Common Nighthawk / Chordeiles minor - threatened s…
On a cold summer day with mist and drizzle
Butterfly on Joe Pye Weed
American Avocets
Swainson's Hawk / Buteo swainsoni
Clouded Sulphur on Lettuce sp.?
Pink (African?) Daisies
Another red barn
Swainson's Hawk watching for its next snack
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Turkistan Burning Bush / Euonymus nanus turkmenist…
Maple sp.?
Sea Holly
Black-necked Stilt (juvenile?)
Rufous Hummingbird male / Selasphorus rufus
Two-month-old American Kestrel
Photo-bombed by Blackbirds
Artichoke in bloom
American Pika - such a cutie
Our majestic mountains
Pink Showy Cinquefoil
Old and weathered
Fun to spend time with
Mushrooms galore
Fall colours near the Highwood River
Happy Gobble Gobble weekend!
Greater White-fronted Geese / Larus glaucoides
Happy Thanksgivng, everyone!
Snow Leopard / Panthera uncia
Happy Thanksgiving!
Red Panda / Ailurus fulgens
After our first major snowstorm
Heading into the mountains
Harlequin Duck / Histrionicus histrionicus
Early fall, looking (and feeling) like winter
Yellowlegs - Lesser or Greater?
Much-needed colour!
Trillium, Day 2, Rondeau PP, Ontario
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Day 2, Rondeau PP, Ontario
White-breasted Nuthatch, Day 2, Rondeau PP, Ontari…
Day 2, Common Five-lined Skink barn, Rondeau PP
Day 2, Five-lined Skink barn, Rondeau PP
Day 2, reflected 'Geese', Rondeau PP
Day 2, mating snakes, Rondeau PP
Day 2, mating snakes, Rondeau PP
Day 2, Tree Swallow, Rondeau PP
The storm rolls in
On its last legs
Harvest time
A favourite barn
Day 2, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rondeau Provincial…
Day 2, Anglewing butterfly sp., Rondeau PP
Day 2, American Foldfinch, Rondeau PP
Filtered barn
Day 2, yes, another Trillium, Rondeau PP
Day 2, a more typical Trillium, Rondeau PP
Day 2, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rondeau PP Visitor'…
Day 2, White Trillium, Rondeau PP
Day 2, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rondeau PP Visitor…
When fall comes after 'winter'
A Ferret in the park
Day 2, Chipping Sparrow, Rondeau PP
Wood Duck male
Wood Duck male / Aix sponsa
How dare you take a photo of me looking like this?
Globe Thistle / Echinops ritro
The painted cow - "Some enchanted evening"
Wood Duck male / Aix sponsa
Spooked by a barking dog
Living on the edge
Yesterday's Chinook Arch
A spider's creation
Black-necked Stilt (juvenile?) / Himantopus mexica…
I LOVE owls - in case you didn't know : )
Me and my dad
Mourning Dove - love the blue eye-ring
Common Nighthawk / Chordeiles minor - threatened s…
Swainson's Hawk juvenile
Onnia triquetra (??) and Blue Stain
Beauty of a weed
Osprey number 2 / Pandion haliaetus
Let the light shine in
Most likely a Ground Pholiota / Pholiota terrestri…
Thirsty Bighorn Sheep
Beginning to look like fall
Beautiful guttation droplets on a polypore
Fungi on a log
Columbian Ground Squirrel / Urocitellus columbianu…
Rough cocklebur / Xanthium strumarium
Cute goat at Eagle Lake
Smokey Eagle Lake
Many-plume moth / Alucita sp.
A classic light/intermediate-morph adult Swainson'…
Ferruginous Hawks - now safely grown and gone
Ferruginous Hawk
Enjoying a good meal
Impressive creature
Vesper Sparrow
Spruce Grouse / Falcipennis canadensis
Pine Siskin
Pine Siskin taking a bath
Pine Siskin
Jackie's squirrel - Red or Eastern Gray?
Pine Siskin
Downy Woodpecker and American Goldfinch
American Coot
American Goldfinch juvenile / Spinus tristis
American Coot
Hollyhock
Peony seedpods
Common Wood-Nymph / Cercyonis pegala
Creeping Thistle / Cirsium arvense, pure white, no…
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker male
Between the cracks
Cracker sp.
Succulent beauty
Himalayan Monal female
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, adult male
Puffballs / Calvatia sp.
Once-married Underwing / Catocala unijuga, left fr…
Hard working Dad
European Skipper
Scaly Pholiota / Pholiota squarrosa
Magpie Inky Cap / Coprinus picaceus?
Magpie Inky Cap / Coprinus picaceus?
See also...
Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
212 visits
Sleepy Barn Owl
To me, these owls always look as if their face has been sewn up, right down the centre. Such strange looking birds.
This particular Barn Owl resides at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale, southern Alberta. We do not get Barn Owls in the wild in Alberta. This is a wonderful place that rehabilitates and releases (whenever possible) various birds of prey - hawks, owls, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures,and Golden Eagles. Some of these birds act as Wildlife Ambassadors, too, including educating the public away from the Centre. Sometimes, a bird is used as a foster parent, too. I didn't see a Turkey Vulture or a Golden Eagle this time.
"Barn Owls have a notable shreee scream, ear-shattering at close range. They also hiss like snakes. When captured or cornered, they throw themselves on their backs and flail with sharp-taloned feet, an effective defence." The Barn Owl flies silently. Its ears are placed asymmetrically for maximum hearing, so the owls do not require sight to hunt. They can target and dive down to sink their talons through snow, grass or brush and seize rodents with deadly accuracy. Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, they consume more rodent pests than possibly any other creature. This makes the Barn Owl one of the most economically valuable wildlife animals to farmers (not in Alberta). Farmers often encourage Barn Owls to stay around by providing nest sites. They are fairly sedentary and nocturnal" From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl
My actual destination on 21 August 2018 was the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre. I know some people feel that photographing birds that are not out in the wild is cheating. I kind of agree, though I think it's fine as long as someone says where it was taken.
On the spur of the moment the previous night, I decided that I might just try and get up early the next morning and go for a drive. The smoke from the British Columbia wildfires hasn't been hanging around the last few days, so I knew I really should make the most of a clear day.
It turned out to be such a great day, with some much-appreciated sightings. I must have spent about 8 or 9 hours driving and almost every inch of my body ached like crazy. Now, each summer, I try and do two or three longer (for me) drives, making sure I don't lose confidence to get there. I left home at 9:00 am, just a bit later than I had hoped. Arrived back home somewhere around 8:30 pm.
Weather-wise, it was around 24C, so not too hot. Unfortunately, I discovered that it was still smokey from the British Columbia wildfires, making distant hills barely visible and deleting mountains from view, but it didn't have too much effect on closer photography.
It was a good day for Hawks, seeing three on the way south and a few on the way home. I almost missed two of the hawks, as the hay bale was way out in a large field. At first, I thought there were three hawks together, but when I stopped to take a few photos, I realized that there were only two - one looked almost like two hawks close together, but then I saw that it had its wings mantled. I guess it wanted to make sure that the second hawk behind it couldn't steal any of the food from it.
A lone Common Nighthawk also helped make my day. For several years, I had longed to see one of these unusual birds and, finally last year (2017), I managed to find four of them. That time was almost two months earlier than my recent find, so I wasn't expecting to see any in late August. I would still love to find one lying on a wooden railing rather than a metal railing. Last year, I got a photo of one on a fence post, but the angle was not the greatest. These birds are 9½ inches from the tip of bill to the tip of tail.
A Horned Lark, a Vesper Sparrow, a Mourning Dove, and a Western Meadowlark gave me the chance for a photo or two and, to my delight, a hawk I spotted way in the distance did turn out to be a Ferruginous Hawk. A happy sighting, as they tend to be few and far between.
This particular Barn Owl resides at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale, southern Alberta. We do not get Barn Owls in the wild in Alberta. This is a wonderful place that rehabilitates and releases (whenever possible) various birds of prey - hawks, owls, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures,and Golden Eagles. Some of these birds act as Wildlife Ambassadors, too, including educating the public away from the Centre. Sometimes, a bird is used as a foster parent, too. I didn't see a Turkey Vulture or a Golden Eagle this time.
"Barn Owls have a notable shreee scream, ear-shattering at close range. They also hiss like snakes. When captured or cornered, they throw themselves on their backs and flail with sharp-taloned feet, an effective defence." The Barn Owl flies silently. Its ears are placed asymmetrically for maximum hearing, so the owls do not require sight to hunt. They can target and dive down to sink their talons through snow, grass or brush and seize rodents with deadly accuracy. Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, they consume more rodent pests than possibly any other creature. This makes the Barn Owl one of the most economically valuable wildlife animals to farmers (not in Alberta). Farmers often encourage Barn Owls to stay around by providing nest sites. They are fairly sedentary and nocturnal" From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl
My actual destination on 21 August 2018 was the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre. I know some people feel that photographing birds that are not out in the wild is cheating. I kind of agree, though I think it's fine as long as someone says where it was taken.
On the spur of the moment the previous night, I decided that I might just try and get up early the next morning and go for a drive. The smoke from the British Columbia wildfires hasn't been hanging around the last few days, so I knew I really should make the most of a clear day.
It turned out to be such a great day, with some much-appreciated sightings. I must have spent about 8 or 9 hours driving and almost every inch of my body ached like crazy. Now, each summer, I try and do two or three longer (for me) drives, making sure I don't lose confidence to get there. I left home at 9:00 am, just a bit later than I had hoped. Arrived back home somewhere around 8:30 pm.
Weather-wise, it was around 24C, so not too hot. Unfortunately, I discovered that it was still smokey from the British Columbia wildfires, making distant hills barely visible and deleting mountains from view, but it didn't have too much effect on closer photography.
It was a good day for Hawks, seeing three on the way south and a few on the way home. I almost missed two of the hawks, as the hay bale was way out in a large field. At first, I thought there were three hawks together, but when I stopped to take a few photos, I realized that there were only two - one looked almost like two hawks close together, but then I saw that it had its wings mantled. I guess it wanted to make sure that the second hawk behind it couldn't steal any of the food from it.
A lone Common Nighthawk also helped make my day. For several years, I had longed to see one of these unusual birds and, finally last year (2017), I managed to find four of them. That time was almost two months earlier than my recent find, so I wasn't expecting to see any in late August. I would still love to find one lying on a wooden railing rather than a metal railing. Last year, I got a photo of one on a fence post, but the angle was not the greatest. These birds are 9½ inches from the tip of bill to the tip of tail.
A Horned Lark, a Vesper Sparrow, a Mourning Dove, and a Western Meadowlark gave me the chance for a photo or two and, to my delight, a hawk I spotted way in the distance did turn out to be a Ferruginous Hawk. A happy sighting, as they tend to be few and far between.
Elena M, Frans Schols have particularly liked this photo
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2024
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Sign-in to write a comment.