Beyond the fence

Two days ago, on 30 May 2017, I was out for the day south of the city with my Daughter (a belated day out for my birthday and Mother's Day), to Nanton and a few roads nearby, then making our way north to Frank Lake and finally ending up at the Saskatoon Farm.

It takes about 45 minutes to drive south on the main highway to the town of Nanton. Though I had been quite a few times over the years when carpooling with various friends, I had never driven quite that far south and through the town myself. My daughter wanted to walk round two or three of the antique shops there and we both wanted to take a few photos of the grain elevators.

Once that was all done, we drove westwards from the town. Though the scenery is beautiful, we did not enjoy being on a main road with no shoulder to pull over to. We did stop once in a small pull-off, to get a scenic shot. This was where we saw the metal cut-out of a cowboy riding his horse, with a real, live bird perched on top of his hat (photo posted yesterday).

We decided to turn around and cross over to the other side of the main highway (#2) and drive north to Frank Lake, hoping to find a few things to photograph along the backroads. A barn or two and a few distant birds were enough to make the drive worthwhile.

Frank Lake was deserted when we arrived there, though a couple of other people turned up shortly. Not that many bird species, either. The water was quite choppy thanks to the wind, and there was just one Coot, a pair of Ruddy Ducks, a Barn Swallow, one Eared Grebe, two American Avocets, a Killdeer and a pair of Phalaropes. Franklin's Gulls were their usual noisy selves. Not a single White-faced Ibis to be seen, and only one or two Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. When we had been on a road near the lake, we had seen a Black-crowned Night-Heron perched on a distant fence, being harassed by several smaller birds - Brown-headed Cowbirds? I was so happy to see the Heron, as I so rarely see them. We had also seen a shorebird in a field of stubble but I'm not sure what it was.

On our way home, we called in at the Saskatoon Farm and were just in time to order a meal before they closed at 4:00 pm.. A quick wander round gave me the chance to grab a shot or two of a very loud Rooster and the male Wild Turkey. My favourite kind of day, so thank you, Rachel, as always!!