The stern look

Five of us had such a great day yesterday. It was a bird outing at Bow Valley Provincial Park, west of Calgary, at the foot of the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. I knew that I would be looking for wildflowers, insects and so on, as well : ) When we got to the meeting place in the city, the leader pulled out a poster for the Parks Day event that also happened to be going on at the park at the same time. To my absolute delight, it mentioned a Bird of Prey exhibit! After our first walk, which was the Flowing Waters trail, we returned to where everyone had parked and we had an hour in which to wander round the various exhibits. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a row of owls of different sizes - a tiny Burrowing Owl (seen in my photo above), a Short-eared Owl, a Barn Owl (which we don't get in Alberta), a young Great Horned Owl with enormous eyes, a Turkey Vulture and a Golden Eagle! They were tethered along the edge of the trees and needless to say, there were plenty of other people taking photos, but despite the mix of shade and harsh sunlight, I got the chance to click to my heart's content : ) Thanks so much to the people down at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre (near Lethbridge, down towards the Canada/US border) for bringing your gorgeous birds of prey for us to see! I have been south to the Centre three times I think, and always long to go back again, but it's not somewhere I can drive to, so this was such a treat yesterday!

"As a result of its ENDANGERED Species status in 1995, it has the focus of a variety of conservation efforts. Operation Burrowing Owl and other projects involving habitat preservation with landowners have been created. Populations are monitored by Fish and Wildlife departments. They have been reintroduced into the British Columbia interior, where it was extirpated. Outlook would improve if larger areas of habitat were preserved and harmful pesticides were banned in all areas of their range. Numbers could increase if an increased tolerance to burrowing mammals develops (i.e. badgers) – provides homes for the Burrowing Owl. Outlook: perilous." From burrowingowl.com.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrowing_Owl

The Alberta Mycological Society of Alberta also had an exhibit set up, which unfortunately I ran out of time to look at more than briefly. Thanks to those who had travelled south from Edmonton and set up a huge display of mushrooms that they and others had found in the park the previous day. Normally, of course, picking of mushrooms is not allowed in any of the parks, but the Society gets permission to collect for this special Parks Day exhibit. I had to drag myself away, as those of you who know me might guess, lol, but it was time to go on our afternoon bird walk around the Many Springs loop. Almost the whole trail was open (following the Flood of the Century) except for the boardwalk areas, that were still under water. Walking cautiously on planks and rolling logs is not one of my favourite things, ha, and in the end I decided that it was just easier to walk through the few inches of water. The cold water felt quite refreshing, really. So, as you can imagine, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day - and was tired out from sun, exercise and sheer delight. Thanks so much, Andrew, for arranging this special day and for driving two of us there and back. You did an awesome job!