Petunias
All decked out
Dark-eyed Junco / Junco hyemalis
CL Ranches, Alberta
Fence line in the fall
Pine Grosbeak male / Pinicola enucleator
So far away, but better than nothing
A frosty view from Frank Lake blind
A touch of frost
A road less travelled
Golden Eagle along the fenceline
In the bleak midwinter
Outlined in frost
The donkeys with reflector eyes
Christmas remnants
Fenced in
A winter day in southern Alberta
Home of the Snowshoe Hare
The best colour to see in winter
A fence without an owl
Short-eared Owl
Taking the quieter road
Time for an old barn again
'Superman, where are you now?'
A friendly greeting
Old barn with a different style
Four more months to wait
Narrow strip of light
A view through the bushes
Little church in the valley
A cluster of red barns
And they call this winter (in Alberta)?
A snack for his babies
Natural beauty
03 Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus
Just a splash of colour
A sky filled with clouds
Mountain Bluebirds have no blue pigment
A white barn from yesterday
Mountain Bluebird
Yellow-headed Blackbirds in every direction
Still standing
Wilson's Snipe, seen from afar
Dandelions - of course : )
McDougall Memorial United Church
01 Spic and span
The old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
Entrance to the Ellis Bird Farm
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
Along a country back road
I think he caught a beautiful Tiger Moth : )
Such good parents
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
My first Bald Eagle on a fence post
This old house
Bright and cheery in its old age
Collecting food for her babies
A well-decorated fence
Eastern Kingbird
Nest-building Dad
Mt Lorette Ponds, Kananaskis
Swainson's Hawk on an early morning hunt
Mountain Bluebird female
A snack that is sure to tickle
American Goldfinch female with Sunflower seed
A lovely splash of colour
Eastern Kingbird
One of three
Changes by new owners in "The Famous Five" field
Little red barn on Mother's Day
Vibrant colour of spring
Simple but bright
Strong winds on the prairies
Red barn in a field of gold
A favourite tree
Off limits
Delicate damselfly
Wrinkled sky
Gently falling snow
Red barn on a sunny day
Horse on the prairie
The wonder of hoar frost
A prairie view
Do you see what I see? Look very closely at the w…
Made to feel welcome
Red
The prairies in winter
Aged beauty
Driving in a winter wonderland
Frosty fence and fields
Three little kittens
A nice old barn
Three little birders of the wrong kind
A quick peek through the fence
Late fall on the prairies
A barn with a difference
Old barn and sunflower shed
A beautiful country barn
At the end of the path
McDougall Church on a sunny day
Two of a kind!
Avian beauty
A Snipe from last year
Dandelion bokeh
Brewer's Blackbird with food for his babies
Swainson's Hawk on a rainy day
Sharing her catch
Superman's barn
Fog is not good for birding
Yay, Superman!
Pretty little lady
Winter sunrise.jpg
Some white patches have eyes : )
Is it a Snowy? ... no, it isn't ... yes, it is!
When winter is beautiful
Eastern Kingbird with summer bokeh
Barn beauty
Winter shadows
A winter moment
Towards the sun
Harsh reality
Winter simplicity
Road conditions
Rural winter scene
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161 visits
Bluebird of happiness
Sometimes, a quick, close shot ends up missing a bit of the tail of a bird, but I still like the photo : ) The evening of 10 June 2015, was only what I would call a "magical"! Normally, I tend not to go out in the evening - usually just too tired and there are all sorts of things needing to be done on my computer. However, having driven SW of the city the previous day and noticing a baby Mountain Bluebird poking its head out of its nesting box, I knew that any time now, it and its siblings would be suddenly gone. I have been back more recently and found a Tree Swallow looking out from the Bluebirds' nesting box.
It was early evening when I left home on 10 June, after a volunteer shift and a haircut. Really, I was just going to check on the Bluebirds and was not expecting to see all that much else. That's how the evening started, but as the evening progressed, the world seemed to come alive with bird song and activity. It has been a long, long time since I've experienced that, if ever.
Though my trip was mainly just to check on the Bluebirds, I was also lucky to see an American Robin sitting on a barbed-wire fence just a couple of feet away from a brilliant blue male Bluebird. Talk about colour! They were way down the road, so I was only able to get a very distant shot. Also saw a number of Snipe that I love to photograph.
When I reached the point where I was going to turn around and head for home, I saw yet another Snipe perched on a fence. Just a few feet from it, on the same fence rail, was a beautiful Swainson's Hawk! After posing for a while, both birds took off, with the Hawk in hot pursuit of the Snipe. I couldn't see how the chase ended, but hopefully the Snipe escaped.
Closer to home, I suddenly spotted a beautiful female Moose at a small wetland, right before I turned on to the main highway. Not sure if it's because I took my first photos of her from inside the car, across the passenger seat, but most were blurry. Eventually, she left and started walking along the road away from the highway. I crawled along, watching her way in the distance. She kept walking from side to side of the road and then stopped to lick some salt off the road, bending her front legs to kneel in what looked a very awkward move : )
Driving back to the highway, I stopped to watch three or four young White-tailed Deer having fun at the wetland. One of them would occasionally stamp one of its front legs in the water and then bound away a few feet. Funny to watch and so good to see it playing so happily.
So, it was quite the evening, to say the least! I drove all the way home with a big smile on my face.
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
It was early evening when I left home on 10 June, after a volunteer shift and a haircut. Really, I was just going to check on the Bluebirds and was not expecting to see all that much else. That's how the evening started, but as the evening progressed, the world seemed to come alive with bird song and activity. It has been a long, long time since I've experienced that, if ever.
Though my trip was mainly just to check on the Bluebirds, I was also lucky to see an American Robin sitting on a barbed-wire fence just a couple of feet away from a brilliant blue male Bluebird. Talk about colour! They were way down the road, so I was only able to get a very distant shot. Also saw a number of Snipe that I love to photograph.
When I reached the point where I was going to turn around and head for home, I saw yet another Snipe perched on a fence. Just a few feet from it, on the same fence rail, was a beautiful Swainson's Hawk! After posing for a while, both birds took off, with the Hawk in hot pursuit of the Snipe. I couldn't see how the chase ended, but hopefully the Snipe escaped.
Closer to home, I suddenly spotted a beautiful female Moose at a small wetland, right before I turned on to the main highway. Not sure if it's because I took my first photos of her from inside the car, across the passenger seat, but most were blurry. Eventually, she left and started walking along the road away from the highway. I crawled along, watching her way in the distance. She kept walking from side to side of the road and then stopped to lick some salt off the road, bending her front legs to kneel in what looked a very awkward move : )
Driving back to the highway, I stopped to watch three or four young White-tailed Deer having fun at the wetland. One of them would occasionally stamp one of its front legs in the water and then bound away a few feet. Funny to watch and so good to see it playing so happily.
So, it was quite the evening, to say the least! I drove all the way home with a big smile on my face.
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
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