Weekend Shorebirds

After weeks of cruely taunting Calgarians - teasing us with one or two days of warm weather only to change moods and leave us shivering and wet over a long weekend - summer has finally made its much anticpated annual appearance. Mid-July also marks the arrival of the first south-bound shorebirds, en route from their arctic nesting grounds to winter in Central and South America. Many species traverse more than 25,000 kilometres in this annual circuit. Hudsonian Godwits fly 13,000 kilometres nonstop between staging sites on James Bay and wintering areas in Patagonia, completing the journey in nine days. My 2,000 kilometres cycled so far this year seem insignificant in comparison.

Shorebird diversity and numbers have been slowly building at the slough east of the hamlet of Shepard. Cycling out to the slough via the WID Canal early Saturday morning I was soon passing through Shepard; Eurasian Collared-Doves are now established in the hamlet and I found four feeding on waste grain at Hay 'N' Oats 'Я' Us. Arriving at the slough I quickly applied some bug spray before pulling out my scope and binoculars; the wet summer has resulted in a burgeoning mosquito population. Scanning the slough, I was delighted to find a variety of shorebirds feeding in the shallow water and mudflats. Baird's Sandpiper were the most abundant 'peep' and several Stilt Sandpipers were associating with Long-billed Dowitchers. Two spinning Red-necked Phalaropes were new for the BIGBY. Suffering several bites despite the bug spray I decided to pack up and make my way home. A quick stop at a slough along the canal turned up a Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat singing from the cattails.

Higher Education

Peregrine Falcons have been nesting at the University of Calgary since the 1990s, normally choosing Craigie Hall to raise their young. This year three young hatched out of four eggs and a web cam was set up for people to observe the birds on the internet, however the feed is sporadic because of some ongoing technical problems. Young normally fledge in mid-July and University officials have issued a Falcon Alert, warning staff and students to be on the lookout for crash landings. While too early to see the young, I rode up to the university this morning hoping to find one or both of the adult Peregrines.

My route along the Bow river took me through downtown and I passed by the recently arrived giant, yellow crane. Though ineligible for the BIGBY the crane will be a key component to help assemble the west leg of Calgary's LRT line. Construction is also occurring on the University of Calgary campus and it took me a while to find a detour to the MacKimmie Library. Providing a view of the nest along with potential prey, the adults regularly perch on top of the building. Arriving at the library tower, I immediately located the male perched on the southwest corner of the building while hearing the female call from nearby Craigie Hall. After the excitement of seeing the falcons, I headed into the library to refill my water bottle before starting to retrace my route back home.