Finches, Owls and Ptarmigans – birding Alberta in Winter

Winter 2015/16 has proven to a bumper ‘winter finch’ season, at least here in the Calgary area, where the redpolls, grosbeaks, siskins, crossbills, etc showing up in good numbers. I just love the colours of all these finches, so made quite a number of outings over my Christmas vacation specifically to photograph these birds while they are around.

Last month I posted some Red Crossbill shots, so this time I’ll share the somewhat more common other crossbill species, the White-winged Crossbill:

Then we have the ever-photogenic Common Redpolls, with the males particularly resplendent in their lush pink hues:

Couldn’t believe my luck when these four redpolls posed for several seconds doing their best impression of a Christmas Tree…the falling snow was a bonus!:

And not to be outdone, the always attractive Pine Grosbeaks…

I have a particular fascination for the male grosbeaks and their crimson plumage and was on something of a mission to get some pleasing shots of them, so please indulge me as I share a number of shots in varying light and weather:

Amidst all these finches was a lone American Tree Sparrow, but it seemed to be faring well:

At the local park, some kind soul (or souls) had been putting out lots of black oil sunflower seed for the birds and they were certainly flocking in good numbers to feast on this gift. However, as I waited motionless in the cold for the birds to return, movement out of the corner of my eye alerted me to the fact that the birds weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the seeds on offer…

This little meadow vole would pop out ever so briefly to grab a seed before disappearing…then re-appear again a minute or so later and repeat this action. The vole was certainly a flighty fellow as simply moving my lens, not to mention the sound of my shutter click, was sufficient to send it scurrying back under the snow in the blink of an eye. And when you are the main course for many predators (shrikes, owls, weasels, coyotes, etc) sharing the same park, that kind of makes sense!

Along with the winter finches, Short-eared Owls have made a welcome return and are currently been seen locally on the prairies in good numbers. I had the pleasure of seeing no less than six owls working a frozen crop field for voles and doing it quite successfully.

The owls seem to glide effortlessly on their surprisingly long wings across the fields combing the area for prey, periodically dropping to the earth to pounce on a vole – some of which are devoured on the spot, while others might be taken to a fence pole for consumption.

Other raptors I’ve seen on my forays have included the common-in-winter Rough-legged Hawk:

as well this poor old Great Horned Owl being mobbed by no less than ten magpies…

Finally, my latest encounter was especially enjoyable as it was both a ‘lifer’ and, in my opinion, showed some amazing camouflage…

Yes, the White-tailed Ptarmigan, that turns completely white in winter save for it’s eye and beak.

We only found this particular bird by scanning the willows in likely habitat, then looking for tracks in the fresh snow. Definitely a fun find!