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
Sharp-tailed Grouse / Tympanuchus phasianellus
House Wren at the Ellis Bird Farm
Handsome male Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Mustard White butterfly / Pieris oleracea
Predator with prey
Lovage / Levisticum officinale
The one-legged stance
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Hen and rooster at the Saskatoon Farm
Bluebird memories
Leisurely swim
Chipping Sparrow / Spizella passerina
A few of the bird houses at Ellis Bird Farm
Swainson's Hawk
The poser - Wilson's Snipe
An endless feast for a Ladybug
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
A gleam in the eye
When storms blow in
A mountain Bluebird with 'bling'
Waiting for me
Standing in sunshine
Under a stormy sky
Pretty Mama cat
Bees, bees, and more bees
A bewildering world for a fallen owlet
Narcissus
Black-necked Stilt
Colour for a snowy day
First day of fledging
Wild Lily-of-the-valley
Showy Milkweed with bee
Old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
Pine Grosbeaks
Willow Flycatcher
Showy Milkweed / Asclepias speciosa
Bobolink male
And then there were only THREE!
Egyptian Walking Onion
Middle Lake, Bow Valley Provincial Park
Mountain Death Camas / Zigadenus elegans
Gaillardia
Yesterday's summer hail
Flycatcher sp. - Willow or Alder Flycatcher
Spotted Sandpiper
One of my favourite views
Yellow lady's-slipper
Yellow Warbler male
I like the post as much as the bird
Hike on Erik Butters' beautiful land
False Dandelion / Hypochaeris radicata
Great Gray Owl in late-morning sun
A second's rest, together
A forest find
Bobolink male / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Wild Rose in the rain
Forest refractions on a wet Dandelion : )
Just a little stretch
It's the Bobolink again
My first Bald Eagle on a fence post
Brown-headed Cowbird / Molothrus ater
Chilean Flamingo
A distant Bobolink
Tattered and torn - and still beautiful
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
Ornamental Spurge / Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion…
Red-winged Blackbird female with bokeh
A closer view - male Bobolink
Clay-colored Sparrow / Spizella pallida
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
See also...
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137 visits
Fleabane
HAPPY 4th JULY to all Americans!
This photo was taken yesterday, 3 July 2016, when I again went with friends, Dorothy and Stephen, to Bow Valley Provincial Park. On 28 June 2016, the three of us had been out there to do a dry run before yesterday's day trip, when 9 other people joined the three of us.
The mountains in this park are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards on Highway 1 or 1A from Calgary. They form the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Mt. Yamnuska is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders. It is less than an hour's drive west from Calgary.
Our main walk was following the Many Springs Trail, which is perhaps the most rewarding in the park. A great variety of plants can be found there. We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, Harebells, Fleabane, and lots of Gaillardia. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer.
Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but we were not able to ID them all. On 28th June, our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher (Willow or Alder Flycatcher) near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour.
On yesterday''s trip, we saw 20 bird species and I will add the list compiled by Janet Gill. I never find this park a good place for taking bird photos - widflowers are easier, though it was windy yesterday, which made it more difficult.
1. Great Blue Heron - 1 seen flying overhead
2. Green-winged Teal - 2 females, 6 ducklings
3. Scaup sp. (likely Lesser) 1 male, 1 female
4. Bufflehead - l female
5. Spotted Sandpiper - 6 including 1 at nest sight
6. Willow Flycatcher - 2 (1 seen, 1 heard)
7. American Crow - 1
8. Common Raven - 1
9. Tree Swallow - 1
10. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1
11. Black-capped Chickadee - 2
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
13. American Robin - 5
14. Swainson's Thrush - 1
15. Yellow Warbler - 6
16. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 Myrtles
17. Song Sparrow - 1
18. White-throated Sparrow - 2
19. Dark-eyed Junco - 1
20. Brown-headed Cowbird -2
Dorothy's list of some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom:
Western Wood Lily
Yellow Lady's Slipper
Indian Paintbrush
Western Canada Violet
Blue Clematis
Cut-leaved Anemone
Camas Lily
Showy Locoweed
Honeysucke
Gailardia
Northern Bedstraw
Common Yarrow
Harebell
Goldenrod
Common Pink Wintergreen
Elephanthead
Fleabane
On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - there was no sign of the beautiful reeds that used to really add something special to this view. We had seen the same thing with the water level at Many Springs, too.
The weather forecast for this day mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive.
Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go.
www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/
The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing!
x-powered.com/camping/maps/BowValleyPP_Map.gif
This photo was taken yesterday, 3 July 2016, when I again went with friends, Dorothy and Stephen, to Bow Valley Provincial Park. On 28 June 2016, the three of us had been out there to do a dry run before yesterday's day trip, when 9 other people joined the three of us.
The mountains in this park are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards on Highway 1 or 1A from Calgary. They form the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Mt. Yamnuska is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders. It is less than an hour's drive west from Calgary.
Our main walk was following the Many Springs Trail, which is perhaps the most rewarding in the park. A great variety of plants can be found there. We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, Harebells, Fleabane, and lots of Gaillardia. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer.
Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but we were not able to ID them all. On 28th June, our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher (Willow or Alder Flycatcher) near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour.
On yesterday''s trip, we saw 20 bird species and I will add the list compiled by Janet Gill. I never find this park a good place for taking bird photos - widflowers are easier, though it was windy yesterday, which made it more difficult.
1. Great Blue Heron - 1 seen flying overhead
2. Green-winged Teal - 2 females, 6 ducklings
3. Scaup sp. (likely Lesser) 1 male, 1 female
4. Bufflehead - l female
5. Spotted Sandpiper - 6 including 1 at nest sight
6. Willow Flycatcher - 2 (1 seen, 1 heard)
7. American Crow - 1
8. Common Raven - 1
9. Tree Swallow - 1
10. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1
11. Black-capped Chickadee - 2
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
13. American Robin - 5
14. Swainson's Thrush - 1
15. Yellow Warbler - 6
16. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 Myrtles
17. Song Sparrow - 1
18. White-throated Sparrow - 2
19. Dark-eyed Junco - 1
20. Brown-headed Cowbird -2
Dorothy's list of some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom:
Western Wood Lily
Yellow Lady's Slipper
Indian Paintbrush
Western Canada Violet
Blue Clematis
Cut-leaved Anemone
Camas Lily
Showy Locoweed
Honeysucke
Gailardia
Northern Bedstraw
Common Yarrow
Harebell
Goldenrod
Common Pink Wintergreen
Elephanthead
Fleabane
On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - there was no sign of the beautiful reeds that used to really add something special to this view. We had seen the same thing with the water level at Many Springs, too.
The weather forecast for this day mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive.
Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go.
www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/
The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing!
x-powered.com/camping/maps/BowValleyPP_Map.gif
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