Birds Calgary: Another No Owl Day at Griffith Woods Park

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Another no owl day at Griffith
Woods Park
Posted by Dan Arndt
Our walk this week returned to Griffith Woods, in search once again of
the Great Gray Owl that had been a regular visitor there for well over a
month now, as well as the Great Horned Owls and even a Northern
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Pygmy Owl that had been seen and heard there recently. The week got
off to a good start, with Mondays group having no trouble finding the
Great Gray Owl, and the Tuesday group only missed it by a less than an
hour before it flew off deeper into the dense spruce forest that are the
hallmark of Griffith Woods.
Griffith Woods
February 16, 2014
The story throughout the day was that of distant birds and minimal
photo opportunities, but I was very pleased that I was able to snap the
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shots that I did. When I downloaded my camera card at home, I found
that I had only taken 31 shots in the course of the outing, so to have a
25% keep rate I think is pretty good!
The first real opportunity came when we spotted a small flock of
Bohemian Waxwings high up in a spruce tree, and I was able to capture
a pair of them breaking off from the group showing their rufous undertail
coverts and the bright lemon yellow on the tip of the tail feathers.
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Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/640sec., /6.3, ISO 400
Bohemian Waxwings
1/1250sec., /6.3, ISO 800
We hunted along the trail under the power lines for any sign of the Great
Gray Owl that was our quarry, but the only evidence we were able to
find of it was this hunting impression in the deep snow, showing the
impression of the head and wings as the owl hunted one of many
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unfortunate voles that had become its dinner.
Great Gray Owl hunting impression
1/800sec., /5, ISO 80
Never let it be said that I know everything there is to know about all of
the parks we visit. This weeks surprise was the discovery of another
small pond on the north-west end of Griffith Woods Park. All it really
would have taken was for me to look at one of the many maps that Ive
published even here on this website to actually notice its presence, but
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thankfully Gus Yaki came to the rescue again and showed us where all
the Canada Geese we had seen all morning were flying to. Also on this
pond was a lone Common Goldeneye, and much to our surprise and
delight was a solitary, and very uncharacteristically quiet, Blue Jay along
the hedgerow behind one of the nearby houses.
Canada Geese
1/1250sec., /6.3, ISO 640
Common Goldeneye
1/1250sec., /6.3, ISO 400
Blue Jay
1/1250sec., /6.3, ISO 400
Another nice surprise was a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos feeding underneath
a spruce on the way back into the park after we had finished exploring
the pond.
Dark-eyed Junco
1/500sec., /6.3, ISO 1600
And then the wind picked up, and everything got quiet. While we
retreated deeper into the wooded trails, the birds came fewer and
further between, and only stayed in sight for mere moments at a time.
Even our last species of the day, this Rough-legged Hawk, disappeared a
few seconds after I spotted it soaring high above the nearby homes, but
enough to positively identify it with its distinct dark wrist patches.
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Rough-legged Hawk
1/640sec., /6.3, ISO 320
And so wraps up another week of the Friends of Fish Creek Winter Birding
course. Next week we head back to Bebo Grove in search of last weeks
quarry, the American Three-toed Woodpecker, along with another Great
Gray Owl, a Barred Owl or three, and hopefully a Northern Saw-whet
Owl!
Have a great week, and good birding!
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This entry was posted on February 17, 2014, in alberta birds, bird blog calgary,
Birding Locations, Winter Birds and tagged Blue Jay, bohemian waxwing, canada
goose, dark-eyed junco, griffith woods, rough-legged hawk, winter birding, winter
birds.
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Griffith Woods: Lots of
potential, but not much
realized
Posted by Dan Arndt
After a week of great sightings at Griffith Woods, our walk on Sunday
morning was greeted with a beautiful blue sky, above zero temperatures,
and a whole lot of great birders out to see what we could see.
Unfortunately, there werent too many birds around overall, and even
fewer gave us any real photo opportunities.
As a bit of a filler, I thought Id highlight my most recent post that was
put up on Bird Canada on Sunday morning, recollecting my experiences
Jan
20
Share this:
over the Christmas holidays on Vancouver Island. I do hope you enjoy
reading it, and look forward to providing many more photos of our local
Calgary birds very soon!
Read my Bird Canada post here: Christmas Birding in the Comox Valley.
This entry was posted on January 20, 2014, in bird blog calgary and tagged bird blog
calgary, filler, griffith woods.
Leave a comment
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A turn in the weather is a turn
for the better at Griffith
Woods
Posted by Dan Arndt

Nov
18
Following the blizzard conditions in Calgary on Saturday, it was finally
time for our Sunday group to dodge the bad weather bullet. Beautiful
blue skies greeted us as we met at the east end of Griffith Woods Park
on the west edge of the city, and it was a much earned change, given
the past number of weeks of poor weather.
Griffith Woods Park
Griffith Woods is a prime example of the Boreal Forest biome that is found
in northern Alberta, but also winds its way down along the eastern edge
of the foothills. With the extreme cold, I suspected wed still not have
much luck with birds, despite the clear skies and calm weather, but we
still had good views of birds weve been seeing often, and some that
weve only caught glimpses of so far this fall.
Griffith Woods
1/80sec., /16, ISO 500
Aside from an early Blue Jay and the sound of Black-capped and Boreal
Chickadees around us, the first real birds we were able to get a look at
were these Canada Geese on one of tributary streams to the Elbow
River. You know its a cold fall day when the ground water is giving off
water vapor first thing in the morning.
Canada Geese in the mist
1/500sec., /8.0, ISO 1600
Having very little luck with birds in the early minutes of our walk, I
figured Id take a few more scenery shots, and am I ever glad I did.
Boreal Forest biome of Griffith Woods
1/80sec., /16, ISO 1250
While searching for evidence of Three-toed or Black-backed Woopeckers,
and listening for kinglets and chickadees, I did notice this series of bark
beetle trackways in this spruce trunk, and with the bark stripped away
by foraging woodpeckers, the network of tracks really stood out.
Bark Beetle Burrows
1/500sec., /6.3, ISO 1600
It wasnt until we had reached the end of our walk and began the trip
back that our real luck with bird sightings started to turn around.
Elbow River looking east
1/80sec., /16, ISO 200
Elbow River looking west
1/80sec., /16, ISO 125
Our first good sighting was a Brown Creeper, and while watching it creep
up the trees in search of food, we were also alerted to the presence of a
nearby Pileated Woodpecker, and a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets. It

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