Urban Birdwatching

With spring in the air, Edmonton is quickly becoming the northern home for many different varieties of migratory birds.  Because of the great variety found in these transient residents as well as our year-long avian friends, Edmonton is a great place to be a birdwatcher.
Now I am by no means an expert when it comes to birdwatching, but I don't think that anyone really has to be an expert to appreciate the colours, personalities and whimsical actions of Edmonton's birds.  What sort of birds you may see is somewhat determined by the part of the city in which you live.  If like me you are a downtown resident without a yard, you can hang up a bird feeder on your balcony and be visited by sparrows, chickadees, warblers, nuthatches and maybe even the occasional grosbeak.  If on the other hand you live in one of Edmonton's more residential areas, you will probably get a variety of larger birds visiting your yard.  If you provide decent foliage, you could see robins, blue jays and maybe even grey jays.  Of course you will see magpies, crows and seagulls absolutely everywhere, but they have a great whimsy and can be really fun to watch if you have an open heart to them.

A sparrow at our bird feeder

And I know if  you're new to birdwatching you're probably wondering how to tell one type of bird from another.  While some you know because of their very common nature, others might be a complete mystery to you.  I am always completely delighted when I see a new bird in my neighbourhood and am able to find out what it is.  Just the other day I saw a dark-eyed junco for the very first time!  To help you I.D. your birds, I recommend the fantastic little handbook Birds of Alberta by Chris Fisher and John Acorn.  The full-colour illustrations are excellent in this book, and I have used it very often to quickly identify unknown species.  The book is available to borrow through the Edmonton Public Library too.  You can also identify species by using a website such as What Bird, which allows you to enter a description of the bird and then provides you with possible I.D.'s.
It isn't necessary to know every species of bird to enjoy watching them.  Birdwatching with even the most mundane species can be relaxing, humourous and even exciting.  And Edmonton is a great place to do it.