Red Deer River Naturalists Bird Focus Group Walk April 5, 2025

Chris Olsen Report

Bird Focus People:

Fifteen birders were out to the Gaetz Lake Sanctuary April 5, 2025 to share a glorious morning walk! Welcome to Jim H., Moira S., Terri R., Marg C. Faye N. and Aaron joining us and last week! Birding was only fair with 21 species, but as always there were surprises. Firstly, a shadow through the undergrowth of the oxbow turned out to be a low-flying Pileated Woodpecker. It was soon joined by two more and we were treated to calls as the three moved through the forest. The canopy on the top of the escarpment was busy with groups of ever-social Bohemian Waxwings, and we even had a couple of early gulls moving through. On the south side of the sanctuary, I spotted a distant Great Horned Owl - that was very exciting until Brian determined it was a stick. It was worth stopping there however, as Claudia spotted a lone male Redpoll foraging on the ground in the birch forest of the slope. He seemed healthy and active, but it was a late and solitary sighting for this northern species. Further upslope, we could see a Canada Goose on a nest. Not unusual at first glance, but this determined early nester has usurped an Osprey nest at the top of a broken snag - the tallest perch in the canopy! We finished the morning with a few Dark-eyed Juncos and Pine Siskins, and a lone American Tree Sparrow. A final touch was an early butterfly (Compton Tortoiseshell) our group watched just outside the Nature Centre. Perfect!

Our Sharp-tailed Grouse Watch is full now with a short waiting list. Thanks to everyone who inquired,and remember there are likely still lots of openings for Snow Goose Festival tours.

Enjoy!

Chris

Here is the eBird report:

Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary, Red Deer CA-AB 52.28494, -113.79417, Red Deer, Alberta, CA

Apr 5, 2025 10:11 AM - 1:20 PM

Protocol: Traveling, walking

4.941 kilometres

Checklist Comments: Red Deer River Naturalists, Bird Focus Group outing.

21 species

15 Participants

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 15

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 2

California Gull (Larus californicus) 2

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 8

Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) 1

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) 3

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 3

Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) 13

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 3

Common Raven (Corvus corax) 6

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 12

Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus) 2

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 8

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) 4

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 11

Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) 137

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 8

Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) 1 Lone bird, male, feeding on the ground in a paper birch stand.

Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) 5

American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 1

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 4

View this checklist online at [https://ebird.org/checklist/S223219521](https://ebird.org/checklist/S223219521) 

Early snow Surprises Some Species.

     We have had snow and very cool temperatures for about ten days now.  It's a surprise . We can get snow and cold this early but the temperature usually rises and the snow melts.

     So at 7:00 A M Oct. 23, I looked out and saw a Jack rabbit in the intersection. This one didn't have much white on him so he was very obvious. 

    Now I know there are other years when snow is very late to make it's appearance so there are white Jack rabbits which are obvious. So I would guess that there are very few years where the turning of color corresponds to the snow cover.

    I'm sure that many ducks got a nasty surprise when the ponds froze over early this year.

    Let me know of some of the things you noticed this year because of the early snow and cold.

Large Seagull Flight

    On Monday Oct. 22, I saw a  very large number of seagulls flying over Red Deer. They seemed to be flying along Piper Creek which is a ravine on the south side of the city. The ravine angles to the southeast.

    I was out walking and just happened to notice seagulls flying by. Then I noticed that there was a continuous line of gulls. They were in a fairly dense formation about 50 m wide. They flew by for 10 minutes without a break. Other gulls seemed to come from the west and join the flight . I would estimate that there were thousands of birds.
  
    The birds wee probably 200 m high and it looked like most of them were young birds . They were too high to identify and I didn't take any field glasses with me. 

    Now were these birds heading south or were they on some local flight? 

   Has anybody else seen a large  line of gulls fly by ?

Large Flocks of Robins in Red Deer

     Today I noticed about 50 Robins in my block feeding on Mountain Ash berries. The first Robin I saw this spring was Mar. 28. I would think other birders had seen robins before that date. I saw only 2 or 3 birds and for most of the time no birds. So today it was surprising to see so many Robins in a small area. I walked around my neighborhood and they were only in my block. Scott Raabis reported the same activity with Robins in his area. I'm sure there were other areas of the city that had the 50 or so robins.


     I think that the few early robins we get are those that winter not very far south from us. The robins that appeared today probably winter much further south and fly north in a flock. The early robins seem to appear in ones and twos.


     The robins today were very active. They were eating large amounts of Mountain Ash berries. They were flying around from tree to tree and across the street. There was much chatter and the odd one was calling for a partner. 


     So it was great to see some action on the Robin front.

Bird Focus Group Field Trip

    On March 19 the Red Deer River Naturalist (RDRN) went out on their regular field trip.

     Quite a few interesting sightings wee made. Two Great Horned Owls were seen on nests. At this time of the year when there are no leaves these birds are very obvious. Further on there was a pair of Canada Geese standing on an old Hawk's nest. After t that they saw Common Red Polls, Horned Larks, Rough Legged Hawk, immature Bald Eagle, Snow Buntings, Northern Flicker, and Black-capped Chickadees. hey also saw one moose. It was also the first time they saw pussy willows. 

Great Horned Owl

House Finch

     The RDRN bird focus group goes out every Monday. The meet at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre and car pool from there.


    

A Good Time to Watch for Early Spring Migrants.

     After heavy snow on March 4 and 5 , we have had some very mild spring weather. Our snow has settled and on southern exposures some of the snow has me melted.


     So it's time to watch for early spring migrants and to get excited about many birds returning to this area. On Tues I saw a distant flock of ducks. Now these could have been local ducks as we have ducks all winter on open parts if the Red Deer River. Several flocks of geese were reported but they could also be local as well. One robin was seen on Mon the 12th.


     We can soon expect crows, some hawks and blue birds. We are going to set up the peregrine falcon nest on the Telus tower next week. Richardson's ground squirrels will soon be out in abundance so there will be food .


     So one of the exciting times of the yer for birders will soon be here. Tell Natural Wise what you have seen lately. Just leave a comment.

Fall Migration Time

       It's still August but the fall migration of many birds is already underway. I find this time of year to be very active for birding as many of the birds we don't see in the summer are now slowly passing through this area.

      This week I have had yellow warblers in my urban yard. I grow a vegetable garden which at this time of year has become a jungle. The yellow warblers have a field day foraging through potatoes, turnips, beats etc. for insects. Later on other warblers will appear. Yellow rumped warblers seem to spend the longest time around my yard. Along with warblers there are many sparrows the go through . I've already had a white throated sparrow. The sparrows also like my out of control vegetable garden. They run around under the heavy foliage. It's tough to bird watch as they are hidden most of the time. That's why they're in my garden as it's rather safe. The bird watching can be done from my bedroom window. Pretty soft eh!

     If you are out in natural areas you will see many more birds slowly passing through. They feed heavily on the many insects which are available.

    Later on we will see the large flocks of ducks and geese as they move south later. It seems like the crows had a productive year as they are now flying in vast groups.

    So take a look around you. You'll probably see something interesting.

Early Morning Bird Walk April 24

        Red Deer River Naturalists run 6 early morning birdwalks each spring. Each walk lasts one hour, is local and suited to  birders with limited experience. Today we spent our time in a natural area south of Red Deer College. The area is about 1.5 km long and .5 - .75 km in width. There is a tremendous variety of habitat . There are patches of old growth spruce and aspen. A creek meanders through the full length of the area and has a lush riparian coverage. There are a couple of beaver dams on the creek so it is mostly a series of pondsThere are brushy areas and open grassland. Most of this is the result of widely varying soils.

        This morning at 7:00AM it was minus 2 C, clear and calm.

       We saw 16 different species. It's not just the observance of each species, but what these species sometimes teach you by the performance they put on. Since it's the beginning of the breeding season there are some pretty interesting behaviours. There's a tremendous amount of rivalry between and among mails. One grassy area had 10-15 male robins. Every once in a while one or two of them would chase each other in wild erratic flight. Downy wood peckers were trying to out drum one another. The best example today was put on by two hairy woodpeckers. They conducted a sort of minuet. They pointed their beaks straight out from their body. One would flutter his wings then the other. They would bounce from branch to brach. There were small vocalizations. They never made contact , but kept up the jockeying for position. These two birds taught us something as Judy had read about the behaviour , but we had never observed it.

       We saw  American crows, black billed magpies, Canada geese, mallards, tundra swans, American robins, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, black capped chickadees, boreal chickadees, red breasted nuthatches, white breasted nuthatches, eastern phoebes, house finches, ring billed gulls and song sparrows. We also saw one beaver and several red squirrels.

Photo by Judy Boyd

      So it was a very pleasant morning as a good number of species were observed and we learned some new things.

      Next week we visit the Gaetz Lake Santuary. Remember you are welcome to join us. Meet in the Kerry Wood Nature Centre parking lot at 7:00AM.