Although many of us would love to go to faraway places and see colourful exotic birds , our reality is that we live in our hometowns . We can add enjoyment to our everyday walks or dog walks by finding local eBird birding hotspots that give us a daily dose of common everyday birds , plus the excitement of an occasional less-common species .
Bonaparte ’ s gull — autumn migrant
Centennial Park is an eBird hotspot . Based on the number of species reported , it is twentyninth out of the top one hundred hotspots for the Edmonton region , with 155 species reported . I have found 146 species in the park . Birds found in any Edmonton area hotspot tend to be seasonal . There are winter visitors , spring migrants , summer residents , and autumn migrants . More varied available habitats mean more varied species will be found in any season . Some highlights for me in Centennial Park are :
● Winter visitors : northern goshawk , northern shrike , snow buntings , common redpolls
● Spring migrants : gray-cheeked thrush , Swainson ’ s thrush , western grebe , long-eared owl , yellow-rumped warbler , orange-crowned warbler , white-crowned sparrow , Sabine ’ s gull
● Summer residents : red-eyed vireo , Leconte ’ s sparrow , Cooper ’ s hawk , Swainson ’ s hawk , double-crested cormorant , horned grebe
● Autumn migrants : tundra swan , Bonaparte ’ s gull , blue-headed vireo , yellow-bellied flycatcher , Harris ’ s sparrow , purple finch
● Year-round residents : great horned owl , common raven , merlin , black-capped chickadee , downy woodpecker , hairy woodpecker , pileated woodpecker , northern flicker , grey partridge
Chris Rees began his career as a chemist , researcher , and environment , health , and safety specialist in industry . His second career was as an instructor at NAIT . Since retiring six years ago , he has been an active member of the Edmonton Nature Club and a regular contributor to eBird .
Blue-headed vireo — autumn migrant
Harris ’ s sparrow — autumn migrant
Swainson ’ s thrush — spring migrant
news & views SPRING 2023 | 21