Odds & ends

Our temperature just after noon today, 4 October 20i8, is -1C (windchill -6C), with an overcast sky. There is no snow in the forecast, at least not until the weekend. The massive snowfall on 2 October is slowly melting, thank goodness. Total chaos, with so many accidents. I had been hoping to get over to Granary Road all summer, but it just didn't happen. This is a fairly new market garden, SW of the city, with an Active Learning Park, too. Before this, the area was simply a huge, empty field, except for the row of five old, red granaries/sheds. I was very disappointed some time ago, when I first saw what was being planned for that particular area. Most of all, I and many other photographers, were horrified when we discovered that the row of old granaries had been removed from the landscape. Some of you may remember my photos of these granaries, which I called "The Famous Five". They have been replaced by five new, red sheds which, I have to say, look better than I had originally thought. Link for my album, "The Famous Five" - 25 images of the original, old row of five, red granaries. www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/albums/72157648910659879 My daughter finally had a day free for us to get together on 23 September 2018. She suggested we could go to the Saskatoon Farm, a place we both love, for breakfast and a wander round the grounds with our cameras. After that, we drove west to Granary Road. Though the Active Learning Park had closed for the fall and winter, it was open for the day on the day we went, It covers a large area and has all sorts of learning areas, including a mushroom area and a farm animal area. We had fun trying to photograph a group of funny Alpacas there. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca granaryroad.com/active-learning/ granaryroad.com/ There was thick fog in places on this day, but it didn't seem to affect photographing objects that were close. My favourite kind of day, spending time with my daughter.

My daughter finally had a day free for us to get together on 23 September 2018. She suggested we could go to the Saskatoon Farm, a place we both love, for breakfast and a wander round the grounds with our cameras. After that, we drove west to Granary Road. Though the Active Learning Park had closed for the fall and winter, it was open for the day on the day we went. It covers a large area and has all sorts of educational areas, including a mushroom area and a farm animal area. We had fun trying to photograph a group of funny Alpacas there. A Turkey took me totally by surprise! I had never seen a white Turkey before, only the darker Wild Turkeys. This domestic Turkey was beautiful with its white feathers edged in black. I had been hoping to get over to Granary Road all summer, but it just didn't happen. This is a fairly new market garden, SW of the city, with an Active Learning Park, too. Before this, the area was simply a huge, empty field, except for the row of five old, red granaries/sheds. I was very disappointed some time ago, when I first saw what was being planned for that particular area. Most of all, I and many other photographers, were horrified when we discovered that the row of old granaries had been removed from the landscape. Some of you may remember my photos of these granaries, which I called "The Famous Five". They have been replaced by five new, red sheds which, I have to say, look better than I had originally thought. Link for my album, "The Famous Five" - 25 images of the original, old row of five, red granaries. www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/albums/72157648910659879 There was thick fog in places on this day, but it didn't seem to affect photographing objects that were close. My favourite kind of day, spending time with my daughter.

Just added 13 extra photos this evening, as a record of how fall 2018 looks and feels just like winter! Not the kind of photos I particularly enjoy taking or posting, but they serve as a record of this birding trip east of the city. Decided to get the remaining photos out of the way in one go. More snow fell last night and it is still snowing very lightly this evening, 9 October 2018. Shortly before noon, our temperature was -4C (windchill -9C). Last night, I finally took another look at the photos I took way back in May, on our two-week trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I have only edited and posted photos from the first day there and a few from our second morning. I really need to get busy on this huge task and I think I may have to post far too many photos at a time. Will do this later in a day or at night, when most people are probably off Flickr. Many photos are simply "for the record" shots and not of good quality. I will see how long I can keep this up, though, as editing and posting photos does not help with the inflammation in my shoulder rotator cuffs. Nor does holding up a camera and taking photos!! On 6 October 2018, I joined a few birding friends for another day out east of the city. The weather was beautiful, and so different from the freezing cold trip that was held about a week earlier. As usual on these birding trips, almost every bird was far, far away. Luckily, this female duck wandered somewhat closer, so that I could actually see the feather detail on it. Another bird I was happy to see was a Thayer's Gull. I was thinking that I had never seen one before, or at least not to get a photo. However, I checked my photostream and discovered a photo of a juvenile that I took on 25 March 2018. The Thayer's Gull is now called an Iceland Gull. "The darker-winged “Thayer’s” gull of the west used to be considered a different species; the two were lumped in 2017." Like many people, I just don't "do" Gulls. A lack of interest in them does seem to be fairly widespread, On this day, however, our leader, Terry Korolyk, who is a Gull expert (along with tremendous knowledge on hybrids and all birds/wildlife), found several huge flocks of various Gulls at different locations, along with other bird species, including a few more Rusty Blackbirds (whose numbers are declining). A delight to see a few distant Swans, a Wilson's Snipe, Greater White-fronted Geese, Yellowlegs and an assortment of other shorebirds and waterfowl. Thank you, Terry, for yet another enjoyable and interesting trip. Thank you, also, for the ride.

Just added 13 extra photos this evening, as a record of how fall 2018 looks and feels just like winter! Not the kind of photos I particularly enjoy taking or posting, but they serve as a record of this birding trip east of the city. Decided to get the remaining photos out of the way in one go. More snow fell last night and it is still snowing very lightly this evening, 9 October 2018. Shortly before noon, our temperature was -4C (windchill -9C). Last night, I finally took another look at the photos I took way back in May, on our two-week trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I have only edited and posted photos from the first day there and a few from our second morning. I really need to get busy on this huge task and I think I may have to post far too many photos at a time. Will do this later in a day or at night, when most people are probably off Flickr. Many photos are simply "for the record" shots and not of good quality. I will see how long I can keep this up, though, as editing and posting photos does not help with the inflammation in my shoulder rotator cuffs. Nor does holding up a camera and taking photos!! On 6 October 2018, I joined a few birding friends for another day out east of the city. The weather was beautiful, and so different from the freezing cold trip that was held about a week earlier. As usual on these birding trips, almost every bird was far, far away. Luckily, this female duck wandered somewhat closer, so that I could actually see the feather detail on it. Another bird I was happy to see was a Thayer's Gull. I was thinking that I had never seen one before, or at least not to get a photo. However, I checked my photostream and discovered a photo of a juvenile that I took on 25 March 2018. The Thayer's Gull is now called an Iceland Gull. "The darker-winged “Thayer’s” gull of the west used to be considered a different species; the two were lumped in 2017." Like many people, I just don't "do" Gulls. A lack of interest in them does seem to be fairly widespread, On this day, however, our leader, Terry Korolyk, who is a Gull expert (along with tremendous knowledge on hybrids and all birds/wildlife), found several huge flocks of various Gulls at different locations, along with other bird species, including a few more Rusty Blackbirds (whose numbers are declining). A delight to see a few distant Swans, a Wilson's Snipe, Greater White-fronted Geese, Yellowlegs and an assortment of other shorebirds and waterfowl. Thank you, Terry, for yet another enjoyable and interesting trip. Thank you, also, for the ride.

Just added 13 extra photos this evening, as a record of how fall 2018 looks and feels just like winter! Not the kind of photos I particularly enjoy taking or posting, but they serve as a record of this birding trip east of the city. Decided to get the remaining photos out of the way in one go. More snow fell last night and it is still snowing very lightly this evening, 9 October 2018. Shortly before noon, our temperature was -4C (windchill -9C). Last night, I finally took another look at the photos I took way back in May, on our two-week trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I have only edited and posted photos from the first day there and a few from our second morning. I really need to get busy on this huge task and I think I may have to post far too many photos at a time. Will do this later in a day or at night, when most people are probably off Flickr. Many photos are simply "for the record" shots and not of good quality. I will see how long I can keep this up, though, as editing and posting photos does not help with the inflammation in my shoulder rotator cuffs. Nor does holding up a camera and taking photos!! On 6 October 2018, I joined a few birding friends for another day out east of the city. The weather was beautiful, and so different from the freezing cold trip that was held about a week earlier. As usual on these birding trips, almost every bird was far, far away. Luckily, this female duck wandered somewhat closer, so that I could actually see the feather detail on it. Another bird I was happy to see was a Thayer's Gull. I was thinking that I had never seen one before, or at least not to get a photo. However, I checked my photostream and discovered a photo of a juvenile that I took on 25 March 2018. The Thayer's Gull is now called an Iceland Gull. "The darker-winged “Thayer’s” gull of the west used to be considered a different species; the two were lumped in 2017." Like many people, I just don't "do" Gulls. A lack of interest in them does seem to be fairly widespread, On this day, however, our leader, Terry Korolyk, who is a Gull expert (along with tremendous knowledge on hybrids and all birds/wildlife), found several huge flocks of various Gulls at different locations, along with other bird species, including a few more Rusty Blackbirds (whose numbers are declining). A delight to see a few distant Swans, a Wilson's Snipe, Greater White-fronted Geese, Yellowlegs and an assortment of other shorebirds and waterfowl. Thank you, Terry, for yet another enjoyable and interesting trip. Thank you, also, for the ride.

Yesterday afternoon, 17 October 2018, I managed to get over to Carburn Park for a walk. Though I have seen a number of Rusty Blackbirds, this species was still a bird I wanted to look out for. As it turned out, this was not one of my finds. However, I saw a few other things that were a delight to see, including meeting this and a second Ferret that were out for a walk (or rather, travelling in a stroller) with their 'people". This is the male, larger than the other animal who was a female. Both are rescue animals, which was good to see. "Ferret Rescue & Education Society (FRES) is a non-profit, charitable organization that was started by a group of devoted ferret owners in the Calgary area who recognized the need for a locally based rescue dedicated to ferrets. Our committed volunteers assist FRES in their goal to find permanent homes for all of the ferrets surrendered to us. They also provide shelter, basic needs, veterinary care, and if necessary, rehabilitation for all abused, unwanted, and abandoned ferrets regardless of their health status." From the FRES website. www.ferrets.ca/ Another lovely encounter was with the resident Great Horned Owl. Two friends that I bumped into in the park described where they had just seen it. Two or three strangers also helped pinpoint the exact tree : ) Over the years, we have seen Great Horned Owls in this park - always a joy. Yesterday, this owl was rather agitated and moved two or three times. One of the park's Eastern Gray Squirrels was teasing the owl. As if a couple of Ferrets and a Great Horned Owl weren't enough, we were also very lucky to see a Harlequin Duck (male) out on the Bow River. When we first saw it, it wasn't too far out on the water, but it gradually swam further and further away, diving constantly. Not the greatest photos, but they serve as a record of seeing this very handsome duck. The weather was gorgeous, and much-deserved after the dreadful winter weather we have been having (in fall)! A perfect day to be outdoors, so I just couldn't resist. Lovely to see you, Pam, though unfortunate that you were just leaving when I arrived. Great to see you, Bonnie, and spend time with you. Has been a long time, no see.

Four days ago, on 17 October 2018, I managed to get over to Carburn Park for a walk. Though I have seen a number of Rusty Blackbirds, this species was still a bird I wanted to look out for. As it turned out, this was not one of my finds. However, I saw a few other things that were a delight to see, including meeting two Ferrets that were out for a walk (or rather, travelling in a stroller) with their 'people". Both are rescue animals, which was good to see. This one is a female and apparently far more "squirmy" than the male. "Ferret Rescue & Education Society (FRES) is a non-profit, charitable organization that was started by a group of devoted ferret owners in the Calgary area who recognized the need for a locally based rescue dedicated to ferrets. Our committed volunteers assist FRES in their goal to find permanent homes for all of the ferrets surrendered to us. They also provide shelter, basic needs, veterinary care, and if necessary, rehabilitation for all abused, unwanted, and abandoned ferrets regardless of their health status." From the FRES website. www.ferrets.ca/ Another lovely encounter was with the resident Great Horned Owl. Two friends that I bumped into in the park described where they had just seen it. Two or three strangers also helped pinpoint the exact tree : ) Over the years, we have seen Great Horned Owls in this park - always a joy. Yesterday, this owl was rather agitated and moved two or three times. One of the park's Eastern Gray Squirrels was teasing the owl. As if a couple of Ferrets and a Great Horned Owl weren't enough, we were also very lucky to see a Harlequin Duck (male) out on the Bow River. When we first saw it, it wasn't too far out on the water, but it gradually swam further and further away, diving constantly. Not the greatest photos, but they serve as a record of seeing this very handsome duck. The weather was gorgeous, and much-deserved after the dreadful winter weather we have been having (in fall)! A perfect day to be outdoors, so I just couldn't resist. Lovely to see you, Pam, though unfortunate that you were just leaving when I arrived. Great to see you, Bonnie, and spend time with you. Has been a long time, no see.

Usually, I don't post photos of people, or even take them (especially this close). My intention, when I took the photo, was to crop it later. However, I think this shot is rather cute. I came across this lady and her friend down in the park and she had asked the owners if she could hold one of the Ferrets. Four days ago, on 17 October 2018, I managed to get over to Carburn Park for a walk. Though I have seen a number of Rusty Blackbirds, this species was still a bird I wanted to look out for. As it turned out, this was not one of my finds. However, I saw a few other things that were a delight to see, including meeting two Ferrets that were out for a walk (or rather, travelling in a stroller) with their 'people". Both are rescue animals, which was good to see. "Ferret Rescue & Education Society (FRES) is a non-profit, charitable organization that was started by a group of devoted ferret owners in the Calgary area who recognized the need for a locally based rescue dedicated to ferrets. Our committed volunteers assist FRES in their goal to find permanent homes for all of the ferrets surrendered to us. They also provide shelter, basic needs, veterinary care, and if necessary, rehabilitation for all abused, unwanted, and abandoned ferrets regardless of their health status." From the FRES website. www.ferrets.ca/ Another lovely encounter was with the resident Great Horned Owl. Two friends that I bumped into in the park described where they had just seen it. Two or three strangers also helped pinpoint the exact tree : ) Over the years, we have seen Great Horned Owls in this park - always a joy. Yesterday, this owl was rather agitated and moved two or three times. One of the park's Eastern Gray Squirrels was teasing the owl. As if a couple of Ferrets and a Great Horned Owl weren't enough, we were also very lucky to see a Harlequin Duck (male) out on the Bow River. When we first saw it, it wasn't too far out on the water, but it gradually swam further and further away, diving constantly. Not the greatest photos, but they serve as a record of seeing this very handsome duck. The weather was gorgeous, and much-deserved after the dreadful winter weather we have been having (in fall)! A perfect day to be outdoors, so I just couldn't resist. Lovely to see you, Pam, though unfortunate that you were just leaving when I arrived. Great to see you, Bonnie, and spend time with you. Has been a long time, no see.

On a day where there were no wildflowers, no birds, nothing - it was almost exciting to notice this lost shoe that had been placed on top of a rock by a small parking lot in the mountains. Something to photograph! I would guess the owner had perhaps changed his/her footwear and not noticed this one before driving off. Hopefully, the two will be reunited. I was glad that I had put my winter boots in my car, as when I reached my destination, i needed them. There was snow on the ground, which had partly melted and then frozen. The narrow path was just too icy to walk on in many places, so I only took a few photos at Forgetmenot Pond. Also, the light was awful, as there was no sign of the sun - not what the weather forecast had said. As I was leaving the city, the cloud formation was beautiful, but that quickly changed to solid, dreary cloud, which lasted all afternoon. I almost turned around and came home, as the distant mountains were far from clear. However, I had spent too much time the previous day, editing photos, and the constant mouse clicking had made my arm and shoulder more painful, so I really needed a break from my computer. This was just a short, spur-of-the-moment drive (like most of my outings seem to be) yesterday, 24 October 2018. My destination was Forgetmenot Pond, along the eastern edge of the Rockies. I also called in at Elbow Falls to take a few photos on the way home. I had been hoping to get out to this area all year, and finally made it.