Red Deer River Naturalists

The Red Deer river Naturalists are a group dedicated to learning about and preserving natural history. They have regular programs with speakers and many field trips.

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Sunday, July 31, 2016

A Super Birding Day

      I live in Red Deer, Alberta. Today I had one of those odd days where birds seem to think that my place is the one to visit. Today was a day when everybody came at once. 

      I have just recently set up a new feeder in my front yard. Of course, the resident squirrel found the feeder and proceeded to operate it as his own. I was watching the squirrel when a few birds showed up. There were lots of house sparrows and a few others that had to wait for identification until I got my field glasses. They were having a feast under the feeder. More birds arrived and all a sudden there was a feeding frenzy.

     There must have been a half dozen house sparrow families. Then all the house finches from the neighborhood showed up. House finches really dominate the feeder. In all of those birds you look for something different. I found song sparrow, chipping sparrow and Lincoln sparrow. Along with those there was the usual black capped chickadees and red breasted nuthatches. All of a sudden there were robins wheeling around chasing each other. Then blue jays chased each other. As if this wasn't enough, the magpies and crows had to check things out.

    I kept checking my back yard but there wasn't any action there.

    After lunch the back yard was where the action was. I have a jungle of a vegetable garden. That was the place to hang out in the afternoon. There were two  more species to add in the afternoon .a yellow warbler and a family of house wrens.

   That made thirteen species in one day. That's a record for this yard. 

  I was running from the back of the house to the front and forgot about my camera. Some day I will think Camera! It's funny this guy didn't show up.

    Do any of you have days when birds are very active at your place?.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Birding Impressions

       I have the impression that for 2016 there are more birds around the Red Deer Area.

      This spring , each  Saturday morning I led a bird trip in Red Deer. We saw many species and some birds were in large numbers. Yellow Warblers seem to be very abundant. We visited 12 different areas and each site rewarded us with many birds.

      I have more summer birds around my yard. I haven't had young birds around my yard for about 5 years . This year I've had robins, chipping sparrows, red breasted nuthatches, black capped chickadees, downy woodpecker and of course , lots of magpies. There was a crow nest in my block but crows seemed to be flying high all summer which I take it to mean that they are not nesting .

    What about you? Do you think you are seeing more species and numbers of birds.




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