A touch of England

Each year, a small group off us call in at this particular property, SW of Calgary, when we are taking part in the annual May Species Count. The owner wasn't home, unfortunately, though someone further down the road had told us that he was home. We stood near the front of his home and noted any birds that were around, but didn't see any of the Evening Grosbeaks that we had seen a previous year(s).

This gentleman has this wonderful old English phone box in his garden, and a bright red English mailbox set into a stone wall. There is also a bright red fire hydrant on his lawn (and he does have dogs, lol) - wonder if that was from England, too. Visiting this property always makes me feel like I'm back in England, where I was born and spent my first 22 years.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_telephone_box

On this day, 31 May 2015, eight of us covered a large area SW of Calgary, checking out the backroads, ponds, wetlands, sloughs. The highlight each May is calling in at a wonderful property (Barb's) where we are able to see some great species, including Evening Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, and this year, a tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird male. A little House Wren was also flitting about in the trees.

We had a great day, stopping en route at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park to eat our lunch. This year, we didn't go into the park to look for Calypso Orchids, partly because a week ago, we did call in and found several of the small, pink Orchids. The temperature was 12C - 23C, with blue sky. Total distance travelled was 93 km and our total number of bird species was 63.

After the Count, we called in at a little tea place and enjoyed relaxing with welcome cups of coffee. Thanks so much, Monica, for treating us all to this and for driving your daughter and myself around all day - greatly appreciated! The list, compiled by our leader, Gus Yaki, is long, but I will add it here, for my own memory. I'll add that, as usual, there were a lot of the birds that I didn't see - I don't use binoculars and also so many of the birds seemed to be the seen from the opposite side of the car, lol.