to take her photo.
Getting up on the morning before I would head back home I had great hopes of finding a bunch of Snowy Owls. There had been many reports and I had a whole day to look around for all the birds of Calgary. I did spot a few Snowy Owls in the farm fields but not what I had hoped for. Most of the owls were not close enough to get nice photos of and although I kept hearing of a Short-eared Owl invasion I had yet to see even one. I did find one nice female Snowy Owl in a field fairly close to the road that is pictured here. This is typical nature observation. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when, where, or what you may find.
Male Snowy Owl
This beautiful male Snowy Owl was almost pure white. As the males get older they eventually become pure white and loose all black markings.
Getting up on my final morning I knew I had most of the day to hopefully find what I had missed the previous day relative to Snowy Owls and maybe a Short-eared Owl. To my surprise while eating breakfast, in walked the couple who had been out with us when we were looking for Hawk Owls to the west of Calgary. Joining me for breakfast they shared their adventures since I had last seen them and about the Short-eared Owls they had seen up very close just a few miles away the previous afternoon. We agreed to go look together. This species was obviously not meant for me to find since what they had seen the previous day was nowhere to be found.
Heading for the airport
After spending some time together and finding a few scattered Snowy Owls we parted ways and I gently spent a few final hours generally heading towards the airport while looking for additional Snowy Owls. It was a nice but brief trip. I did find both Hawk and several Snowy Owls which was the reason for me to travel this far north. This is a place that I look forward to returning to. The winter birds of Calgary were very enjoyable, the people were wonderful and the place very diverse in terrain with great potentials for wildlife. This should be in the top list of places to visit for wildlife observation and general countryside beauty.