Ongoing Field Observations: Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

Since completing observation along the Bow River and continuing on in the course, I decided to change my location and gear my observations more towards an area of my interest. I have decided to make observations at the Inglewood bird sanctuary. I have visited several times, and will do my initial Blog Post #1 information below. Following that, I was continue on with Post #3

Date: 02/08/2023

Weather: 1 °C, mostly sunny, no wind. (Winter, with spring like weather conditions) 1-2 cm of compacted snow that is now icy on the ground in some areas, and clear in others.

Time: 1600-1630 hours

Location: Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Wetland area. (Calgary, Alberta)

Coordinates: 51.030572962389435, -114.00961210792768

Location observations

This location is situated next to the Bow River, in the SE quadrant of Calgary. The area itself is a natural environment that has been designated as a federal migratory bird sanctuary. It is a very popular area for local birdwatchers, and its location away from the hustle and bustle of the nearby downtown area provides refuge from city life. The bird sanctuary has a wetland area in the form of a lagoon that stretches throughout the area, and would also be classified as riparian in areas along which the Bow river runs adjacent. The area that I have made my observations is along the main pathway of the trail network within the sanctuary from when you enter, to about 175m to the south, as indicated on the attached map. The topography of the areas sees a gradual slope down to the lagoon, with an elevation change of about 15m from the main pathway to the lagoon. The lagoon is mostly frozen, with exposed water in some locations. It is evident that wildlife has been walking back and forth along the lagoon, as footprints can be seen along many different points. It may have snowed within the last week, as while compacted in some areas, it seems to be untouched in others, with not a high evidence of melt activity. During my time here, I sat on a bench near the main entrance to the pathway, and observed many different species of bird including black capped chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, crows, ravens, geese, and mallard ducks. Using my Merlin app to detect bird sounds, it seems I came at a noisy hour as I was able to detect birds such as blue jays, european starlings, house sparrows, pied-billed grebes, robins, magpies, a merlin, northern flickers and a long eared owl. It is evident that humans feed these birds in the area, as I have witnessed it in past visits, as well as see bird seed on the ground in various locations. The main trees I see growing along the banks and river pathway I believe to be Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera), and White spruce (Picea glauca) . Alongside this, there are many small shrubs and grasses growing near to the trees, however I am not familiar with their names,

When sitting on the initial bench, I was inundated by a group of black capped chickadees and white breasted nut hatches, swooping down and flying extremely close to me as if to land on me. I would estimate about 20 chickadees and 5-10 nuthatches. It became so overwhelming that I began to move down along the pathway as they were chirping and diving as if to call upon other friends to come near. I did not have any seed or food with me at the time. As I walked along the pathway to the south, while I could still hear a variety of birds, as I walked further and further from the main entrance, the frequency of chickadees and nuthatches became less frequent. As I ventured further south, it was mostly larger birds that I saw including ravens, crows and ducks.

Questions during observations:

Human/Fauna related

1. What would the behavior of the birds here be like without the presence of human activity?
2. How often are these birds being fed, and not foraging for their own food?
3. Do birds come here specifically to be fed, or for the refuge from human infrastructure and activity? Was the initial intention of the area being preserved to avoid human takeover in some roundabout way not met due to the seemingly high interactions with humans they still face?
4. What are the usual feeding hours of these birds in their natural habitatsFlora related
   1. Are certain birds attracted to differing types of trees?
   2. Does this change depending on the season?
   3. How many birds could the trees and shrubs here support if there was no human influence?

   

Post #3

Ongoing Field Observations

Date: 02/14/2023

Weather -2 °C, mostly sunny.

Time: 1300-1345 hours

Location: Inglewood Bird Sanctuary (Calgary, Alberta).

Coordinates: 51.030572962389435, -114.00961210792768

1). The organisms I have decided to study throughout my field observations is the chickadee. In particular, its change in feeding behaviors and interactions with humans when other bird species are in direct competition.

2). I have chosen to use a gradient of approximately 200m, with the first point being the entrance to the walking path, and the other two points being 100m from that position to the north and south.

Main entrance

Observations: the abundance of birds seen on this visit is substantially less, which could likely be related to the time of day. At the main entrance I did not see any chickadees or nuthatches, which is far different from the first visit as I had to run away to avoid confrontation with these birds. I stayed here for several minutes, and to my surprise, did not see any birds come close to me, nor hear many sounds. Sounds of constructions noises in the distance (due to construction on the sanctuary ground) could also have had something to do with this.

100m south from entrance: At this location, I could hear a few chickadees in the trees, and saw 2 land on branches that were still quite high up in the tree (approx. 15ft). They did not land any closer on the tree than that to me, and did not swoop down at me as per my previous visit. I saw a crow fly across the lagoon, and also heard a few magpies in the distance.

100m north from entrance: At this location, the sound of construction was very loud, as the machinery was about 20m away from where I was making observations. Because of this, I did not see any birds in this spot, and also did not see any. I did see 2 mallard duck fly above me, going towards the river. The location along the river at the sanctuary sees many Mallard ducks and Canadian geese together near the waters edge, and in the water.

*on my way out of the sanctuary, a magpie followed me, landing from tree to tree as I progressed in my walk, calling out to my the entire way. After it called, a second magpie quite far away would call back.

3) Hypothesis: The feeding behavior of chickadees at the Inglewood bird sanctuary is determined by the presence of nuthatches

Prediction: chickadee behavior is less competitive when nuthatches are not present.

4)  Response variable – chickadee behavior – categorial

Predictor variable – presence of nuthatches – categorial