And then there were only THREE!

I have added a previously posted photo to a comment box below, showing the original row of five old granaries. These colourful sheds have been photographed by so many photographers over the years. When I saw the For Sale sign on the fence quite a long time ago, my big concern was whether new owners would leave these granaries standing. Each time I stopped by, I stood and looked to see if there was anyone working in the huge field, so that I could mention how popular these buildings are with photographers, but I was always out of luck. It was so upsetting to see a photo posted by friend Ron a few days ago, breaking the news that two of these have been removed! I was able to take this quick, distant shot the other evening when I was on Don Stiles' Bluebird route trip - we didn't go on the actual road where the sheds are. Makes me wonder if any of them will be standing next time I drive over there. Such a great pity!

Another piece of upsetting news the other day was that a couple who went on this Bluebird trip had very recently found a dead Great Gray Owl in the area. Possibly one of the two adults that I photographed two or three weeks ago? I don't know if it had been hit by a car.

Anyway, in the morning of this particular day, 30 June 2016, I just made it in time for a botany visit to our main naturalist leader's home and garden. He and his wife have an amazing garden, full of so many kinds of flowers, including a good variety of native plants. One of my favourites is Showy Milkweed - love the cluster of individual flowers growing on a rounded head. These plants have spread over a lot of the front garden. All they need now is for Monarch butterflies to fly a bit further north than they usually do and discover this little bit of butterfly heaven. In 2012, though, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a few Monarch caterpillars in this garden, for the very first and last time.

Our leader also has a large vegetable garden. One thing that always fascinates me is the Egyptian Walking Onion. Each one seems to take on its own artistic shape and I love to photograph these - both fascinating and quite beautiful.

In the afternoon of this day, we experienced a huge rain and hail storm. Fortunately, it cleared up in time to go on Don Stiles' annual evening Bluebird route trip. I always look forward to going with Don on his nest box route, checking on a few of the boxes and finding either Bluebird or Tree Swallow eggs or babies. Don records all the information about numbers and dates, and also demonstrates how he carefully bands the young birds. Thanks, as always, Don, for an enjoyable evening outing and thank you for all the many, many years (must be somewhere around 35?) you have spent helping to preserve our beautiful Bluebirds. We all enjoyed seeing the various other bird species during the evening, too.