Hi Kirri,
Vancouver has excellent birding in December, but as you go inland the
number of species decline rapidly. Feeders are always worth staking out,
but walks in the forest will still get you a nice variety of resident or
wintering species. Winter is the best time to see owls, and coastally, the
duck and gull diversity is incredible. Most of the woodpeckers can be found
throughout the area you are going, but a single hummingbird species is only
possible at that time of year (in Vancouver). In Calgary expect chickadees,
nuthatches, Bohemian Waxwings, jays and magpies, finches and redpolls.
Wintering raptors such as Snowy Owl, Rough-legged Hawk and Gyrfalcon should
also be around the outskirts of the city.
This is a very good guide for places to go in British Columbia:
Birdfindng in British Columbia by Richard and Russell Cannings
eBird is the next place to visit - you can easily find the best hotspot or
look up species of interest. Here is the Calgary county data Martin
mentioned:
http://ebird.org/ebird/barchart?r=CA-AB-SI&byr=1900&eyr=2018&m=12
Cheers,
Nigel
On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 2:26 AM, Martin Butterfield <>
wrote:
> G'day Kirri
>
> You might not get a white Christmas in Vancouver!
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Vancouver#Snow>
>
> For birding you might try playing with eBird, once your route is a bit
> settled. By drilling down under Explore data I got to Calgary County ,
> which included a list of top Hotspots. I selected (at random) Carburn Park
> and set the month to December. That gave a list of 85 species
> <http://ebird.org/ebird/australia/hotspot/L294151?m=
> 12&yr=all&changeDate=Set>
> .
>
> I don't know what happens in the area you're going to but in some places in
> North America the local bird club put out feeders in Winter which really
> makes for easy birding. This <http://www.birdscalgary.com/> looks a
> promising site to start contacting locals.
>
> Martin
>
> Martin Butterfield
> http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/
>
> On 13 January 2018 at 19:09, Kirri Hardy via Birding-Aus <
> > wrote:
>
> > Hi all 😊
> > My little family will be having a white Christmas in Canada this year.
> > BUT...I'm wondering if there is any birding at ALL in Winter??
> > We'll fly into Vancouver...probably head across through Rocky
> > Mountains/Canadian highway and to Calgary...
> > Just wondering if any birds are active or visable much anywhere at that
> > time of year???
> > Perhaps a bird guide for Canada that u suggest...?
> > Thanks heaps
> > Kirri 😊
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
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