Keith Logan's property

Yesterday, I was so excited because I thought that maybe I had photographed a new (to me) species of Ladybug, on a botanizing day trip to Keith Logan's, about 2 miles south of Water Valley. Unfortunately, this little guy is still a native Two-spotted Ladybug, despite looking more like a "Four-spotted" one, if there was such a thing. Thanks to Corey Husic at BugGuide website for confirming that this is in fact "just" a Two-spotted Ladybug. Also, according to the book, "Bugs of Alberta", "Two-spotted Ladybugs are amazingly variable. Most have two black spots on a red background, while others have four spots or two red shoulder parches on a black background."

I just thought this was a nice mix of lichens (no doubt very common ones) growing on this dead wood. Seen at Keith and Sandy Logan's acreage near Bottrel, north west of Cochrane (which is north west of Calgary). We spent a good part of Friday recording the plants, birds, insects, etc. that we saw there.

Happy Father's Day, everyone! I think the song of the White-throated Sparrow is one of the most beautiful of bird songs. Seems such a loud voice from just a little bird, too : ) Feeder shots are definitely not my favourite, but I just had to take a few shots when a few of us were at Keith Logan's beautiful acreage out near Water valley, NW of Calgary, on June 17th. Though I hear the Sparrow's song often, it is very rare that I actually see the bird, so I was happy to get this. Yesterday's day trip out east of Calgary to see Piping Plovers was cancelled because of bad weather. Today's day trip to Medicine River Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre also didn't happen. I had been longing to go back there for a whole year, but I was the only person (plus the leader) to turn up at the meeting place early this morning and I never go if I'm the only one. So, instead, I walked around Inglebird Bird Sanctuary, called in at Bridlewood and a slough on 22X, and then went in search of Mountain Bluebirds (the few I saw were so far away, but I did see the Snipe - again). Got caught in the rain whilst photographing the Snipe - again, ha.

If I remember correctly, this Cow Parsnip seed may have been about one third of an inch long. Thought it had an interesting surface texture. Photographed on Keith Logan's property on June 17th.

A rather blurry image of this little Junco, but I don't have one in my Birds of Alberta Sets. Photographed at Keith Logan's property on June 17th.

I was so excited when I saw this tiny Ladybug, as I thought I had found a different species. However, it turned out that this, too, is a Two-spotted Ladybug. Usually, the ones I find have just one large, black spot on each side. Seen during a hike on Keith Logan's land, on June 17th. "The most familiar form of the two-spot ladybird beetle is the red one with the two black spots. However, there also exists a black form with red spots on it. In addition, there are intermediate forms, but they occur only rarely in nature." From Wikipedia.

A really crummy photo, but I so rarely see a Mountain Chickadee. Photographed this one yesterday, while botanizing at Keith and Sandy Logan's acreage, near Bottrel, Alberta (north west of Cochrane, which is north west of Calgary).

Photographed at Keith Logan's property when a few of us spent the day botanizing, on 17 June 2011. These birds are not seen very often here, so it's always a treat when we do see one. None of My Contacts photos have been showing up on my Home Page for around 14 hours now, as of 7:30 a.m. this morning. Same thing happening for other people, too. So, apologies if I've been missing yopur latest posts. I wonder if this is related to the problem with blank thumbnails that I wrote about two days ago. www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157632968645830/

One of the first early fungi I have seen this year. Photographed at Keith Logan's property on June 17th. Oops, this is the second blurry image I'm posting today, but did want to add it to my Fungi of Alberta Set : )