Alcoholic Pewee

Securing my bike at the trail head leading into the Weaselhead Flats, I could hear the whistled quick, three beers! in the distance. Designated Threatened in 2007 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC); Olive-sided Flycatcher has shown a widespread and consistent population decline over the last 30 years. The Canadian population is estimated to have declined by 79% from 1968 to 2006 and 29% from 1996-2006. These declines may be due to major deforestation on its wintering grounds in South America. Additionally, it has been speculated that nesting Olive-sided Flycatchers depend on postfire habitats and the suppression of forest fires may have resulted in the loss of suitable breeding and foraging sites.

Making my way towards the flycatcher, actually a misnamed pewee, I finally tracked it down at the edge of a large meadow a few hundred metres west of the regional pathway. Typical of the species, the bird was perched at the tip of large snag where it would periodically utter its demand for beer. Continuing west along the trail I observed a male Calliope Hummingbird performing its courtship display to an invisible female. Incessant begging calls led me to a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nest in an Aspen next to the trail; the adults returning periodically with a beak full of insects for the hungry nestlings. Nearing the trail head I flushed a Solitary Sandpiper from an oxbow, though they breed just west of Calgary this individual was likely an early fall migrant.