Birds of Alberta 5

Though House Sparrows tend not to be popular little birds, you have to admit that they are quite attractive. I love these little birds, with their beautifully patterned feathers. This male was actually down at the Calgary Zoo yesterday (flying freely, of course!) and I was quite pleased with this backlit (?) shot. "House Sparrows are not closely related to the other North American sparrows: they belong to the family of Old World sparrows (Passeridae)." From Birds of Alberta by Chris Fisher and John Acorn.

This was such a beautiful sight today, but something that my photo has not done justice to : (. I spent the whole day with friends, east of the city, in the Irricana/Bruce Lake area for a wide variety of wetland and prairie bird species. We were hoping that we might just be lucky enough to spot the Baikal Teal that was found and seen in this area last Thursday & Friday, but has not been seen since. Most likely, it has moved on. This was the first time it had been recorded in Alberta. On this lovely, mostly sunny spring day, with temperatures between 06-16C, we saw 64 species of birds - a GOOD day, with most enjoyable company : ) Almost every bird was far too distant for photos, I should add : )

I finally got a photo (that I had to crop heavily) that shows what a Northern Shoveler looks like. You can definitely see where its name originated, LOL. I find them very attractive ducks. This was one of 64 species of birds that friends and I saw yesterday, on a drive east of the city to the Irricana and Bruce Lake area.

Well, maybe not quite, LOL, but I'm not too likely to ever get a close shot of one of these pretty little White-crowned Sparrows. I just thought this little one made a cheery, spring photo, despite being such a distant shot (definitely not the kind of photo I like taking!). This one was perched along the bank of the Bow River at Carburn Park this morning. I had wanted to go searching for a Mountain Bluebird afterwards, but - it rained and hailed : )

I think these are two of my favourite photos - "just" a little House Sparrow male : ) I'm always so happy when I can get a close shot of any bird - so many of them are far, far away and totally out of reach for my little point-and-shoot : )

We watched this gorgeous pair of Mountain Bluebirds getting into an argument with the local Tree Swallow over who would get the nesting box this year, LOL. For now, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird seem to have won. We had a lovely day out of the city today and were treated to these Bluebirds, a beautiful Yellow-bellied or hybrid Sapsucker that was cleaning out a tree cavity, and a pair of nesting Great Gray Owls (sorry, location is being kept secret). The female was on a very high nest - all we could see was the underneath of the end of her tail. The male was a little way away, perched in a very tall tree, deep within the branches. I took plenty of photos of him in the hope that I might get one that was OK, but the light was atrocious and so all but maybe one or two will have to be deleted. We also saw an American Dipper sitting very still in the middle of the Elbow River. The rest of the day we've had heavy rain : (. Actually, you can see some rain streaks in my photo. I did ask my youngest daughter to please leave the rain behind in Vancouver, but she seems to have brought it to Calgary today : ) "Bluebirds have no blue pigments in their feathers. Instead, each feather barb has a thin layer of cells that absorb all wavelengths of color except blue. Only the blue wavelength is reflected and scattered, resulting in their blue appearance to our eyes." From Wild Birds Umlimited. Fascinating stuff : )

I still miss the little, round English Robins, even though I have lived in Canada almost 31 years now. The large American Robin is beautiful, of course, but it just isn't as cute as the English one : ) This one was enjoying the sun in the parking lot at Carburn Park.

The best shot of this Great Horned Owl family that I've been able to get so far, but really hope I'll see the young ones higher up on the nest or on a branch one of these days. Meanwhile, you can see Mom in the background with her little family. Most of the time I stood and watched them, the owlets were further down in the tree. When I looked at my photos after I got home, I was amazed at how much larger the older one (on the right) is, compared to the youngest one. Ever feel like you are being watched, LOL?

I managed to get close enough to this Brewer's Blackbird at Confluence Park the other day to get a closer shot than I had ever taken before. Still had to crop, though. Unfortunately, it was perched in a horrible tangle of thin branches. It does show that white eye, though, and some of the iridescent feathers. Apparently, in males, the eye colour changes to grayish white then yellow with age.