Fish Creek Park 5

Narrowleaf Stoneseed (Lithospermum incisum) is an attractive small flower that appears each spring. Photographed at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, on 30 May 2012. The genus name refers to the very small and extremely hard nutlets. Keep your eyes open for them if you go for a walk in the park. "This flowering plant is in the borage family known by several common names, including narrowleaf stoneseed, fringed gromwell, narrowleaf puccoon, and plains stoneseed. It is native to much of central Canada and the United States." From Wikipedia. www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LIIN2

Saskatoon is one of the shrubs that bloom early in the spring. Photographed at Sikome, Fish Creek Park, on 21 May 2012. "The Cree name for this plant is "mis-ask-quah-toomina," which early, white settlers shortened to "saskatoon". Saskatoon berries were the most important plant food used by the Blackfoot peoples of the prairies. The fruit was used in ceremonies and the plant had sacred significance. Summer camps were moved to good picking locations, and berries were collected, dried and used in making pemmican. Arrow shafts were made from the hard, straight-grained wood. Saskatoon was also used in many medicines. For example, the berries were used to treat liver trouble and as a laxative, and the inner bark or roots were a remedy for diarrhea. Saskatoon berries were so valuable to First Nations Peoples in historic times that they were used as a trade item. Saskatoon berries are sweet and delicious, whether eaten straight from the bush or in favourite recipes like saskatoon pie. The berries are an excellent source of Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium and iron, and a good source of calcium, potassium, copper and beta-carotene. The content of protein, fat, and fibre is higher in saskatoon berries than in other fruits because the edible seeds are eaten along with the berry." plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/plant-information/saskatoon

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! Yesterday was a beautiful winter wonderland with hoar frost decorating everything in sight. Took me longer to get out to a local park than I wanted, but I eventually went for a short walk. It started off quite cold, but the warm sun quickly melted the ice crystals. I was trying to take a few macros, when I happened to notice this teeny snowflake just in time :) I did find another one, which had a more typical snowflake shape than the one above.

I don't like taking or posting photos like this one, lol, but it's so rare for me to get a photo of a Boreal Chickadee, that I wanted to keep this one. These little guys tend to hang out with the Black-capped Chickadees and are just as fast and constantly on the move. Yesterday, 1 January 2014, was the 21st annual Fish Creek Park New Year's Day Bird Count and, as you can see from the blue sky, it was a gorgeous day out there. Sunny, calm, -8 to -5C, with 5cm new snow that we had had overnight. We walked from 9:00 a.m. till about noon, and my group covered the area from Bebo Grove to bridge 6 and back. Twenty people turned up for the Count in this part of the park, so we split into two groups. Other small groups covered other parts of the park and just after noon, some participants met at Tim Horton's for coffee and lunch. Always tastes so good after being outdoors for a few hours : ) Always feels so good to meet up with friends and spend a few hours in this way! Results for my small group (the other half of the group had very similar results, also with a total of 11 species): Downy Woodpecker-8 Hairy Woodpecker-3 Northern Flicker-1 Black-billed Magpie-4 Common Raven-20 Black-capped Chickadee-37 Boreal Chickadee-1 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-5 Townsend's Solitaire-2 Bohemian Waxwing-300 Talking of snow, CBC News reported on 21 December 2013: "December SNOWFALL in Calgary has broken a 112-year record according to the city. The City made the announcement in a tweet Saturday morning after weeks of on-and-off heavy snowfall left many residents complaining about the lack of snow removal in parts of Calgary. "A total of 43.8 cm of snow has fallen in Calgary this month. We haven’t seen this much snow in 112 years!" tweeted the City."

Almost embarrassing to say that I think this snowman was the highlight (for me) on yesterday's Bird Count, lol! The sun was shining exactly on it, while the surrounding area was in shade. Yesterday, 1 January 2014, was the 21st annual Fish Creek Park New Year's Day Bird Count and, as you can see from the blue sky, it was a gorgeous day out there. Sunny, calm, -8 to -5C, with 5cm new snow that had fallen overnight. We walked from 9:00 a.m. till noon, and my small group covered the area from Bebo Grove to bridge 6 and back. Twenty people turned up for the Count in this part of the park, so we split into two groups. Other small groups covered other parts of the park and just after noon, some participants met at Tim Horton's for coffee and lunch. Always tastes so good after being outdoors for a few hours : ) Always feels so good to meet up with friends and spend a few hours in this way! Results for my small group (the other half of the group had very similar results, also with a total of 11 species) are listed below. As you can see, nothing spectacular or rare, though we did look in vain for the Three-toed Woodpecker and kept our eyes open for one of the tiny Northern Pygmy Owls that had given us so much pleasure two or three winters ago. Downy Woodpecker-8 Hairy Woodpecker-3 Northern Flicker-1 Black-billed Magpie-4 Common Raven-20 Black-capped Chickadee-37 Boreal Chickadee-1 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-5 Townsend's Solitaire-2 Bohemian Waxwing-300 Talking of snow, CBC News reported on 21 December 2013: "December SNOWFALL in Calgary has broken a 112-year record according to the city. The City made the announcement in a tweet Saturday morning after weeks of on-and-off heavy snowfall left many residents complaining about the lack of snow removal in parts of Calgary. "A total of 43.8 cm of snow has fallen in Calgary this month. We haven’t seen this much snow in 112 years!" tweeted the City."

I finally made myself go for a three-hour walk with friends yesterday morning, down in Fish Creek Park, in the Hull's Wood and Sikome area. We couldn't believe how much snow there was everywhere - don't remember seeing anything like it before, and I've lived in Calgary for 35 years now. This lone White-tailed Deer was feeding on dead leaves and twigs. How they must love it when the first green shoots of spring appear.

We are seeing so few birds and so few species when we go on our birding walks. There are no cones on many of the coniferous trees, meaning that there is no food for birds such as Crossbills this winter, and birds such as Redpolls are non-existant. That's why I say "Thank heavens for Chickadees"!! They are there to greet us, no matter what! Such tough little guys, though they are always only 24 hours away from death if they can't get enough fat stored into their body to last overnight. This was a lucky shot, taken through the snow-laden trees somewhere between Bebo Grove and Shannon Terrace in Fish Creek Park, on 29 October 2013. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_Chickadee www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-Capped_Chickadee/id

I was deleting a few very old photos recently and came across this one, taken on 13 October 2006. I posted a vertical shot back then, but thought I'd post a view that shows more of the body position. I always say that 13 is my lucky number and that day was Friday 13th! That evening, I decided I would drive over to the east end of Fish Creek Park and see if I could see a familiar pair of Great Horned Owls. I wanted some new owl photos to post here! Instead, I decided I would stop off en route at Burnsmead and take a few pictures of a really beautiful sky. Thought I'd do a short walk while I was there and when I heard rather a lot of noisy Chickadees coming from one particular bush, I stopped to have a look. I found myself staring into the eyes of this rare to uncommon, wonderful little owl!! This photo was taken after it had flown a couple of feet to a different branch in the same bush. It almost reminded me of a cat lying down. Then I accidentally snapped a dead branch that was lying on the ground and the owl flew a few bushes away, where it was immediately surrounded by Magpies that harassed it. This was the first time I had ever seen a Long-eared Owl and I was SO excited! I must admit that I wasn't even sure what kind of owl it was until I got home and checked. Since that day, I've seen another five or six Long-eared Owls, so I have been extremely lucky.

Found deep within my archives, taken on 24 February 2008. That morning, we managed to find two of the Northern Pygmy-owls in Fish Creek Park. Both were extremely high up in trees in the same area. After lunch, I went back to have a quick look again and came across this little guy immediately. Couldn't believe my luck! Unfortunately, the light in amongst the trees was not good at all, especially for my little point-and-shoot camera. Not the best quality, but some sharpening and brightening did help. These tiny popcan-size owls were the highlight of many people's day! A few people do see them outside the city, but it has been such a long time since I saw one. Grabbed two or three of these old photos before sending the file to my external hard drive, where it will probably never see daylight again : ) www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/12133398984