Hiding in the grasses
The joy of colour
Mrs. Claus busily knitting
Farm cat
Gray Jay
Why they are hard to find : )
Freeze-dried
Such gorgeous eyes
Love a red jacket
No owls in barn windows - only House Sparrows : )
Great sighting, poor light
Northern Shrike - Butcher Bird
The beautiful Whaleback
The long and the short of it : )
Hidden Long-eared Owl
The end of an amazing day
Happy Christmas, everyone!
Footprints in the snow
Long-eared Owl
Happy Christmas, everyone!
Black and white
Spruce Grouse male
Christmas Eve day on the prairies
Look what I found yesterday : )
Sunrise start to a Christmas Bird Count
A happy farm dog
Milk Thistle / Silybum marianum
Above the treeline
Honey Mushrooms
Winter along the Smith-Dorrien road
Whiskey Jack, alias Camp Robber, alias Gray Jay
A little past their prime
Love those legs
Short-eared Owl
Peaks and clouds
Columbian Ground Squirrel
Pink
Parched
Summer bokeh
Up close with a Snow Leopard
Such a good Mom
Follow the leader
As beautiful as it gets
Saskatoon in May
Rooster at the Saskatoon Farm
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A few brave souls
![A few brave souls A few brave souls](https://cdn.ipernity.com/140/32/77/28993277.c3f46931.640.jpg?r2)
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Two days ago, 17 December 2013, it was a long day of Christmas Bird Count south of the city. A group of nine of us, travelling in two vehicles, covered part of the huge circle around High River. A few others from Calgary, plus quite a few people from the town, covered the rest. We were so lucky with the weather - the temperature actually got up to 9C! (Ha, as I'm typing, it's -22C with a windchill of -30C!) We left Calgary at 7:15 a.m., but by the time we arrived at Frank Lake, our first destination (seen in the photo above), the sunrise was just beginning. On this count last year, every plant and blade of dry grass was covered in wonderful hoar frost - not so lucky this time. Snow depth was from bare ground to 15 cm, with drifts to 100cm, and there was no open water at the lake. From the report: 6 kms on foot; 75kms by car; 3 hrs on foot, 5 hours by car.
The day was spent driving the side roads, and calling in at various homesteads and farms. We had three species of owl, which, as you can imagine, delighted everyone in my group. We had hoped to see a Snowy Owl, but no luck this year. My group had 19 species of bird by the end of the day - we finished driving around 3:00 p.m..Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so I had to make do with owls, lol! The total species count for the whole of the circle was 40.
The final list for our group, covering two areas, was:
Mallard-12/ 0= 12
Northern Pintail-1 f./ 0= 1
Common Goldeneye-4/0= 4
Gray Partridge-17/30= 47
Ring-necked Pheasant-3/0= 3
Bald Eagle-1ad/1ad= 2
Northern Harrier-1/ 0= 1
Great Horned Owl-4/1= 5
Long-eared Owl-2/0= 2
Short-eared Owl-2/0= 2
Rock Pigeon-47/7= 54
Downy Woodpecker-1/ 0= 1
Northern Flicker-1/0= 1
Black-billed Magpie-7/24= 31
Common Raven-2/1= 3
Horned Lark-2/0= 2
Black-capped Chickadee-0/1= 1
American Tree Sparrow-6/0= 6
House Sparrow-35/140= 175
At the end of the day, some of the people involved in this count stayed for a pot-luck supper. Thanks so much to everyone who organized this annual Count and worked so hard with preparing for the meal. We always enjoy this time at the end of a long day, chatting about what we'd all been seeing in the various segments of the huge circle. Special thanks to Greg Wagner, who organized the whole event - well done, as usual, Greg : )
The day was spent driving the side roads, and calling in at various homesteads and farms. We had three species of owl, which, as you can imagine, delighted everyone in my group. We had hoped to see a Snowy Owl, but no luck this year. My group had 19 species of bird by the end of the day - we finished driving around 3:00 p.m..Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so I had to make do with owls, lol! The total species count for the whole of the circle was 40.
The final list for our group, covering two areas, was:
Mallard-12/ 0= 12
Northern Pintail-1 f./ 0= 1
Common Goldeneye-4/0= 4
Gray Partridge-17/30= 47
Ring-necked Pheasant-3/0= 3
Bald Eagle-1ad/1ad= 2
Northern Harrier-1/ 0= 1
Great Horned Owl-4/1= 5
Long-eared Owl-2/0= 2
Short-eared Owl-2/0= 2
Rock Pigeon-47/7= 54
Downy Woodpecker-1/ 0= 1
Northern Flicker-1/0= 1
Black-billed Magpie-7/24= 31
Common Raven-2/1= 3
Horned Lark-2/0= 2
Black-capped Chickadee-0/1= 1
American Tree Sparrow-6/0= 6
House Sparrow-35/140= 175
At the end of the day, some of the people involved in this count stayed for a pot-luck supper. Thanks so much to everyone who organized this annual Count and worked so hard with preparing for the meal. We always enjoy this time at the end of a long day, chatting about what we'd all been seeing in the various segments of the huge circle. Special thanks to Greg Wagner, who organized the whole event - well done, as usual, Greg : )
LeapFrog, have particularly liked this photo
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