My friendly neighbour: the nuthatchThis blog is for the birds, because it’s getting to be that time of year again - the time when many of our native bird species start to look for a suitable place to nest! Chickadees, nuthatches and other birds will start to look for a nice place to build a family around mid February to early March.

If there are mature trees in your neighbourhood, especially coniferous trees, you will have a lot of birds. If you don’t live around a lot of mature trees, you can help to create extra nesting habitat for native species by putting up nest boxes.

Many birds prefer to nest in old woodpecker holes. Woodpeckers tend to be drawn to mature and dying trees, which are often removed from city properties. So if you do have an old tree, or ‘snag”, and it is not a hazard, you may want to keep it for the birds it will attract. Certain nest boxes – ones that are ‘roughed’ up and more natural looking – can also attract chickadees, nuthatches, and a range of species including northern flickers (the picture is a nuthatch who nested in our yard last year).

For chickadees and nuthatches, use a nest box made out of untreated cedar. The entrance hole should be between 1 to 1/8 of an inch in order to protect the birds from house sparrows (an introduced species that often attacks smaller birds to steal their nesting sites). Cedar should not be stained, but it is rather soft, so if you are putting up a nest box for a flicker, a box made out of plywood (paint it with a low VOC stain, only on the outside) would work better for bird that tends to “drum” on the wood. Line an inch of the inside of the nest box with dried moss and untreated wood chips so the birds can ‘excavate’ their new home the way they would in a tree.

Painted beauty - a friendly resident northern flicker

The library has a number of books on how to make nest boxes and how to make your yard more attractive to native birds (including Bird-by-bird gardening: the ultimate guide to bringing in your favorite birds--year after year by Sally Roth.)

I looked out my window on Thursday to see hundreds, maybe thousands of cedar waxwings. I usually see a small flock in March on a nearby crabapple but I'd never seen such large numbers. The photos here are taken from about 6m distance with an itouch.

The waxwings had descended on our next-door neighbours' mayday tree to eat the dried and likely fermented fruit. Further investigation found flocks of them down the entire block on every fruit-bearing tree such as Mountain Ash and crabapples. For several hours, they tossed berries around, gobbled snow off the neighbours' roof and littered the sidewalk where there are now noticeable "wine stains."

Cedar waxings (with the yellow stripe, unlike the larger Bohemian waxwings) are one of Calgary's fancier looking birds with their crests and multicoloured plumage, so it's always a treat to see them, and it's often a one-time event with no advance warning--a rave of waxwings if you will. By 5 p.m. the party was over, and all the stragglers had left.

From Flickr, copyright Dan Dzurisin (NDomer73)The greater Sage Grouse is an iconic prairie bird. Forty years ago, when we first began keeping records, hundreds were strutting their stuff on our Canadian prairies; this past year only 13 males were counted in Alberta, and 35 in Saskatchewan. Scientists say the species’ days in Alberta could be numbered – they could be gone as early as next year.

The cause of their rapid decline is simple: loss of sagebrush habitat – the only habitat in which they can live – due to oil and gas exploration. The birds will not go within 1.9 kilometers of a disturbed area, so the fractured landscape created by oil and gas exploration basically shuts them out of their natural habitat.

Sage grouse males are known for their complex courtship dance, where they puff up the colourful air sacs in their chest with up to 5 liters of air, and make otherworldly sounds to attract a female. What was once a common sight on the prairies now attracts people by the hundreds to see the last remaining few.

They were first recognized as a species that ‘may be at risk’ in 1996, and were listed as endangered under Alberta's Wildlife Act in 2000. Since 1996 the population has crashed by more than 90 percent. Read about the politics of saving the sage grouse here and here.

So, what’s the value of a species? Do we let the greater sage grouse fade to black? Only public pressure for swift action in defense of this species will help now.

Contact the Alberta Wilderness Association for more details.

Great Grey Owl spotted in Bridgeland, Calgary. Copyright DigiDragon, from FlickrI’ve only seen an owl in the wild a few times in my life. Once, in Edworthy Park I saw an owl up in a tree and was mesmerized by its large sharp eyes and beautiful feathers. If you’re observant, and you go out ‘owling’ at the right times, you can get lucky and spot an owl in the city.

What got me thinking about birds, and owls in particular, was this fantastic video I came across the other day of an Eagle Owl (native to parts of Europe and Asia) swooping in for some prey. The video is slowed down so you can see every moment of its flight. Every time I’ve watched it my eyes nearly bug out of my head. It’s like watching a beautiful flower unfurl -- nature in all its glory.

The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary offers the occasional program on owls, and the Calgary Field Naturalists have regular birding field trips. If you’re up for a road trip next spring why not check out the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation’s visitor centre in Coaldale (15 minutes east of Lethbridge). They rehabilitate and release injured birds and offer public education programs.

In Canada the Burrowing Owl, Spotted Owl, Barn Owl and Screech Owl are listed as endangered by COSEWIC. Who says one person or ... bird can't make a difference? That eagle owl has inspired me to get out to the annual Christmas bird count with the Calgary Field Naturalists and to make a donation to bird conservation efforts this year. Go owls!!!

Don’t let the small size and the cute cover of this book deceive you. The Grizzly Manifesto: In Defence of the Great Bear calls for nothing short of a revolution in how we manage wildlife and ourselves through law and government in order to save the grizzly bear and other species at risk from extinction.

Calgary author Jeff Gailus worked as a journalist at The Canmore Leader, often covering wildlife issues, before joining the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and cofounding the Bow Valley Grizzly Bear Alliance in the early part of this decade.

Due to his experience in the Bow Valley and the connections he’s made, his new book paints an intimate and focused look at the problems that threaten the recovery of this iconic species in Canada.

His assertion that the U.S. is way ahead of Canada in terms of grizzly protection and environmental laws will surprise many. Canada’s and Alberta’s desperately poor track records of protecting our threatened species from the effects of industrial development will enrage many more.

The author’s personal experience with bears, in addition to stories about the fates of bears in and around Banff National Park give the book its heart and remind you of what’s at stake.