Six little siblings

Finally got out of the city southwestwards just a short way yesterday evening, to go with Don Stiles again on his Bluebird Route. He has been a Bluebird Monitor for about 30 years! We pass a Buffalo and Elk farm in that area and several of these maginficent animals happened to be on a hill that was near to the fence. The light was not too good, so I'm surprised that any of the photos I took came out at all. In fact, we hadn't been sure whether to go or not, because of some rather black clouds. You'd never know there had been devastating floods the past week, that have affected the whole of southern Alberta. I was expecting to see flood water everywhere, so was hugely relieved to see none! It felt SO good to get out - anywhere - though I did drive a few minutes away from home just before this evening trip, as a friend had mentioned that there were mushrooms growing in a place where they had been last year. Again, you would never know that we have been experiencing the "flood of the century" for almost a week now. Thanks for a great Bluebird evening, Don - lovely to see various other birds, too, including a Snipe, House Wren, Tree Swallows, American Goldfinch, Swainson's Hawk, a yet-unidentified Hawk with what I think was an Eastern Kingbird "piggy-backing" on it, etc., etc.. I missed getting it actually riding on the back, but did get it just a few inches above the Hawk - see my second photo posted today. Most of Don's boxes have Tree Swallow nests in them now, but the one box had these six gorgeous baby Bluebirds all huddled together.

It was such a relief to see so much wildlife - I had feared the worst! Of course, many parts of the city have now started on clean-up, and what a monumental task that is going to be!!! I saw yesterday that the first billion dollars have now been made available towards this clean-up! People just amaze me, how they get to work to clear all the mud from inside their homes and get rid of all their ruined possessions. I think everyone is so impressed by the way the city has, and still is, handling the whole situation. Our Mayor, Naheed Nenshi (36th mayor, sworn in on October 25, 2010), has proved that people made the right choice when they elected him Mayor! He is working tirelessly to protect his city and get it back to as normal as possible!!