We have received enough reports of Mountain Bluebirds to know that they have officially arrived! This year, the first report was unusually early, on February 28 at Lomond. This sighting was followed up by the following: Waterton on March 20; Clive on March 22; near Millarville on March 23; and at Brown-Lowrey Provincial Park on March 25. We appreciate all the folks who contacted us with their sightings! 

​Cory Olson of the Alberta Community Bat Program attended the EBF site last week to install some monitoring equipment. He positioned temperature and relative humidity sensors in both bat houses, installed an ambient temperature and humidity sensor near the Ellis Centre, and set up an ultrasound microphone system on the Grain Elevator that will detect when the first bats arrive back this spring!

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​We are grateful to  Isabelle Garvey of Beaver Mines, AB for sharing this image of a Western Bluebird that showed up on her deck on March 9, 2020! 

​Yesterday morning, we feared that tragedy had befallen Ellie and Albert when a security guard checking the EBF site contacted us to report that he had found a dead owl just inside the main gate. It had apparently been struck by a vehicle. Worried that it was Albert, one of our chat moderators watched the webcams carefully all night to see if Ellie had been widowed. Thankfully, he appeared at 6:45 this morning with a mouse for Ellie! It is a mystery why there was another owl in the vicinity but we are relieved to know that all is well with our beloved owls. We would like to say a special thank you to Cat and Kathleen for watching the webcams and documenting the activities at this nest. 

​Ellis Bird Farm is pleased to welcome Dustin and Kimberly Bathel of Little Bit of Thyme back for their second year at the Café.