Greenish sky beneath a Chinook Arch
One of my favourite views
Well-protected
A distant shot from my archives
Rough-legged Hawk / Buteo lagopus
Mallard female
Mountain Bluebird male
A house to match
Ride him, Cowboy!
Beyond the fence
Brown-headed Cowbird male
Mountain Bluebird with food for her babies
Brewer's Blackbird male
Common Nighthawk
Sheep at the Rusty Bucket Ranch
Mountain Bluebird female
Splash of colour
A road less travelled
An old red barn
Farm in the foothills
The Long house, Pioneer Acres, Alberta, Canada
Disappearing Skunk - just for the record
The charred remains of McDougall Memorial United C…
Great Horned Owl on a fence post
A new-to-me old barn
Evening Grosbeak female
Fragile and leaning
Storm clouds near the city
Pontiac and Massey Harris, rusting side by side
The joys of an old farmyard
The red barn
A beauty of a barn
Alberta foothills in the fall
Old, see-through barn
Down on the farm
New "barn", Granary Road
A peaceful winter scene
A country scene
Northern Shrike
Modern barn
The fun times are over
One of my favourite barns
Handsome - Norwegian Fjord Horse?
Here comes the snow
In search of an owl - with permission
Barn with the fallen cupola
Common Redpoll
On a Christmas Bird Count, -23C
A most welcome find
Old barns in winter
Lacy curtain of ice
Red barn in winter
Whites and blues of winter
Great Kiskadee, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Country scene in winter
A white world
Deer on the horizon
The ever-present Black-capped Chickadee
Plain, but welcome
Splash of colour
Rose-breasted Grosbeak from the archives
On its way down
One of two Coyotes
A mix of textures
Dreaming of spring
Winter textures
Snowy Owl along the fenceline
Red-winged Blackbird female or juvenile
The peace of a prairie farm - my main photo today
Better than nothing - this is NOT my main photo!
Northern Shrike / Lanius excubitor
Afternoon light on the foothills
Barn with a mural
A touch of blue
Our beautiful Alberta
Snow turns something ordinary into beautiful
Winter walking
Nanton Christmas Bird Count
A well looked after barn
Sunrise colour over the mountain peaks
Christmas star
Following the fenceline
Old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
One spectacular fall day
Clematis after the rain
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
02 Two young Moose
The beauty of fall
McDougall Memorial United Church
A bright splash of blue in August
Swainson's Hawk on an early morning hunt
Mt Lorette Ponds, Kananaskis
Nest-building Dad
Eastern Kingbird
A well-decorated fence
Collecting food for her babies
Bright and cheery in its old age
This old house
My first Bald Eagle on a fence post
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Such good parents
I think he caught a beautiful Tiger Moth : )
Along a country back road
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
Entrance to the Ellis Bird Farm
The old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
01 Spic and span
McDougall Memorial United Church
Dandelions - of course : )
Wilson's Snipe, seen from afar
Still standing
Yellow-headed Blackbirds in every direction
Mountain Bluebird
A white barn from yesterday
Mountain Bluebirds have no blue pigment
A sky filled with clouds
Just a splash of colour
03 Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus
Natural beauty
A snack for his babies
And they call this winter (in Alberta)?
A cluster of red barns
Little church in the valley
A view through the bushes
See also...
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289 visits
Skull on a fence post
Friends, Dorothy and Stephen, made a decision to drive down south on 20 February 2017 and asked if I would like to go with them. As always, my answer was a delighted "Yes, please!" Our mutual friend, Janet, also came along. The weather forecast looked good, especially compared to the forecast snow for the next few days - actually, it has snowed in Calgary the last two days so, if it also snowed south of us, then this whole area will be looking very different now. After meeting at their house, the four of us left at 8:30 am and drove to Nanton. If one travels on Highway 2, Nanton is a 46-minute drive from the southern edge of Calgary, about 72 kms.
From Nanton, we basically drove in a huge circle between Highway 2 and Highway 22, covering such beautiful scenery. Some of these roads were new roads for us, certainly for me. Each year, I take part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton, and my small group covers the area to the SW of Nanton, but much closer to the town than the area we explored five days ago.
This farm was somewhere between Nanton and the Porcupine Hills. As you can see, there was very little or no snow to be seen - the lack of moisture must be a concern to some of the local farmers. Most of the fields were completely bare.
My friends' target bird was the Golden Eagle, but all of us were happy as can be to see anything else that we might come across. As it turned out, not only did we not see a single Golden Eagle, there were not many birds of any kind to see all day. A flock of 50+ Starlings, and 25 Common Ravens, various Magpies, a few Pigeons, Canada Geese and a couple of heard Red-breasted Nuthatches were all that we saw. For animals, we saw one Coyote, five Mule Deer and a couple of White-tailed Deer.
However, perhaps our biggest excitement came when we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive. We could see the huge herd in the distance, with one lone cowboy on his horse at the rear, coming towards us. The whole procession was following another farmer, driving very slowly with a huge hay bale in the back of his truck. After taking a quick few distant shots, we climbed back into our vehicle and waited, and waited, and waited till the very last cow had walked past us. The cowboy said he appreciated the fact that we had stopped, not wanting to spook any of the animals. As soon as they were past us, we climbed out of the car to take a quick photo or two. I think I've only ever seen a cattle drive maybe twice before. So good to see a genuine cowboy at work, doing what he does so well.
Another interesting stop was when we were driving along part of the Sky View Road. We came across a logging sight, with a couple of large piles of cut logs waiting to be trucked out of the area. Fortunately, it was Family Day, so there were no huge logging trucks on the rough, gravel road leading up the hillside. We were hoping to reach the Lookout in case there were amazing views from up there, but we decided that it might be risky to drive the last part of the road that would have led to the Lookout. We had climbed high enough to already find a lot more snow and the rough, narrow road was not in the best condition. This was where we saw the two White-tailed Deer. We had seen beautiful views already, lower down the road, so we were happy.
"Between the Rockies' vigorous upthrusts and the recumbent lines of the grassland plains, the Porcupine Hills provide a softly rounded interface, gentle contours that stir the heart, They are always so beautiful, from the wildflowers of spring to the hazy shimmer of summer and the sharp gold of fall aspens, and even in the austerity of a landscape under the sharp shadows of snow. The hills bring magic to all the seasons."
These are the first few lines from the book, "Exploring the Routes Less Travelled - Country Roads of Alberta", by Liz Bryan. This is a book that my daughter gave me a year or two ago and I had forgotten just which journeys it covered. Once I was back home, while I was Googling the area that I had just spent the day exploring with my friends, I came across this book online. The short chapter on this area made interesting reading.
Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such a great day, exploring a new area. It was so much fun to see some new things and, of course, the scenery was spectacular. How lucky we are to live within reach of such beauty! Having been out so few times in many weeks, and having taken barely any photos at all, this kind of day was exactly what I needed.
From Nanton, we basically drove in a huge circle between Highway 2 and Highway 22, covering such beautiful scenery. Some of these roads were new roads for us, certainly for me. Each year, I take part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton, and my small group covers the area to the SW of Nanton, but much closer to the town than the area we explored five days ago.
This farm was somewhere between Nanton and the Porcupine Hills. As you can see, there was very little or no snow to be seen - the lack of moisture must be a concern to some of the local farmers. Most of the fields were completely bare.
My friends' target bird was the Golden Eagle, but all of us were happy as can be to see anything else that we might come across. As it turned out, not only did we not see a single Golden Eagle, there were not many birds of any kind to see all day. A flock of 50+ Starlings, and 25 Common Ravens, various Magpies, a few Pigeons, Canada Geese and a couple of heard Red-breasted Nuthatches were all that we saw. For animals, we saw one Coyote, five Mule Deer and a couple of White-tailed Deer.
However, perhaps our biggest excitement came when we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive. We could see the huge herd in the distance, with one lone cowboy on his horse at the rear, coming towards us. The whole procession was following another farmer, driving very slowly with a huge hay bale in the back of his truck. After taking a quick few distant shots, we climbed back into our vehicle and waited, and waited, and waited till the very last cow had walked past us. The cowboy said he appreciated the fact that we had stopped, not wanting to spook any of the animals. As soon as they were past us, we climbed out of the car to take a quick photo or two. I think I've only ever seen a cattle drive maybe twice before. So good to see a genuine cowboy at work, doing what he does so well.
Another interesting stop was when we were driving along part of the Sky View Road. We came across a logging sight, with a couple of large piles of cut logs waiting to be trucked out of the area. Fortunately, it was Family Day, so there were no huge logging trucks on the rough, gravel road leading up the hillside. We were hoping to reach the Lookout in case there were amazing views from up there, but we decided that it might be risky to drive the last part of the road that would have led to the Lookout. We had climbed high enough to already find a lot more snow and the rough, narrow road was not in the best condition. This was where we saw the two White-tailed Deer. We had seen beautiful views already, lower down the road, so we were happy.
"Between the Rockies' vigorous upthrusts and the recumbent lines of the grassland plains, the Porcupine Hills provide a softly rounded interface, gentle contours that stir the heart, They are always so beautiful, from the wildflowers of spring to the hazy shimmer of summer and the sharp gold of fall aspens, and even in the austerity of a landscape under the sharp shadows of snow. The hills bring magic to all the seasons."
These are the first few lines from the book, "Exploring the Routes Less Travelled - Country Roads of Alberta", by Liz Bryan. This is a book that my daughter gave me a year or two ago and I had forgotten just which journeys it covered. Once I was back home, while I was Googling the area that I had just spent the day exploring with my friends, I came across this book online. The short chapter on this area made interesting reading.
Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such a great day, exploring a new area. It was so much fun to see some new things and, of course, the scenery was spectacular. How lucky we are to live within reach of such beauty! Having been out so few times in many weeks, and having taken barely any photos at all, this kind of day was exactly what I needed.
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