Birds of Alberta 6

I must be close to running out of photos of this beautiful Northern Hawk Owl : ) This is another photo taken on March 21st, the best day we had for seeing this owl (NW of Cochrane). ""Hunts by day or night. Perches on prominent treetops, detecting prey by sight. Also has keen hearing, and can take prey completely concealed by snow." These owls are described as having little fear of humans, and are quite curious birds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Hawk_Owl/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hawk-Owl Sorry, everyone, I'm trying to keep off the computer as much as I can at the moment, to give my very painful arms (too much mouse-clicking) a chance to heal/improve. I have been out all day today, after posting my photos really early this morning, and need to try and get off my computer not too late tonight.

Usually, I need to look through someone's scope to see any Scaup, they are so far away, so I always enjoy seeing and photographing this species much closer at a little wetland in SW Calgary. I think I'm right in saying this is a Lesser Scaup rather than a Greater Scaup. This handsome male obliged, on April 22nd. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Scaup/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Scaup

A really bad quality image, but I couldn't resist posting this little Canada Goose Gosling that I saw the other day. I was trying to focus on it as it was walking, and then suddenly it jumped, and this is what my camera very blurrily caught. It's so good to have these little guys around - spring is here, or at least I think it is. Thankfully, the snow that was in the forecast seems to have disappeared from the chart and we are supposed to be in for rain only. A major snow storm in May is not uncommon here, though. It's 3C this morning and it should soar to a balmy 6C this afternoon.