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fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Chris Fisher
@fisherspeaks.bsky.social
10K followers 830 following 1.1K posts
Best-selling Author • Nature • Photo Tours • Podcast • Speaker 🇨🇦 Wings Environmental Solutions 🌎
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fisherspeaks.bsky.social
I'm hearing that the recent snows have driven Short-eared Owls down and that good numbers are staging this week in S #AB hayfields. #birds
A Short-eared Owl perches on a fencepost with a vole in its talons. The landscape in the background is snowy.
November 26, 2025 at 5:01 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
While most Ring-billed Gulls have flown to milder climates, hats off to the northernmost gulls still sticking around our snow piles and ice floes. All will soon be gone but I'm enjoying these last ones of 2025. #birds
A Ring-billed Gull flies against the colours of a wintry sky.
November 25, 2025 at 11:43 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
One of the great head scratchers of Alberta mammals is the trapping of a single Gray Fox at Fort Chipewyan in 1950. None have been seen since and they are pretty much unknown in MT and the 🇨🇦 prairie provinces! #mammals
A historical write-up on the alberta gray fox record. The iNaturalist distribution may of gray foxes extends through much of the US - but not much at all in Canada and Montana. A red arrow indicate the location of the fox record in northern Alberta.
November 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Snowy Owls are the most sought-after winter bird in #AB. They have started to arrive, even beating the first lasting snows of the winter. Snowies tend to stand out at these times, but will try to find whatever snow there is and try to blend in. #birds
A Snowy Owl stands on a small patch of snow in a large brown field In the background a large truck drives past.
November 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
From what I have been able to understand - of the 296 American Dippers that have ever been banded in #AB - 182 were banded in 1975-76 around the RB Miller Biological Station in Sheep River PP. That must have been a classic time!!
An American Dipper stands on a small rock surrounded by water in a stream.
November 23, 2025 at 3:25 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
While most songbirds have left the Rocky Mountains for the freezing times ahead - one special exception remains. The antics of American Dippers are so enjoyable, they make up for the lack of many other #birds.
November 22, 2025 at 9:17 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
The northernmost Red-tailed Hawks on the continent are also the darkest. They are straggling in snow free areas a bit north of where they normally are at this time of year. #AB #birds
A dark morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk, flies against a blue sky.
November 22, 2025 at 2:27 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Every November, keen-eyed #AB birders spot a few Pacific Loons as they make their way from tundra breeding ponds to the west coast. The arrive just a the ice starts to form on our lakes and then move on to the salty seas. #birds
A Pacific Loon swims in an opening in the ice on a wetland.
November 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
These White-tailed Deer bucks look nice and perfect in early clean snows. #mammals
A white-tailed deer buck with a large antler rack stands in shallow snow as a light snow is falling.
November 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
It's getting closer to Ptarmigan Ptime.
White-tailed Ptarmigan will drop down from the highest alpine areas of the #AB Rockies to overwinter in the subalpine where they can find willows. Likewise Willow Ptarmigan will move into #AB from harsher northern areas. #birds
A White-tailed Ptarmigan, an all white chicken-like bird, stands on the snow near tiny branches. A Willow Ptarmigan, an all white chicken-like bird with black tail feathers, stands on the snow near a willow bush.
November 16, 2025 at 2:15 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Plains Bison are long gone from most of the 🇨🇦 grasslands - but their past-presence remains. Glacial erratic scratching rocks and grown-over wallows of sign of their past supremacy. #mammals
Plains Bison head and shoulders looking off to the right with yellow grasses and green vegetation in the background. A glacial erratic rock lays on the prairies with a low area around its border. A wide angle image of the grasslands with a subtle grown-over bison wallow.
November 15, 2025 at 8:13 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Bighorn Sheep rams are really quite visible right about now. Head to the #AB protected areas mountains and they are conspicuously gathering and doing their fall thing! #mammals
The head and neck of a Bighorn Sheep ram, showing a thick neck of breeding time.
November 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
With little snow on the northern plains, there is less urgency of migration. Rough-legged Hawks are making their way south, but many remain hovering and perching above goo hunting areas. #birds #AB
A Rough-legged Hawk perches on a cross beam of a three phase power pole.
November 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
A little more than a month ago, our group spotted 4-5 River Otters in Spruce River, not far from this very spot!
Three River Otters lift their heads out of a northern river.
November 15, 2025 at 3:04 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Nice to see that the 🇨🇦Western ‘Black’ Widows have not given up on their fall activities as of yet. Still getting above freezing as daytime highs. #bugs
A western widow spider clings to its messy web in the entrance of a burrow.
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
in 1929, biologist Dewey Soper successfully completed his 6 year/30,000 mile quest for the nesting grounds of the Blue (Snow) Goose. This area is now a Migratory Bird Sanctuary. #birds
A small flock of Snow Geese including several dark forma - known as Blue Geese, fly against a pale blue sky.
November 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Snow Buntings do not need to wait for the white stuff to time their southern journey. The first few have arrived to blend in nicely with our autumn brown landscapes. #birds #Ab
A Snow Bunting, a songbird with white black and brown plumage perches on a barbed wire.
November 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
We are in the last weeks of gulls.
They will be gone as soon as the weather turns really sour as the 🇨🇦 prairie is no place once winter roils. But for now, celebrate the last of our summer migrants! #birds #AB
Herring Gull settled in on a beach in late fall. A winter-plumage California Gull with a greyish head while standing on a river side rock.
November 11, 2025 at 1:03 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
I just spotted our first Bohemian Waxwing of the fall. Waxwings are calendar birds, not only for the pin-up looks, but their annual appearances and disappearances turn the pages of our seasons. #birds
A Bohemian Waxwing holds a red berry in its mouth while perching on small branches.
November 10, 2025 at 5:11 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
Happy to see that our yard is being visited by both local nuthatches. Although Red-breasted and White-breasted looks pretty similar - its nice seeing their differences in attitude! #bird #AB
A Red-breasted Nuthatch poses upside down on a tree trunk. A White-breasted Nuthatch poses upside down on a tree trunk.
November 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
My photo of the week - a family group of Trumpeter Swans stopping in on their southern journey. #birds #YYC
Two white adult and five gray cygnet Trumpeter Swans swim in a row on a calm river with dry brown grass in the background.
November 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
This morning, I woke up to the soft hooting of our neighbourhood Great-horned Owls. Was it the celebratory call of an evening hunt, the prelude to courtship or welcoming of the rising sun?
For me, it was a great way to start the day. #AB #Birds
A Great-horned Owl, a large bird with ear tufts and camouflaged plumage, perches on a large branch.
November 9, 2025 at 3:13 PM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
A bit odd to have these two young Tundra Swans on the river today all by themselves. Tundra Swans tend to head a bit further south for the winter, so hopefully they'll catch the next flock that flies overhead so they can finish their journey. #YYC #birds
Two gray first year Tundra Swans swim on calm waters with dry grasses in the background.
November 7, 2025 at 1:38 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
As wetlands freeze over to the north, waters that remain open will draw in migrating waterbirds. Today, our local river was a magnet for ducks, geese and grebes. #birds
Common Mergansers (three of them) swim side by side on a river. A male Hooded Merganser with a dramatic black and white headgear swims away form the camera. A rather drab winter plumage Pied-billed Grebe swims away from the camera on a cold grey waterbody.
November 6, 2025 at 4:11 AM
fisherspeaks.bsky.social
The easiest visual hint is to look for the yellow tear drop in Tundras - Trumpeters are all-black bills.
A Tundra swan with a small yellow teardrop on a black bill swims in a river. A adult and young Trumpeter swan with no small yellow teardrop on an all-black bill swims in a river.
November 5, 2025 at 11:20 PM