Brown on brown
Old barn with a view
Layers and stripes
Red barn on a sunny day
Mountains at sunset
From shadow to light
Set from the movie, The Revenant
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone N P
A barn to be proud of
The old and the new
Weird and wonderful Badland erosion
Old Catholic Church, Dorothy
Our beautiful Foothills
The Famous Five again
A favourite tree
Snowy Owl with mountain bokeh
There once was an owl
Sunshine on a mighty peak
Roller coaster roads in winter
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Old and new
Driving in a winter wonderland
Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park
Dwarfed by the vast expanse of clouds
Rural decay in winter
The golds and blues at Frank Lake
Pine Coulee Reservoir last November
Clouds over a prairie farm
Pine Coulee Reservoir, November 2013
Fields of golden stubble
One of my favourite barns
Changes by new owners in "The Famous Five" field
The Famous Five
My favourite view in Bow Valley Provincial Park
The joy of Dandelions
Impressive view at the Whaleback
At the start of our climb
Clouds and Dandelions
Three days in Waterton Lakes National Park
Red Rock (Canyon) Parkway, Waterton Lakes National…
Citadel Peak, Waterton Lakes National Park
View across the valley
A touch of sunset
Imagine waking up to this each morning
Red Rock Canyon, Waterton Lakes National Park
A beautiful property, SW of Calgary
Waterton town, from Bertha Lake Trail
Emerald Lake - a little gem of the Rockies
Emerald Lake, British Columbia
Beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park
Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Foothills and distant mountains
Looking towards our beautiful mountains
Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Maclean Pond, Kananaskis
Exploring Timber Ridge, Porcupine Hills
A view from Timber Ridge Conservation Area
Limber Pine on Timber Ridge
Too hard to resist
Down by the pond
Time to relax
View looking west towards the Rockies
Canyon Church Camp, Waterton Lakes National Park
Our mountains in winter
Old barn on the prairie
Ice as far as the eye can see
View from a barn doorway
Rolling hills close to home
Sunlit peaks
A final goodbye
Sunbathed mountain slopes
Red Rock Coulee, US
A place of peace and beauty
Happy New Year, everyone!
Badlands of Alberta
Rolling hills in winter
I love our blues and whites of winter
Sunset on the Prairies
Light and darkness
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Texture of burnt trees
Soaking up the incredible beauty
Yesterday morning's sunrise
Mountain view
Between the trees
Aging sentinel of the Badlands
The Bison Paddock, Waterton Lakes National Park, A…
Late fall on the prairies
Snowy peaks, Chinook Arch, golden stubble - who ne…
A barn with a difference
Snow + red barn = a happy day
Return of the Famous Five
Mammoth Hot Springs
Beautiful Waterton Valley
Layers of blue
Forgetmenot Pond
Light and shadow
A view from The Saskatoon Farm
The beauty of low cloud
United Church, Dorothy, Alberta
The Hoodoo Trail, near Drumheller
The Hoodoo Trail
Is that an owl in the window?
Badland sentinel
Old Catholic Church, Dorothy
The Hoodoo Trail, near Drumheller
A youngster having fun
At the end of the path
Forgetmenot Pond - one of my favourite places
The mountains at sunrise
A country road in fall colours
Where I was, yesterday
McDougall Church on a sunny day
View over the Waterton Valley
Menacing
When the mountains turn pink
Bison Paddock, Waterton Lakes National Park
A closer look
Those red, red rocks
Cameron Lake, Waterton
Layers of blue
Yesterday's storm clouds near Skiff, Alberta
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A beautiful display of Fireweed
Clouds over Frank Lake
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Cold, bleak and frosty
The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of High River was held on 16 December 2014. This town is SE of Calgary, roughly half an hour's drive from the southern edge of Calgary. My small group travelled in two cars, 8 people in total, and we covered the SE quadrant of the Count circle.
I will add the report compiled by our leader, Gus Yaki, at the end of my description. As usual, there were several of these sightings that I, myself, did not see. I ended up with poor photos of most of the things I did see - the day was absolutely beautiful, but the light was even worse than I had realized. If your computer monitor is smaller than mine, my images might look a little better : ) The amazing hoar frost, that covered everything, surprisingly lasted pretty well the whole day - usually, it lasts only a very short time. So, even though the light wasn't good for photos, the hoar frost beauty stayed with us all day long - breathtaking. This photo, taken near the blind (hide) at Frank Lake, will give you an idea of what we brave souls have to endure when do our winter bird counts, lol - wish you could feel the cold and dampness, too. Only two ducks were seen there, and 7 Gray Partridge were seen in flight from a distance.
For our drive down to High River, we had fog which, in patches, was quite thick. Wondered if we would see anything at all when we reached our area, ha. In addition to that, some of the birds, such as the three Snowy Owls (I only saw two of them) were SO far away, there was no chance for photos except just for the record. Only 35 species were seen in the total for the complete Count circle.
Of course, as always happens, I just had to take photos of anything else that caught my eye, including several barns, cloud formations, farm cats, and so on. We were looking in the bushes/shrubs where a Northern Saw-whet Owl had been sighted last Christmas Count - no luck with an owl, but one of the birders spotted a beautiful male Merlin very high up on a power pole. A short while later, it was spotted just down the road, perched on a fence post.
We had finished our count by 5:00 pm, by which time it was completely dark. A few of us stayed for the delicious pot luck supper, mainly provided by the generous birding people down in High River. Lorrie and John gave a slide show of their recent trip to Africa. So many great shots of beautiful bird species that I have never seen. Thanks, Lorrie and John, for spending time going through all your slides at home and choosing a lovely selection for us. Many thanks, too, for driving Shirley and myself all day long!
"HIGH RIVER CBC, SE quadrant, Frank Lk; E of #2, S of #23. 0830-1700, 16Dec2014. Overcast, heavy fog, created great hoarfrost on everything. Winds, variable direction, 10-15kph. -7°C. Ground mostly bare of snow; Little Bow River 95% frozen.
1. Mallard-1 f.
2. Scaup sp.- juv or f, likely Lesser-1
3. Gray Partridge-7
4. Ring-necked Pheasant-2
5. Bald Eagle-3 ( 2 ad/ 1 juv.)
6. Merlin-1 m.
7. Rock Pigeon-8
8. Great Horned Owl- 5 [an additional one seen N of Hwy 23, just W of Frank Lk exit at 16:56 pm.]
9. Snowy Owl-3
10. Downy Woodpecker-2
11. Northern Flicker-2
12. Black-billed Magpie-83
13. Common Raven-15
14. Horned Lark-20
15. Black-capped Chickadee-7
16. Common Redpoll-155
17. House Sparrow-669
18. 17 species of birds
MAMMALS:
Deer Mouse-1, deceased.
White-tailed Jackrabbit-1
Mule Deer-25
White-tailed Deer-44
Total Km by car-111; by foot- 3.
Total hours by car – 6; on foot-2.5
Gus Yaki"
I will add the report compiled by our leader, Gus Yaki, at the end of my description. As usual, there were several of these sightings that I, myself, did not see. I ended up with poor photos of most of the things I did see - the day was absolutely beautiful, but the light was even worse than I had realized. If your computer monitor is smaller than mine, my images might look a little better : ) The amazing hoar frost, that covered everything, surprisingly lasted pretty well the whole day - usually, it lasts only a very short time. So, even though the light wasn't good for photos, the hoar frost beauty stayed with us all day long - breathtaking. This photo, taken near the blind (hide) at Frank Lake, will give you an idea of what we brave souls have to endure when do our winter bird counts, lol - wish you could feel the cold and dampness, too. Only two ducks were seen there, and 7 Gray Partridge were seen in flight from a distance.
For our drive down to High River, we had fog which, in patches, was quite thick. Wondered if we would see anything at all when we reached our area, ha. In addition to that, some of the birds, such as the three Snowy Owls (I only saw two of them) were SO far away, there was no chance for photos except just for the record. Only 35 species were seen in the total for the complete Count circle.
Of course, as always happens, I just had to take photos of anything else that caught my eye, including several barns, cloud formations, farm cats, and so on. We were looking in the bushes/shrubs where a Northern Saw-whet Owl had been sighted last Christmas Count - no luck with an owl, but one of the birders spotted a beautiful male Merlin very high up on a power pole. A short while later, it was spotted just down the road, perched on a fence post.
We had finished our count by 5:00 pm, by which time it was completely dark. A few of us stayed for the delicious pot luck supper, mainly provided by the generous birding people down in High River. Lorrie and John gave a slide show of their recent trip to Africa. So many great shots of beautiful bird species that I have never seen. Thanks, Lorrie and John, for spending time going through all your slides at home and choosing a lovely selection for us. Many thanks, too, for driving Shirley and myself all day long!
"HIGH RIVER CBC, SE quadrant, Frank Lk; E of #2, S of #23. 0830-1700, 16Dec2014. Overcast, heavy fog, created great hoarfrost on everything. Winds, variable direction, 10-15kph. -7°C. Ground mostly bare of snow; Little Bow River 95% frozen.
1. Mallard-1 f.
2. Scaup sp.- juv or f, likely Lesser-1
3. Gray Partridge-7
4. Ring-necked Pheasant-2
5. Bald Eagle-3 ( 2 ad/ 1 juv.)
6. Merlin-1 m.
7. Rock Pigeon-8
8. Great Horned Owl- 5 [an additional one seen N of Hwy 23, just W of Frank Lk exit at 16:56 pm.]
9. Snowy Owl-3
10. Downy Woodpecker-2
11. Northern Flicker-2
12. Black-billed Magpie-83
13. Common Raven-15
14. Horned Lark-20
15. Black-capped Chickadee-7
16. Common Redpoll-155
17. House Sparrow-669
18. 17 species of birds
MAMMALS:
Deer Mouse-1, deceased.
White-tailed Jackrabbit-1
Mule Deer-25
White-tailed Deer-44
Total Km by car-111; by foot- 3.
Total hours by car – 6; on foot-2.5
Gus Yaki"
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