Storm clouds over Canola

I see that today, 6 August 2016, Flickr has messed up Stats yet again! Hopefully, staff will see someone's message and they can 'fix' it again. Amazing how often Stats goes wrong. Not sure if any staff work on the weekends, though.

A month ago, on 5 July 2016, I finally drove SE of the city to the Frank Lake area. I have missed almost all the shore birds this year and knew that if I didn't go very soon, they would all have left.

As it was, I saw very few birds of any kind. I drove straight to the blind/hide at Frank Lake, where everything was quiet, other than a few Coots with their teenage kids, several Ruddy Ducks including a female lying on her nest, a Marsh Wren that I could hear but not see, a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds, maybe three White-faced Ibis flying by, a few Tree Swallows and a rather handsome Barn Swallow. Also, as soon as I had left the blind and taken a few steps down the boardwalk, I was totally taken by surprise by a Black-crowned Night Heron that flew overhead, being chased by a small shorebird. The Heron was letting out a very loud 'hoarse scream' that sounded almost human-like. Just managed to get a rapid shot of the Heron before it flew out of camera view. I so rarely see even a very distant Night Heron, though I did see and photograph a beautiful juvenile that was hanging out at Lafarge Meadows in Fish Creek Park last year (2015), and a very close adult east of the city a few weeks ago.

From the blind area at Frank Lake, I drove eastwards and eventually came to Mossleigh, where I stopped at the three grain elevators to take photos. On the way, I stopped to photograph an old homestead, which I have usually seen and photographed in winter.

The light was really bad, with massive storm clouds overhead. The weather forecast was for a risk of thunderstorms, though fortunately there was just a tiny bit of short-lived rain. The past week, there had been tornadoes north and south of us, but there was no Tornado Warning in effect on 5 July. A great kind of sky when a few of the fields were turning bright yellow from the Canola crops.

A few hours later, it was time to return home after several very enjoyable hours out. More of a cloud, scenery and old barn trip than a birding trip, but those of you who know me, know I love photographing all of the above.