Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owl can consume several voles per day, to do that they have a great ability to hear and locate the voles in thick grass and in the winter under the cover of snow. The facial disc helps the owl direct sounds to its ears. They have asymmetrical ear openings, the left ear opening is higher than the right ear opening. Which enables the owl more accurately decide where the prey is before attempting to ponce on it. If that was not amazing enough, it has been reported that one Great Gray Owl broke through the snow crust that could hold a 170 pound human. All that work for a tasty vole. 

Great Gray Owl 180105f Amar Athwal.jpg

Pine Grosbeak

It's challenging trying to take pictures of the birds in the winter in the mountains, but its worth it. When they are not top of the trees singing, Pine Grosbeaks come down looking for food. And when they do, that's my time to take their pictures. The females have the yellow colour and the males the red. I know they have moved in when I start hearing them in later part of the fall and that's when I start spending some time taking their pictures.

Pine Grosbeak 171227 Amar Athwal.jpg

Northern Pygmy Owl

Another Christmas Bird Count is behind us, many of us were out listening and looking for birds. The day started out cold, but it got warmer as the sun got higher. Same for coming across birds for the team I was part of, we kept seeing ravens but not much else until we got closer to the afternoon. Birding in the mountains in the winter will keep you humble. It's not uncommon to count 50, 60 or on a very lucky day even 70 different species while birding during spring and early summer. In the winter we are thrilled to come across 10 or more species in the area our team covered. Today we topped 10 and the bonus was coming across this beautiful Northern Pygmy Owl.

Northern Pygmy Owl 171216 Amar Athwal.jpg

Common Raven

It's December and the Christmas Bird Counts are around the corner. The one in Bow Valley will be taking place on Saturday Dec. 16. Pop over to the site "bowvalleynaturalist.org" if you like to play a role with the count. If you live elsewhere, check the web for the organization playing a role near your home. It's a fun way to spend time enjoying nature with others while counting the various species of birds coming across our way. When all the counts are gathered, analysed and compared to previous years, we get an idea how our feathered friends are making out.

Common Raven

Great Gray Owl

It has been a while since I last saw a Great Gray Owl. I came across this beautiful owl recently, it was hunting. It did not come across any prey while I was there, it moved from tree to tree as it listened for anything moving under the not so deep snow. I more or less stayed put as it moved around and before I know it, it was gone.

Great Gray Owl

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagles do enjoy eating fish, but they are open to other dishes when the opportunity presents itself. Water-fowls, small mammals, carrion and if they can't find their on food, they will steal from other animals. This adult was hoping to catch one of the water-fowl that was hanging around the marsh I was visiting. But the ducks were too quick that morning, alert and in the air before the eagle had a chance. As the eagle made few circles in the air before flying away, I quickly got myself higher to get this eye to eye level picture.

Bald Eagle 171117 Amar Athwal.jpg

Blue Jay

We don't get that many chances of seeing Blue Jays out here in the mountains, let along get a good picture of one. During one afternoon I was exploring when I saw this one, it was looking for food along the edge of the forest. Took my time getting close enough to get pictures, once we were both comfortable with the space between us. I then ended up spending about half an hour getting few good pictures. 

Blue Jay 171031f Amar Athwal.jpg

Yellow-rumped Warbler and Brown-headed Cowbird

Why is this adult Yellow-rumped Warbler feeding a juvinile Brown-headed Cowbird that is twice its size. Well, the cowbird does not build its own nest, instead it lays eggs in the other bird nests. Where the cowbird egg will hatch faster than that of the host species, giving the cowbird a head start getting the food from its host parent. As well the cowbird will develop faster and sometimes push out the eggs or the young nestlings or just smother them at the bottom of the nest. The host parent does know any better and ends up raising a Brown-headed Cowbird.

Yellow-rumped Warbler &  Brown-headed Cowbird

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America, roughly the size of a crow. They have an amazing zany call, inspiring the cartoon character Woody the Woodpecker. If you come across rounded rectangle holes near the bottom of the trees, then this woodpecker has be there, looking for wood ants. Here in the mountains they can be spotted year around.

Pileated Woodpecker

Rufous Hummingbird

I came across an active Rufous Hummingbird nest during the latter part of July, normally when the hummingbirds are done with nesting and enjoying the summer until they make their way to Mexico for the summer. During the summer the Rufous Hummingbirds can be found as far north as Alaska. No other hummingbird breeds farther north then the rufous. One way travel from their winter home Mexico to Alaska is about 6400 kilometres, not bad work for a very small but feisty 8 cm long bird. 

Rufous Hummingbird

Cedar Waxwing

I was taking pictures of other birds, when I saw this Cedar Waxwing fly by front of me and land near running water. I quickly put my camera on it and realized the bird had landed on a garter snake. The snake did not even look back, it moved forward and the bird got off it and started bathing in the water. 

Cedar Waxwing

Barred Owl

There's no free ride for wildlife, but in this case it seems the two Barred Owls invited the harassment form the Black-billed Magpies. During the sunrise the two owls were calling out near the top of the trees. Soon seven magpies came over and waisted no time giving the owls hard time, quickly handing out aerials assaults. The two owls tried different tactics, one perched between branches and just took it for few minutes until the magpies moved on. This one was more agitated, moving from tree to a tree. The magpies were always right behind it, they almost seem to be delighted that their harassment was working. Finally after half an hour, the magpies had enough and flew away. 

Barred Owl

Pileated Woodpecker

Took this picture last month when this juvenile and one other in nest were still being fed by the adults at the nest. The adults are not the quietest birds near their nest, they had attracted the wrong type of person or persons. Who had climbed the tree using climbing gear and disturbed the nest. It took me about two weeks to realize everything was okay in the nest and two birds eventually fledged.

Pileated Woodpecker

Common Loon

This adult Common Loon and its mate did not have success last year  raising a family, the eggs did not even hatch. It might be related to a local grizzly bear who has a taste for eggs and or there is a good chance photographers got too close to the nest. It might have been  great for the photographers to get good pictures that way, but very stressful for the adults getting their pictures taken from few meters away while sitting on the nest. This year there were two chicks, after a week one was grabbed by a raptor, the parents are doing a good job rasing the remaining one. Six days after the eggs were hatched, I was able to get this picture.

Common Loon

Blackpoll Warbler

It was a great spring bird migration this year, one of the reason for that was seeing this male Blackpoll Warbler. A rare sight in our neck of woods. Few years back a study was conducted with these warblers, a half gram tracker was placed on the back of these 12 gram birds before they made their southern migration journey. Out of the 37 birds that were tracked, five were recovered the following year. From the information the trackers were able to gather, those five birds averaged 2,540 kilometers non-stop flight in roughly 62 hours, over the Atlantic Ocean. Just amazing.

Blackpoll Warbler

Rufous Hummingbird

During part of a morning I watched couple of hummingbirds taking nectar from these small flowers belonging to gooseberry plants. About every ten minutes one of the hummingbird would show up to take the nectar and I would take their pictures during the process. Hummingbirds need lot energy each day, so when these flowers are out they take full advantage of it.

Rufous Hummingbird

Canada Goose

New life is out, these two about a week old were spotted eating and moving with their parents , who were right behind them. With waterfowls the young have to be able to move soon after the force their way out of the nest. Dealing with the real world right away, parents will do their best to provide safety from the elements and predators.

Canada Goose