Birds of Alberta 6

Not the sort of photo I like, but I so rarely see a House Finch that is within camera distance : ) This was taken along a residential street next to Carburn Park two days ago. This male was such a beautiful colour - and yes, we actually had blue sky, which felt so good! Very heavily cropped : )

When I was on a three-hour walk with friends on February 23rd, at Griffith Woods, someone happened to notice this tiny, old Hummingbird nest hanging from a very low Spruce branch. So beautifully made. In a photo I posted a few days ago, a friend was holding a $10 bill for someone else to take a photo and, though I usually never add something for size in any of my photos, I thought it might work for that one. The photo above is a closer look at this amazingly built nest. The inside of it is about the size of half a walnut shell. This is a link to a short video from YouTube, of Hummingbirds from "egg" to when they actually leave the nest. Amazes me that they don't poke each others' eyes out with those long, thin beaks! Photographing nests and nesting birds is frowned upon by many people/birders, so hopefully this video was taken with a very powerful zoom lens. Hummingbirds sometimes return to use the same nest. They build their tiny nests from spider webs, soft cottony material, moss and plant fibres, and hang beautiful lichens from the spider webs. The elasticity of the spider silk allows the nest to expand beautifully to accommodate the growing young in the nest. The typical hummingbird nest is tiny, about the size of half a walnut shell! Nature is so amazing! youtu.be/gG59PaCiiDg youtu.be/AcyjOgKvx88 birding.about.com/od/birdhouses/a/hummingbirdnests.htm

Finally, I got a chance to photograph a couple of Rock Doves (Pigeons) when I was on a walk with friends at Carburn Park on February 27th. The last few years, I've wanted to get closer, as they are beautiful birds, even if not very popular with many people. So, I was happy that two Pigeons perched on the railing of the bridge over the Bow River and I was able to capture their beauty.

Another shot of one of the Rough-legged Hawks that I was fortunate enough to see on 20 November 2011, when friends, Ron and Trish, took me with them east and south of Calgary to look for Snowy Owls (none) and Hawks (35+). These Rough-legged Hawks were so skittish and almost always flew off as the car slowly approached. A few times, one would stay a second or two on its perch, barely long enough to focus my camera when we had pulled to a stop. Took many blurry photos, lol, but am so thankful for the ones that did come out sharp enough. The Hawk in this image had just flown to this very distant hay bale in a field.

A beautiful Northern Flicker hybrid, stopping long enough to briefly turn its head away from the cavity it was busy making. He's using his tail for balance. Photographed at Carburn Park on March 3rd. Words from a local naturalist, that were made about a previously-posted Northern Flicker, that explain what a hybrid looks like: "This photo shows characteristics common to the Northern Flickers in the Calgary area. All of our birds are basically hybrids between the western Red-shafted and the eastern Yellow-shafted forms. This bird is a male, indicated by the moustache or malar stripe. This is normally red in the western form and black in the eastern form. Both colours occur on this bird. The yellow shafts of the eastern form are plainly visible in the wing of this birds. Also characteristice of the Yellow-shafted is the red nape patch. Uncharacteristic is the gray throat, typical of the western form. The markings around the eye, while most like the western form, are more exaggerated." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_flicker/id/ac en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Flicker

We took a quick look at two local pairs of Great Horned Owls yesterday. Each female was on her nest, completely out of sight, and the males were in nearby trees, keeping guard. My friends and I always know when it's a Monday morning - it's always overcast and low light!

A very heavily cropped image - so I'm amazed that it came out this sharp - of a female Downy Woodpecker, taken at Sikome, Fish Creek Park, on 14 April 2010. Taken with my old Panasonic DMC-FZ28 point-and-shoot. Interesting - I uploaded this photos something like eight and a half hours ago and not a single comment, despite 35 views. Unusual. So I just replaced the image and immediately got a comment, lol. Still feel there is something not right the last two weeks on Flickr.

Photographed this tiny Red-brested Nuthatch on a friend's hand, when a few of us were on a walk in the SIkome/Hull's Wood area of Fish Creek Park, on March 8th.

Not a new, recent sighting! Perhaps not the best angle photographically, but it is so rare for me to have the chance to see and take photos of a tiny NorthernSaw-whet Owl, that I thought I would add this one to my Birds of Alberta set. Taken on January 26, at Carburn Park. Had my camera fully zoomed for this one : ) Just love those facial feathers. Most of the time, it was asleep, but it did open its eyes briefly a couple of times. This tiny owl hasn't been seen for weeks now - I wonder if it's stil in the area and just wisely hiding from all the endless photographers.