Spider walking on snow
Barn Owl
Start of the storm
Before "winter" arrived
Swainson's Hawk juvenile
Canada Geese on ice at Pine Coulee Reservoir
Popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl, from January 2015
Alberta foothills in the fall
The beauty of erosion
Another surprise on another gloomy day
Common Redpoll / Acanthis flammea
It's the little guy/gal again
Evening Grosbeaks, male and female
Autumn in Alberta
Purple Honeycreeper male
Northern Shrike
Walking in a winter wonderland
White-tailed Ptarmigan
White-tailed Ptarmigan camouflage
A patch of blue
A change from a world of white
A white world
Time to rest
Wilson's Snipe
She can't see me
Standing at the edge of the storm
Memories of colour
Aging Echinacea
House Sparrow at the Saskatoon Farm
Dazzling sunlight on distant peaks
Ruddy Turnstone, Tobago
The fun times are over
White-necked Jacobin, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Where countryside and civilization meet
Once was wild
White Pheasant
Wild Turkey
The sweetest little thing
Bison/Buffalo
Handsome buck
Licorice Allsorts eyes
Wild Turkey at the Cochrane Ecological Institute
Before the next snowfall
Young White-tailed Deer
Looking across the prairie
I spy with my little eye
When the land turns white
"Just" a little House Sparrow
Handsome Mulie buck
Under a Chinook arch
Unexpected, and very welcome, Moose
Common Redpoll
A welcome addition to our Christmas Bird Count
Feeding frenzy - is the top right bird a Hoary Red…
The birding blind at Frank Lake
Hungry Moose
Common Redpoll with an orange spot
Always a treat
Snow-capped
Not quite Santa's reindeer
The final stage of an Artichoke
Back-lit White-tailed Deer
Pine Grosbeaks
One of a pair
Shadows
Couple of Coots / Fulica americana
Lest we forget
American Tree Sparrow / Spizelloides arborea
Yesterday's absolute treat - the size of your fist…
September flowers
Sweet White-tailed doe
Snow-capped berries
The ever-friendly Black-capped Chickadee
Hello, winter
The return of the ice pillars
And down(y) he flew
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
Storm clouds near the city
Learning from Mom
Rufous-vented chachalaca, Blue Waters Inn, Tobago
Goodbye fall, hello winter!
End of the season
Double-crested Cormorants / Phalacrocorax auritus
Welcome colour
Early morning sunrise over the mountains
Remembering summer colour
Storm arriving at Quarry Lake, near Canmore
After a busy night of hunting
Ruddy Turnstone, Blue Waters Inn, Tobago
Part of the same shelf cloud
Evening Grosbeak female
A drive through Kananaskis
Wood Duck male
Town of Canmore, Alberta
Bighorn Sheep on the slope
When the storm moved in
Pam and friend
Yesterday's Bald Eagle
A view from Quarry Lake, Canmore
A Coyote's last look back
Bighorn Sheep, mom and youngster
Yesterday's storm
Bald Eagle / Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Artichoke flower with different bee species
Merlin
Oilbird / Steatornis caripensis, Trinidad
At the Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis) cave, Trini…
Ring-billed Gull / Larus delawarensis
Great Horned Owl juvenile
Great Blue Heron, fishing
Yellow Oriole, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Kohleria tubiflora, Trinidad
Cosmos beauty
Friendly visitor
Fish Creek Park on a low-light day
Yesterday's Great Horned Owl
A mountain meadow, Kananaskis, Alberta
Same kind of flower as yesterday's
Great Horned Owl on a fence post
Purity
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Fall colours in Fish Creek Park
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kangaroo Apple flowers / Solanum aviculare (?)
Cattle drive in the mountains of Kananaskis, Alber…
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Common Redpolls / Acanthis flammea
"As energetic as their electric zapping call notes would suggest, Common Redpolls are active foragers that travel in busy flocks. Look for them feeding on catkins in birch trees or visiting feeders in winter. These small finches of the arctic tundra and boreal forest migrate erratically, and they occasionally show up in large numbers as far south as the central U.S. During such irruption years, redpolls often congregate at bird feeders (particularly thistle or nyjer seed), allowing delightfully close looks." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/id
This zoomed and cropped photo of two little Common Redpolls was taken three days ago, on 12 November 2017. A group of eight of us went S and SE of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Pine Couleee Reservoir, Clear Lake and the Twin Valley Reservoir. I just love some of the landscape through which we drove - barren, rugged, middle-of-nowhere kind of scenery. It looks so different in each season - I think my favourite time of year is when there is a covering of snow on the empty hills and ice on most of the water. I've still not had the courage to drive in this area myself, as I know that I might never find my way out of it.
Several previous trips had covered part of this latest drive, but much of the return drive was in a huge area that I had never been to before. We crossed the main highway #2 south and travelled the backroads way, way south of the Frank Lake area, and kept going north until we got back to the city. The Twin Valley Reservoir was one of the stops we made in this new-to-me area.
Actually, I have just been reading my account of a trip made on 9 November 2013, and discovered that in fact I HAD been to this area before. Just shows that I often have no idea where we are at any given time. Since the trip in 2013, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the area S and SE of Calgary. The following is from Terry Korolyk's account of that day, four years ago:
"The north end of Clear Lake was frozen, so, we headed north to the Twin Valleys Dam Reservoir, and, drove up the east side of it. This produced more Rough-legged Hawks,and, a Prairie Falcon. Some herds of Mule Deer and flocks of Gray Partridge were seen on the trip home via Highways 804, 799, 552, and Dunbow Road."
As on almost all these day trips out of the city, almost every bird is far, far away, needing at least binoculars and best of all, a scope. Two Great Horned Owls and a couple of tiny Common Redpolls were the only closer photos I took. This was the first time that I had seen Redpolls this year, so it was a nice sighting. They were flying back and forth from the trees to perch on a rough, wooden fence.
Also, as always happens, my camera lens turns to things other than birds. Scenic shots are always taken - after all, I feel that it is important to record the habitat of any birds seen. I have no excuse to give for photographing any old barn or homestead, other than that I LOVE to photograph them : )
Terry, you took us on such an amazing trip! So many new (or forgotten) places, to me at least. You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Now all I need to do is look at a map and try and find roughly where we travelled! Really appreciate your carefully made lists of all species seen, and where.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/id
This zoomed and cropped photo of two little Common Redpolls was taken three days ago, on 12 November 2017. A group of eight of us went S and SE of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Pine Couleee Reservoir, Clear Lake and the Twin Valley Reservoir. I just love some of the landscape through which we drove - barren, rugged, middle-of-nowhere kind of scenery. It looks so different in each season - I think my favourite time of year is when there is a covering of snow on the empty hills and ice on most of the water. I've still not had the courage to drive in this area myself, as I know that I might never find my way out of it.
Several previous trips had covered part of this latest drive, but much of the return drive was in a huge area that I had never been to before. We crossed the main highway #2 south and travelled the backroads way, way south of the Frank Lake area, and kept going north until we got back to the city. The Twin Valley Reservoir was one of the stops we made in this new-to-me area.
Actually, I have just been reading my account of a trip made on 9 November 2013, and discovered that in fact I HAD been to this area before. Just shows that I often have no idea where we are at any given time. Since the trip in 2013, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the area S and SE of Calgary. The following is from Terry Korolyk's account of that day, four years ago:
"The north end of Clear Lake was frozen, so, we headed north to the Twin Valleys Dam Reservoir, and, drove up the east side of it. This produced more Rough-legged Hawks,and, a Prairie Falcon. Some herds of Mule Deer and flocks of Gray Partridge were seen on the trip home via Highways 804, 799, 552, and Dunbow Road."
As on almost all these day trips out of the city, almost every bird is far, far away, needing at least binoculars and best of all, a scope. Two Great Horned Owls and a couple of tiny Common Redpolls were the only closer photos I took. This was the first time that I had seen Redpolls this year, so it was a nice sighting. They were flying back and forth from the trees to perch on a rough, wooden fence.
Also, as always happens, my camera lens turns to things other than birds. Scenic shots are always taken - after all, I feel that it is important to record the habitat of any birds seen. I have no excuse to give for photographing any old barn or homestead, other than that I LOVE to photograph them : )
Terry, you took us on such an amazing trip! So many new (or forgotten) places, to me at least. You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Now all I need to do is look at a map and try and find roughly where we travelled! Really appreciate your carefully made lists of all species seen, and where.
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