Frank Lake & area

This little Muskrat was busy feeding on reeds at Frank Lake, near the Bird Blind. I had never been this close to one before - a pity that he/she was in amongst the dried reeds, making it a little difficult to get a clear photo.

A front view of a Tree Swallow down at Frank Lake. Though a common bird, they are such a beautiful colour and so irridescent.

These very tiny insects are one of my favourites to see - though I'm not sure if they are classified as "pests". I love seeing the tiny heart-shaped pattern on their back. Found this one on one of the Maximillan Sunflowers near the "hide" at Frank Lake, on September 3rd. I can never remember just where the "hide" is at Frank Lake, so I've just marked Frank Lake as a whole on my map. www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/insects/fad40s00.html

We had read the warning on the Internet about this Killdeer's nest, built right in the MIDDLE of a gravel road leading down to Frank Lake, south of the city. The gate was closed when we arrived, so we walked the length of road and so were able to find this nest. It would have been SO easy to have missed it, as it was barely noticeable. Built on the gravel road, it was just a slight depression, lined with small bits of gravel but no other lining. The three beautiful eggs looked like stones : ). We saw both adults nearby, but the nest was left unprotected. Note later: we found out that someone had photographed the nest the day before we did, and there were four eggs : (( "Killdeer nest on open ground, often on gravel. They may use a slight depression in the gravel to hold the eggs, but they don't line it at all, or line it only with a few stones. Since there is no structure to stand out from its surroundings, a killdeer nest blends marvelously into the background. Furthermore, the speckled eggs themselves look like stones. Killdeer hatchlings are precocial birds like many other waders. Birds which hatch blind, naked, and helpless are called altricial. Most birds are born altricial and utterly rely on their parents to bring them food. Precocial birds stay in the egg twice as long as altricial birds, so they have more time to develop. A one-day-old Killdeer chick is actually two weeks more developed than a one-day-old American Robin nestling. Although adult Robins and Killdeer are the same size, a Killdeer's egg is twice the size of a Robin's. There is more nourishment in the Killdeer egg, to sustain the embryo for its longer time in the shell." From Wikipedia.

A friend very kindly invited me to go down south of the city to Frank Lake today. We spent about eight hours at various places around this huge lake and also stopping at a few sloughs to search for shorebirds. This American Avocet was closer to the road than others we had seen earlier. They are such beautiful, elegant birds! The female's bill is more upturned and shorter than the male's.

This photo gives an idea of what the Frank Lake area is like (mountains in the far distance). It is a well-known and very popular place for birders to visit, providing sightings of many different birds. I was so lucky today, when a friend invited me to drive down to the area for the day. As well as all the waterfowl species, we also saw two White-faced Ibis there (always a thrill, as these are very rare from May to September!) and two Great Horned Owl's nests. One nest had three large, fluffy owlets sitting on it and the other location had one owlet on a nest and another out on a branch. This latter baby was SO cute! Will probably upload a photo of it next time : ).

"Birds of Alberta" book: "The American Coot looks like a delightful blend of leftover pieces from other birds: it has the bill of a chicken, the feet of a Grebe and the body of a duck."

A closer look at the outstretched wing of a female Mallard.

The "Birds of Alberta" book says that "the song of the Yellow-headed Blackbird might be the worst in North America". A "strained, metallic grating".