Worth stepping outside for
Happening now
12 this week
Goldenrod is at peak
The prairie's big yellow finale is on. Goldenrod is peaking in ditches, field edges, and every unmowed corner of the city. And no, it isn't what's making you sneeze: its pollen is heavy and insect-carried, not wind-blown. Stand near a patch for one minute and count the traffic. Bees, hover flies, soldier beetles, late butterflies, all fueling up as summer winds down.
Fall migration is already happening
Migration doesn't wait for fall. Sandpipers and plovers that nested on Arctic tundra are streaming south right now, pausing on muddy lake edges east of the city. The adults came through in July. This month it's mostly juveniles, making the trip for the first time and navigating entirely on their own. Some are bound for South America.
Swainson's hawks are gathering
Southern Alberta's summer hawk is starting to flock up. Before leaving, Swainson's hawks switch to a grasshopper diet and gather on fence lines and fresh-cut fields, stocking up for one of the longest migrations of any raptor: roughly 10,000 km to the grasslands of Argentina. Over the next few weeks the groups grow into swirling kettles. Then, one day in September, the sky is simply empty of them.
The gophers are disappearing
If the gopher colonies around the city seem quieter than in June, you're not imagining it. Adult Richardson's ground squirrels are already underground for the year. Many begin hibernation in July and August, more than seven months before they'll surface again. The ones still out there are mostly this year's young, eating hard against the clock.
Bats over the river
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.
Aurora season is reopening
Summer nights at this latitude are finally getting dark enough for northern lights again. From now until spring, every clear night is a candidate, and autumn is statistically one of the best aurora seasons of the year. Worth scouting your north-facing spot now, before the first good storm.
Also this week
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Chokecherries are turning black
Ripe when nearly black, the prairie's syrup fruit. Count who visits a loaded tree
The crickets have started
Count chirps for 8 seconds, add 5: that's roughly the °C
Darner season, at full tilt
Palm-length dragonflies swarming sunny clearings at dusk
Fireweed says summer's ending
It blooms bottom to top. Most stands are topping out now
Last call for the Perseids
Stragglers until about Aug 24 | needs a clear, smoke-free sky
Mushroom season is warming up
Nothing to chase yet. After the next good rain, this card changes