Right OutsideWeek of October 11 · Calgary
← Everything happening this week
Little brown bat
Watching · Wildlife

Bats over the river

Typically Jul 1 to Sep 15Back next year

August is the best bat-watching month of the year in Calgary: this summer's pups are flying, and little brown bats work the rivers at dusk, scooping insects off the water. Stand on a footbridge half an hour after sunset and watch the fading sky over the water. The erratic, fluttery flight is unmistakable once you've seen it.

Erratic, fluttery flight low over the water
30 to 45 minutes after sunset
River pathways and bridges, still water at dusk
Never handle a grounded bat
SourcesGBIF occurrence records within 200 km of Calgary, license-filtered (CC0/CC BY) and effort-normalized, Aug 2026

More happening around Calgary

tap for the full story
Lunar eclipse
Watching · Sky

The moon slides into Earth's shadow

For a couple of hours the moon will pass behind the Earth, and you can watch it happen in real...

Black-billed magpie
Beginning · Birds

Where the magpies go at dusk

Watch the sky in the last light of the afternoon and you may notice magpies all flying the same...

Forest mushrooms
Watching · Fungi

Mushroom season is warming up

Late August is when the mushroom year gets interesting, and the trigger is rain. A good soak...

Perseid meteor shower
Watching · Sky

Last call for the Perseids

The year's most dependable meteor shower peaked last week, but it doesn't switch off overnight...

Richardson's ground squirrel
Watching · Wildlife

The gophers are disappearing

If the gopher colonies around the city seem quieter than in June, you're not imagining it...

Sandpipers & plovers
Watching · Birds

Fall migration is already happening

Migration doesn't wait for fall. Sandpipers and plovers that nested on Arctic tundra are...

See everything we track around Calgary →
Photo: SMBishop · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Spotted an error? Report a correction