Old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
Pine Grosbeaks
Peekaboo - whooo are yooo?
Longhorn cattle
The barn cat gang
Shooting in the rain
Joy for a deep-freeze day
Winter on the farm
Pine Grosbeak in winter sunshine
Following the fenceline
Beautiful farm cat
Posing nicely
Beginning to burst
Ever watchful
White-winged Crossbills
Poor quality, but of interest
A touch of blue
Female Mountain Bluebird with lunch for her babies
Northern Hawk Owl from 2016
Northern Hawk Owl
Meadow Vole for a tasty snack
Summer colour
Atop a utility pole
Red-winged Blackbird female or juvenile
Goat's-beard with visitor
Decorating the base of a tree
Seedhead wisps
Great Gray Owl, focused
Showing off its gills
Pinedrops
One of my favourite views
Unidentified fungus
A distant shot from my archives
Balancing act
When the world turns white
Great Gray Owl - from the archives
Great Gray Owl - from my archives
Wild Lily-of-the-valley
First day of fledging
Colour for a snowy day
Black-necked Stilt
Narcissus
A bewildering world for a fallen owlet
Bees, bees, and more bees
Pretty Mama cat
Under a stormy sky
Standing in sunshine
Waiting for me
A mountain Bluebird with 'bling'
When storms blow in
A gleam in the eye
Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
An endless feast for a Ladybug
The poser - Wilson's Snipe
Swainson's Hawk
A few of the bird houses at Ellis Bird Farm
Chipping Sparrow / Spizella passerina
Leisurely swim
Bluebird memories
Hen and rooster at the Saskatoon Farm
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The one-legged stance
Lovage / Levisticum officinale
Predator with prey
Mustard White butterfly / Pieris oleracea
Handsome male Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
House Wren at the Ellis Bird Farm
Sharp-tailed Grouse / Tympanuchus phasianellus
Nest-building Dad
Loved by Monarch butterflies
Reaching those faraway feathers
Mossleigh grain elevators
Goat's-beard
Eastern Kingbird
Storm clouds over Canola
A favourite bird to photograph
Great Gray Owl on a rainy day
Collecting food for her babies
At Mossleigh grain elevators
Longhorn
Weathered and patched
They can't see me
Bold and beautiful
Time to feed the kids
American Coot interactive display
Ladybug larva on Showy Milkweed
Layers
Barn Swallow
Love those Canola fields
Lighting up the storm clouds
This old house
Escape of the Black-crowned Night Heron
Ram's Horn Snail shell
Savannah Sparrow
Kalm's Lobelia / Lobelia kalmii
Hope he's one of the lucky ones
Fleabane
Willow Flycatcher
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191 visits
Showy Milkweed with bee
Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, everywhere!
Wanted to wish all Americans, at home or living in other countries around the world, a wonderful Thanksgiving today. Special thoughts to those who are serving their country, and their families, especially those who will not be able to spend the day together. I do hope you all have a happy and safe day. No matter what our circumstances are, there are always endless things, large and small, to be thankful for, especially when compared to those who live in many less fortunate countries around the world. Enjoy your turkey dinner, if you are lucky enough to have one, and enjoy the company of family and friends, if you are fortunate enough to have either or both! Our Canadian Thanksgiving was on 10 October this year.
On 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 in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city.
"Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately.
edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe...
""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.
Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia.
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.
Wanted to wish all Americans, at home or living in other countries around the world, a wonderful Thanksgiving today. Special thoughts to those who are serving their country, and their families, especially those who will not be able to spend the day together. I do hope you all have a happy and safe day. No matter what our circumstances are, there are always endless things, large and small, to be thankful for, especially when compared to those who live in many less fortunate countries around the world. Enjoy your turkey dinner, if you are lucky enough to have one, and enjoy the company of family and friends, if you are fortunate enough to have either or both! Our Canadian Thanksgiving was on 10 October this year.
On 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 in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city.
"Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately.
edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe...
""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.
Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia.
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.
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