The Bow Valley Bird Bonanza!Every student at Elizabeth Rummel School

is challenged to identify at least five different bird species between May 26 and

3 June!

Check out our website for other resources to help you learn about birds… And read

on for a game to help you learn about these birds!

Here’s how this game works:

The next pages list birds that you might see around where you live…

Name that bird!

Black-capped chickadee

Mésange a tête noir

Was that easy?This next birds colour is in its

name…

Blue Jay

Geai Bleu

How about this one?

Rufous hummingbird

Colibri roux

Hint: this bird

‘swallows’ lots of

mosquitos…

Tree swallow

Hirondelle bicolore

• Perhaps this is a little harder. Have you ever had one of these wake you up in the morning?

Black-billed magpie

Pie bavarde

Come to the school library to see some huge pictures of these birds!

Next, lets take a look at some birds you might see in the

schoolyard - if you remember to keep your eyes to the sky!This first bird is so hardy, it

can live here all winter long..

That thick bill! Those rough neck feathers! It must be a…

Common raven

Grand corbeau

… the next bird isn’t exactly a ‘Sea’ gull. Check out its bill!

Ring-billed gullGoéland à bec cerclé

Next bird is smaller than a raven, and just says

‘Caw…’

Crow

Corneille d’Amérique

Imagine you were walking down by the Bow River. What

do you think you would see first?

The name of this bird includes the colour of its eye. Can you tell which one is the female (hint:

females have to hide from predators when they sit on

nests).

Common goldeneye duck

Garrot à oeil d’or

the female duck is more camoflaged, isn’t it?

This next bird lives here all winter long, and dips its body up and down to help see how

far away things are!

American dipperCincle d’Amérique

You can sometimes see this next bird in

Canmore’s hockey rink…

Bald Eagle (aka ‘Eddie’)Pygargue à tête blanche

This next bird is a GOOSE. And it lives in CANADA.

(Hope you don’t need another hint…)

Canada gooseBernache du Canada

(their babies look a bit like tennis balls, don’t you

think?)

Next bird is harder…

Spotted sandpiperChevalier branlequeu

Next bird is a cool hawk that likes to eat fish, and

builds big nests…

OspreyBalbuzard

Policemans Creek is a good place to go bird-watching. To

get there you have to walk right past the ‘Drake’ Inn…

(hint, hint!)

Mallard duckCanard colvert

The drake is the male duck - it is more brightly coloured…

This next bird flits about tree branches and eats the insects it

finds there. Its song is a ‘warble…’

Yellow-rumped warblerParuline à croupion jaune

Next up: a bird that lays its eggs in other birds

nests. The baby birds are raised by someone else!

Brown-headed cowbirdVacher à tête brun

Imagine, now, that you are walking in the forest…

hey, what is that tapping sound?

Hairy woodpecker

Pic chevelu

If you put sunflower seeds in your birdfeeder (just during

the winter, please!), you’ll see lots of this next bird…

Red-breasted nuthatch

Sittelle à poitrine rousse

Next: a sparrow that might sing in your backyard. The song sounds something like ‘Camptown racetrack five

miles long…’

White-crowned sparrowBruant à couronne

blanche

(by the way, sparrows can crack open seeds. Go

back and check out this bird’s strong bill!)

Here’s a neat bird that you can see on the Rundle Forbay or on any large lake. Its call

makes it sound like a lunatic!

Common Loon Huart â collier

When loon babies are young, they can get very

tired and cold. That is why they sometimes get a piggyback from the Mum

or Dad!

This next bird can fly silently, and see its prey on even the

darkest night. It is one of nature’s best hunters…

Great Horned Owl Grand Duc d’Amérique

(those horns are actually

feathers - can you tell?)

Last but not least: thousands of these birds fly over

Canmore’s mountains every year during migration. They are so cool, we even have a festival to celebrate them!

Golden eagleAigle royal

If you want to see those golden neck feathers up close - check out the eagle that we might have in the school library.

Happy Birding!