A closer view - male Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird female with bokeh
Ornamental Spurge / Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion…
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
Tattered and torn - and still beautiful
A distant Bobolink
Chilean Flamingo
Brown-headed Cowbird / Molothrus ater
My first Bald Eagle on a fence post
It's the Bobolink again
Just a little stretch
Forest refractions on a wet Dandelion : )
Wild Rose in the rain
Bobolink male / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
A forest find
A second's rest, together
Great Gray Owl in late-morning sun
False Dandelion / Hypochaeris radicata
Hike on Erik Butters' beautiful land
I like the post as much as the bird
Yellow Warbler male
Yellow lady's-slipper
One of my favourite views
Spotted Sandpiper
Flycatcher sp. - Willow or Alder Flycatcher
Yesterday's summer hail
Gaillardia
Mountain Death Camas / Zigadenus elegans
Middle Lake, Bow Valley Provincial Park
Egyptian Walking Onion
And then there were only THREE!
Bobolink male
Showy Milkweed / Asclepias speciosa
Willow Flycatcher
Fleabane
Hope he's one of the lucky ones
Kalm's Lobelia / Lobelia kalmii
Savannah Sparrow
Ram's Horn Snail shell
Escape of the Black-crowned Night Heron
This old house
Lighting up the storm clouds
Love those Canola fields
Barn Swallow
Layers
Ladybug larva on Showy Milkweed
American Coot interactive display
Time to feed the kids
Bold and beautiful
They can't see me
Weathered and patched
Longhorn
At Mossleigh grain elevators
Collecting food for her babies
Great Gray Owl on a rainy day
A favourite bird to photograph
Storm clouds over Canola
Eastern Kingbird
Goat's-beard
Mossleigh grain elevators
Reaching those faraway feathers
Loved by Monarch butterflies
Nest-building Dad
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Such an elegant bird
Sleeping down at the pond
Grasshopper Sparrow / Ammodramus savannarum - OR i…
Couldn't have chosen a better perch myself : )
Red-edged petals
Such good parents
There WAS a fence between us
Spotted Coralroot / Corallorhiza maculata
Meadow Creek area, Benchlands
Everyday beauty
Why this bird is called a Grosbeak
Northern Shoveler pair
I think he caught a beautiful Tiger Moth : )
Yesterday's treat - a Bobolink
Needed a change of colour
Eastern Kingbird
Along a country back road
Almost ready to fledge
Mom and her new baby
Way down the fence line
Hollyhock buds
Such cute little hands and feet
American Robin in the countryside
Cow Parsnip / Heracleum maximum
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
Barn Swallow
Wilson's Snipe hiding in the grass
Male and female Purple Martins / Progne subis
Treat of the day - Black Morel
Camouflaged Wood Frog
Time to preen
Great Horned Owl owlet, Ellis Bird Farm
Red-necked Grebe
I'm baaack ...
Dame's rocket
Busy Barn Swallow
Collecting food for his babies
White-crowned Sparrow / Zonotrichia leucophrys
Gaillardia on red
Made my day : )
Purple Martin condominium
Farm seed elevator, Ellis Bird Farm, Alberta
Lots of 'bling'
Bee nesting box
A colourful little corner
Purple Martins / Progne subis
Entrance to the Ellis Bird Farm
The old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
Herper friend with Wood Frog (and fly)
Little treasures on a log
Tree Swallow female
Flowers of spring
Le Conte's Sparrow
American Robin male
Great Gray Owl in a field of Dandelions
American Goldfinch male
Baby fluff
Striped Coralroot / Corallorhiza striata
Tiny House Wren / Troglodytes aedon
One of yesterday's two Great Gray Owls
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
See also...
Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
119 visits
Clay-colored Sparrow / Spizella pallida
On 14 May 2016, I went on a morning walk with birding friends. We met at the Boat Launch in Fish Creek Park and walked in the Sikome and Lafarge Meadows areas. This included checking on the usual Great Horned Owl family - all four members were way up high in the trees, more or less hidden from view.
This Clay-colored Sparrow stayed long enough to get a quick shot. On the return walk, I happened to be walking at the back of the group. I heard a bird that caught my attention and when I stopped to look, I found a beautiful little White-crowned Sparrow sitting deep within the low branches of a coniferous tree.
"The Clay-colored Sparrow’s buzzy song is a signature sound of the vast shrublands of the northern prairie and Great Plains. Though they’re not brightly colored, their pale tones and overall clean, crisp markings help set them apart from other sparrows—especially useful on their wintering grounds, where they often flock with other species. These active birds tend to forage within the branches of shrubs or on the ground beneath cover. Though still very numerous, their numbers have slowly declined over the past 40 years." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clay-colored_Sparrow/id
After this walk, I drove a short distance to see a different family of Great Horned Owls, presumably the same pair of adults that we had seen last year, nesting near the Bow Valley Ranch. Amazingly, this pair had four - yes, four! - owlets this time. Somewhat better views than of the first family, at least for the short time I was there.
Bird list from the leader of our morning walk, Melanie S.:
Fish Creek PP--Boat Launch, Calgary, Alberta, CA
14-May-2016 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.5 kilometer(s)
Comments: 10 to 15 deg C. Sunny. Nature Calgary field trip, leader Melanie Seneviratne.
46 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 24
Gadwall 8
American Wigeon 10
Mallard 22
Blue-winged Teal 4
Northern Shoveler 1
Canvasback 1
Redhead 7
Lesser Scaup 6
Common Goldeneye 2
Common Merganser 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
American White Pelican 5
Great Blue Heron 1
Osprey 4
Northern Goshawk 1 Flew over car park as we were leaving.
Swainson's Hawk 4
American Coot 4
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Wilson's Snipe 1
Franklin's Gull 3
California Gull 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2
Great Horned Owl 4 2 adult 2 juveniles
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Black-billed Magpie 2
American Crow 2
Common Raven 5
Tree Swallow 250
Barn Swallow 1
Cliff Swallow 20
Black-capped Chickadee 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 12
European Starling 10
Clay-colored Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Yellow-headed Blackbird 6
Brewer's Blackbird 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
This Clay-colored Sparrow stayed long enough to get a quick shot. On the return walk, I happened to be walking at the back of the group. I heard a bird that caught my attention and when I stopped to look, I found a beautiful little White-crowned Sparrow sitting deep within the low branches of a coniferous tree.
"The Clay-colored Sparrow’s buzzy song is a signature sound of the vast shrublands of the northern prairie and Great Plains. Though they’re not brightly colored, their pale tones and overall clean, crisp markings help set them apart from other sparrows—especially useful on their wintering grounds, where they often flock with other species. These active birds tend to forage within the branches of shrubs or on the ground beneath cover. Though still very numerous, their numbers have slowly declined over the past 40 years." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clay-colored_Sparrow/id
After this walk, I drove a short distance to see a different family of Great Horned Owls, presumably the same pair of adults that we had seen last year, nesting near the Bow Valley Ranch. Amazingly, this pair had four - yes, four! - owlets this time. Somewhat better views than of the first family, at least for the short time I was there.
Bird list from the leader of our morning walk, Melanie S.:
Fish Creek PP--Boat Launch, Calgary, Alberta, CA
14-May-2016 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.5 kilometer(s)
Comments: 10 to 15 deg C. Sunny. Nature Calgary field trip, leader Melanie Seneviratne.
46 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 24
Gadwall 8
American Wigeon 10
Mallard 22
Blue-winged Teal 4
Northern Shoveler 1
Canvasback 1
Redhead 7
Lesser Scaup 6
Common Goldeneye 2
Common Merganser 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
American White Pelican 5
Great Blue Heron 1
Osprey 4
Northern Goshawk 1 Flew over car park as we were leaving.
Swainson's Hawk 4
American Coot 4
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Wilson's Snipe 1
Franklin's Gull 3
California Gull 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2
Great Horned Owl 4 2 adult 2 juveniles
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Black-billed Magpie 2
American Crow 2
Common Raven 5
Tree Swallow 250
Barn Swallow 1
Cliff Swallow 20
Black-capped Chickadee 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 12
European Starling 10
Clay-colored Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Yellow-headed Blackbird 6
Brewer's Blackbird 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2024
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Sign-in to write a comment.