Mountain View Bird Feeders, Okotoks Live Cam

Two tube feeders with clear domes hang at the edge of a backyard in Okotoks, looking over a mown field, a paved path and the town below. Beyond the rooftops and trees of the valley, the peaks of the Rocky Mountains line the western horizon.

Okotoks is a town on the Sheep River in the foothills of southern Alberta, south of Calgary. Its name comes from the Blackfoot word for rock, a reference to Big Rock, the glacial boulder west of town. House finches crowd the feeding ports, while downy woodpeckers, brown-headed cowbirds and northern flickers also stop by. Deer sometimes graze on the field below.

The fixed camera sits at feeder height, so birds on the perches appear at close range against the open view. Behind the feeders a strip of tall golden grass runs along the path, and in the morning the sun behind the camera lights up the distant peaks.