Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Willow

The last 7 images that I have just uploaded were taken yesterday afternoon, 11 May 2017, at a pond in Calgary. Love seeing these beautiful catkins, but I can never remember if they are Bebb's Willow catkins. Much as I would rather not interrupt my Trinidad photos, I did want to post these local birds and plants, otherwise I might forget. Sorry that I have added so many photos, and at such a fast rate! Seeing my calendar filling up rather quickly, I know that I will be getting various chances to take photos, and it would help greatly if I can get my holiday photos finished. This morning, I finished the last few photos taken at Manzaniila Beach, Trinidad. From there, we drove the Nariva Swamp area, which is mainly agricultural habitats with some wetlands. Some good birding there and I will be posting various new species. Also, at least a couple of plants that we enjoyed seeing, especially the Sacred Lotus. This is one of my favourite things to photograph in the Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo.

My Mallard photo and this catkin photo definitely don't have the colour backgrounds that I would have chosen : ) However, this was the water colour at this spot in the pond. This photo was taken at a wetland in SW Calgary yesterday, 10 April 2016, when I called in for just a very quick visit. The weather forecast had been for mainly sunny, but the day turned out to be mainly cloudy with a bit of sun. That made me cancel my plans to do a longer drive somewhere, which left me longing to get out with my camera. The temperature this morning is -2C, but supposed to soar to 17C this afternoon. A few days ago, it got up to 23C! Crazy for early spring. Willows can be very difficult to identify, so I'm not sure if this is this is Beaked Willow, Salix bebbiana, also known as Bebb's Willow, or something else.

This image was taken last year, on 23 May 2015. The main focus of the trip we went on was someone's property SW of Calgary, a place that we always call in at when we take part in the May Species Count. The Count wasn't till the following weekend, so this visit was an extra one - and extra long, too, which was pure delight! I think we spent something like two hours, watching especially Barb's feeder area for some of the birds that had been showing up. We are always thrilled to bits to see the Evening Grosbeaks and the Baltimore Orioles - the first male Oriole to arrive at Barb's was on 15 May. Though I'm not keen on feeder photos, I still take them, as well as when the birds are in the nearby trees. The Evening Grosbeaks came often to the feeders, giving us the chance to at least get closer shots. All the bird species were very fast-moving, so gave us a challenge for two hours. The Goldfinch and the Pine Siskins also were quick, but not totally impossible to photograph. After our time at Barb's, we went to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, mainly to look for Calypso Orchids, which we did find. This is where I took this photo of Willow catkins. Some people continued walking the trails, others returned home. I did part of the walk, but then went back to where the cars were parked and wandered through the forest around the parking lot. Tennessee Warblers sang continuously but were almost impossible to see. I was happy to find one single Coltsfoot plant - love the tight cluster of white flowers at the top of a tall stem. From Brown-Lowery, we started our journey home, stopping at a couple of wetlands on the way. I will add the list compiled by Andrew Hart, who kindly drove three of us around for the morning and early afternoon and then sent us his list that he submitted to ebird. Many thanks for both the ride and the final list, Andrew! "Here is the elist of Birds seen at B. Castell's S of Priddis; Plummers & Priddis Valley Rd.; and Brown-Lowery PP, 23May2015. 24 participants Number of Checklists: 3 Number of Species: 46 Checklists included in this summary: (1): CA-AB-Priddis. Barb Castell Date: May 23, 2015, 7:34 AM (2): CA-Priddis Valley road Date: May 23, 2015, 9:53 AM (3): Brown-Lowery Provincial Park Date: May 23, 2015, 10:28 AM 2 Canada Goose -- (1) 2 American Wigeon -- (1) 1 Mallard -- (1) 3 Blue-winged Teal -- (1) 3 Northern Shoveler -- (1),(2) 3 Green-winged Teal -- (1) 4 Lesser Scaup -- (1) 2 Common Goldeneye -- (1) 1 Swainson's Hawk -- (1) 1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (2) 4 Sora -- (2) 1 Spotted Sandpiper -- (1) 2 Wilson's Snipe -- (1) 7 Wilson's Phalarope -- (2) 1 Mourning Dove -- (1) 1 Rufous Hummingbird -- (1) 1 Red-naped Sapsucker -- (1) 2 Downy Woodpecker -- (1) 1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1) 2 Least Flycatcher -- (2) 1 Eastern Kingbird -- (2) 1 Blue Jay -- (1) 3 Black-billed Magpie -- (1) 2 American Crow -- (1) 2 Common Raven -- (2) 11 Tree Swallow -- (1),(2) 1 Barn Swallow -- (2) 6 Black-capped Chickadee -- (1),(3) 3 House Wren -- (1),(2) 2 Golden-crowned Kinglet -- (3) 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- (2),(3) 9 Mountain Bluebird -- (1),(2) 6 American Robin -- (1),(2),(3) 4 Tennessee Warbler -- (3) 2 Yellow Warbler -- (1),(2) 8 Clay-colored Sparrow -- (1),(2) 6 Savannah Sparrow -- (1),(2) 1 Lincoln's Sparrow -- (1) 1 White-throated Sparrow -- (1) 1 Dark-eyed Junco -- (3) 23 Red-winged Blackbird -- (1),(2) 3 Brown-headed Cowbird -- (1) 1 Baltimore Oriole -- (1) 17 Pine Siskin -- (1),(3) 5 American Goldfinch -- (1) 5 Evening Grosbeak -- (1),(3)"

Just a quick shot taken on 26 November 2015. It was a cold morning, when I met friends for a three hour walk at Griffith Woods. Temperature was -10 to -4°C. Eventually, the warmth of the sun could just be felt, which always makes such a welcome difference. This photo shows a Willow gall, covered in ice crystals. Horribly blown out, but there was still something that I liked about it. “Pine-cone willow gall” is caused by a gall midge, Rhabdophaga strobiloides. This dipteran (related to flies and mosquitoes) deposits an egg in the developing terminal leaf buds of the willow in early spring. The larva releases a chemical which interferes with the typical leaf and branch development of the willow, instead causing the formation of this cone-like structure. The adult dipteran emerges the following spring, after having spent the winter in the gall. (Information taken from Botany Photo of the Day website, with thanks). Not a huge variety of birds - but we saw so many Bohemian Waxwings flying overhead and sometimes landing near the tops of very tall Spruce trees. Canada Goose-110 Mallard-10 Bald Eagle-1 juv. Merlin-1 Downy Woodpecker-1 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-2 Northern Shrike-1, chasing a Blue Jay Blue Jay-4+ Black-billed Magpie-7 Common Raven-3+ Black-capped Chickadee-25 Boreal Chickadee-4+ Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Golden-crowned Kinglet-1 Bohemian Waxwing-600+. Pine Grosbeak-4 White-winged Crossbill-4+ Common Redpoll-2 House Sparrow-1 On a totally different note, I had a wonderful surprise a few days ago. After receiving a notificiation e-mail telling me that someone had 'buzzed' me on the FriendsReunited website that I had joined quite a few years ago, I discovered two words, "Remember me?" To my amazement, it was from someone who had been in the class I taught for one year in England (my very first year of teaching, in a mixed class of Grade 5/6 (equivalent). He had been a delightful, quiet, shy boy and I remembered him as if it was yesterday : ) I am so impressed with what he has done with his life - I'm still in awe today! Most of his 36 years of working were spent teaching. When he sent me the message, he had just finished taking part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - the boat he was on came in third place out of twelve! Such a good, good feeling to hear that a student from so many years ago has used his life so well!

Pussy Willow catkin seen out in Kananaskis, at the Golden Eagle Migration Count location near Mt. Lorette.

The background bokeh has to have been created by all the bushes in the background, but the colour did take me a bit by surprise. It felt so good on Sunday afternoon, 31 March 2013, to see these beautiful Catkins. I was on a walk with friends in Weaselhead, along a different trail from the usual one, and we had a lot of bush-wacking to do and walking in mud, lol. Quite a work-out.

The bright colour of these tiny insect galls caught my eye when I was walking at Maclean Pond, off Elbow Falls Trail, west of the city. Macro shot taken on July 21st.

Hope I've identified this female (thanks, Doug!) Willow correctly - I tend to get mixed up with Arctic Willow and Snow Willow.This is a macro shot of just a tiny plant, but aren't the flowers unusual and beautiful? Photographed near the tiny creek that was running down slope at Arethusa Cirque, Kananaskis, on July 30th.

Not a patch on your photo quality, of course, but just wanted to let you know that I was thinking of you yesterday when out of the city with friends. I was thrilled to bits that this bokeh happened "naturally", ha, ha! We all enjoyed seeing Pussy Willow catkins at the edge of the forest. Thanks so much for making me aware of "bokeh" and how fascinating it can be, and for providing endless inspiration. Big shoes to fill, but I'd love to improve, even if only a little bit : )

Yay, spring IS here! As you can see by the blue sky, today has been a glorious day, only about 13C but it felt warmer than that to me. A perfect temperature for walking. After watching a couple of far off Tundra Swans and several distant Canvasbacks on Glenmore Reservoir this morning, I took a few shots of these beautiful catkins from a Laurel-leaved Willow (North Glenmore Park). Hard to tell from this photo, but the stems are brilliant, glowing red. Very pretty.

Another shot of the Laurel-leaved Willow catkin, showing better the bright red branch. They really are very attractive : )

I think this is Beaked Willow, Salix bebbiana, also known as Bebb's Willow. Doug, perhaps you would correct me if I'm wrong? This shrub is growing at the upper level of Edworthy Park. Again, I think these are female flowers (catkins). Taken on a grey, drizzly day, so not as sharp as I would have liked.

Can never remember the different kinds of Willow, but I always love the catkins. This branch has a gall on it.

Always so gentle and soft, and quite spectacular when you get up really close.

I can't WAIT for winter to be over! For some reason, I love Willow catkins of every shape and kind.

Not sure what kind of Willow this is, but I have always been fascinated by Willow catkins of any sort.

Such beautiful detail when seen close.