B.C. birder gets treated to 'incredible experience' while checking out a chickadee tip in Calgary

A birder who has crisscrossed the country for decades tracking down different species is raving about her once-in-a-lifetime find in Calgary last week.

Laura Kaye, a Fernie, B.C., resident known online as The Afternoon Birder, was walking in Calgary's Weaselhead area in the city's southwest when she spotted a tiny northern Pygmy owl with an unlucky Bohemian waxwing in its clutches.

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She had been on a mission to find a boreal chickadee, following a tip from a fellow birder, but instead was alerted to the grisly scene by dozens of songbirds ringing out in protest.

"I was hearing these alarms and I was walking closer and the alarms were getting louder and louder," Kaye told CBC News. "It sounded like there was a large group of songbirds really quite agitated."

And for good reason. Once Kaye rounded a corner, she came face-to-face with the altercation.

Because of its size, Kaye says the northern Pygmy owl is usually incredibly hard to spot.

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"This is really a unique incredible experience to see and after posting the video and photos I've just been inundated with comments and messages and emails from birders and other people saying, 'Wow, how did you find this owl? Where can we see this owl? This is incredible.'"

Kaye admits it's ironic that even though she's nestled in the B.C. Rockies for the winter, it was in the city of Calgary that she had one of her greatest experiences as a life-long birder.

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