Red Deer River Naturalists Bird Focus Group Walk November 22, 2025

Chris Olsen Report

Bird Focus People:

Nine birders were out November 22, 2025 to walk the trails of Bower Woods. It was cool to start, but still and beautiful in the snowy old growth along Piper Creek. Mountain ash and elderberry shrubs, dried leaves and berries, coloured the understory. Piper Creek was open and running gently. The morning brightened and warmed nicely as we walked. Sharp eyes picked out a lone Bald Eagle drifting overhead. Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Black-capped Chickadees and Northern Flickers were our story initially. Near the pedestrian bridge, Tannis spotted a flock of White-winged Crossbills working the cones high in the white spruce. 

Along the main trail we began to hear and see a lot of activity from gathering Black-billed Magpies and Blue Jays. That intensified, and soon two Ravens circled in to join the Corvid show, mid-canopy in the large white spruces. We were clearly in the midst of a major mobbing! Deb caught a glimpse of something stick-like, perhaps suggesting a Long-eared Owl doing the ‘dead-limb disguise thing’ with compressed feathers. Regrettably, there was no clear sighting in the heavy cover, and we were left to speculate as the mob drifted off.

We finished the morning with numerous Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, both Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees, and one more White-winged Crossbill. Remarkably, small flocks of ring-billed Gulls winged overhead. In the open woodlands nearing 22 Street, Jared spotted a large Mule Deer stag with a harem. See below the photo as a graphic demonstration of why not to festoon your low shrubbery with Christmas lights. The stag was in good condition, and in my professional opinion likely to survive - but still a distressing sight to see him antler-trussed and dragging that mess.

 Enjoy,

Chris

Here is the eBird report:

Red Deer--Bower Woods, Red Deer, Alberta, CA
Nov 22, 2025 9:51 AM - 1:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling, walking
2.326 kilometres
Checklist Comments: Red Deer River Naturalists, Bird Focus Group outing.
13 species
9 Participants
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  29
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  1
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  6
Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)  1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  4
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  10
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia)  19
Common Raven (Corvus corax)  2
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  30
Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus)  6
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  5
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)  7
White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera)  11

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S285668468