https://www.ipernity.com/tag/293827/keyword/20062 https://cdn.ipernity.com/p/101/C3/7B/293827.buddy.jpg https://www.ipernity.com/tag/293827/keyword/20062 Tue, 15 Sep 2026 19:11:09 +0000 Tue, 15 Sep 2026 19:11:09 +0000 https://www.ipernity.com https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/49550108 tag:ipernity.com,2019-07-06,doc-49550108 Sat, 06 Jul 2019 17:34:45 +0000 2019-07-03T15:38:36-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/49550108"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/01/08/49550108.26baeb40.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Our weather forecast for today, 6 July 2019, from the Weather Network: <br /> <br /> "A multi-day severe storm threat looms for the Prairies. This weekend is ripe with storm risk, with Saturday's thunderstorms set to fire for the afternoon and evening, along with some tornado chance on the table for southern Alberta -- something visitors to the Calgary Stampede should keep an eye on." <br /> <br /> This morning, 6 July 2019, I am posting 7 more photos taken three days ago, on a drive south to Frank Lake. Yet again, when I checked the weather forecast, it said continuing rain for day after day after day. However, the sun was shining when I decided to drive south. The clouds were sufficiently photogenic for me to change my plans and, instead of calling in at the Saskatoon Farm, I drove straight to the Lake.<br /> <br /> The previous time I was at Frank Lake, there was one Coot, two Canada Geese, and a Red-winged and a Yellow-headed Blackbird. Two days ago, it was so much better! The Barn Swallows were there, having built their nest a few feet away from their previous nest site. The Eared Grebes had their tiny, adorable babies, sometimes riding on their back, other times swimming separately. Same thing with the Coots - some had very young babies; others had somewhat older youngsters. One Coot adult and baby were walking in thick mud, searching for food. They both looked such a mess, as if they had rolled in the mud. A pair of Western Grebes could be seen far in the distance.<br /> <br /> The sky began to change - the white clouds were taken over by rather menacing black ones and it became windy and the rain started. I really didn't want to drive back home on the very busy highway in pouring rain, but after waiting and hoping for it to end, I eventually had no choice but to risk it. As it turned out, there was hardly any traffic going north. <br /> <br /> It has been raining on and off for something like three weeks now, and everyone is tired of the rain. The famous 9-day Calgary Stampede runs from 5-14 July this year and rain during Stampede makes things so unpleasant! Judging by my Stampede photos posted on Flickr, I haven't been since 2013, when I went with my daughter - surely it hasn't been that long? I know I haven't been the last few years, as it was feeling just too much to deal with. Happy to be away from the huge masses of people and the sickening smell of grease, ha, ha! Of course, not going means not getting any mini-donuts, too. Happy Stampeding, everyone! May the sun shine ....</div> Coot baby following in Mom&#039;s footsteps <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/49550108"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/01/08/49550108.26baeb40.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Our weather forecast for today, 6 July 2019, from the Weather Network: <br /> <br /> "A multi-day severe storm threat looms for the Prairies. This weekend is ripe with storm risk, with Saturday's thunderstorms set to fire for the afternoon and evening, along with some tornado chance on the table for southern Alberta -- something visitors to the Calgary Stampede should keep an eye on." <br /> <br /> This morning, 6 July 2019, I am posting 7 more photos taken three days ago, on a drive south to Frank Lake. Yet again, when I checked the weather forecast, it said continuing rain for day after day after day. However, the sun was shining when I decided to drive south. The clouds were sufficiently photogenic for me to change my plans and, instead of calling in at the Saskatoon Farm, I drove straight to the Lake.<br /> <br /> The previous time I was at Frank Lake, there was one Coot, two Canada Geese, and a Red-winged and a Yellow-headed Blackbird. Two days ago, it was so much better! The Barn Swallows were there, having built their nest a few feet away from their previous nest site. The Eared Grebes had their tiny, adorable babies, sometimes riding on their back, other times swimming separately. Same thing with the Coots - some had very young babies; others had somewhat older youngsters. One Coot adult and baby were walking in thick mud, searching for food. They both looked such a mess, as if they had rolled in the mud. A pair of Western Grebes could be seen far in the distance.<br /> <br /> The sky began to change - the white clouds were taken over by rather menacing black ones and it became windy and the rain started. I really didn't want to drive back home on the very busy highway in pouring rain, but after waiting and hoping for it to end, I eventually had no choice but to risk it. As it turned out, there was hardly any traffic going north. <br /> <br /> It has been raining on and off for something like three weeks now, and everyone is tired of the rain. The famous 9-day Calgary Stampede runs from 5-14 July this year and rain during Stampede makes things so unpleasant! Judging by my Stampede photos posted on Flickr, I haven't been since 2013, when I went with my daughter - surely it hasn't been that long? I know I haven't been the last few years, as it was feeling just too much to deal with. Happy to be away from the huge masses of people and the sickening smell of grease, ha, ha! Of course, not going means not getting any mini-donuts, too. Happy Stampeding, everyone! May the sun shine ....</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48990682 tag:ipernity.com,2019-05-08,doc-48990682 Wed, 08 May 2019 19:59:03 +0000 2019-03-24T12:29:32-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48990682"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/06/82/48990682.e28382ff.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">On Day 6 of our birding holiday in South Texas, 24 March 2019, we left our hotel in Kingsville, South Texas, and started our drive to Mission, where we would be staying at La Quinta Inn & Suites for three nights. On the first stretch of our drive, we were lucky enough to see several bird species, including a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Hooded Oriole, Red-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Harris's Hawk, Pyrrhuloxia male (looks similar to a Cardinal) and a spectacular Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I'm not sure if this stretch is called Hawk Alley.<br /> <br /> We had a long drive further south towards Mission, with only a couple of drive-by photos taken en route (of a strangely shaped building that turned out to be a deserted seed storage building). Eventually, we reached our next planned stop, the National Butterfly Centre. This was a great place, my favourite part of it being the bird feeding station, where we saw all sorts of species and reasonably close. Despite the name of the place, we only saw a few butterflies while we were there. May have been the weather or, more likely, the fact that I was having so much fun at the bird feeding station. We also got to see Spike, a giant African Spurred Tortoise. All the nature/wildlife parks that we visited in South Texas had beautiful visitor centres and usually bird feeding stations. And there are so many of these parks - so impressive!<br /> <br /> <a href="https://nationalbutterflycenter.org/nbc-multi-media/in-the-news/184-spike-is-turning-11" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">nationalbutterflycenter.org/nbc-multi-media/in-the-news/1...</a><br /> <br /> "Ten years ago, the North American Butterfly Association broke ground for what has now become the largest native plant botanical garden in the United States. This 100-acre preserve is home to Spike (who thinks he is a butterfly) and the greatest volume and variety of wild, free-flying butterflies in the nation. In fact, USA Today calls the National Butterfly Center, in Mission, Texas, 'the butterfly capitol of the USA'." From the Butterfly Centre's website.<br /> <br /> The Centre is facing huge challenges, as a result of the "Border Wall". The following information is from the Centre's website.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/about-nbc/maps-directions/9-national-butterfly-center/258-border-wall-information" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/about-nbc/maps-directions...</a><br /> <br /> "No permission was requested to enter the property or begin cutting down trees. The center was not notified of any roadwork, nor given the opportunity to review, negotiate or deny the workplan. Same goes for the core sampling of soils on the property, and the surveying and staking of a “clear zone” that will bulldoze 200,000 square feet of habitat for protected species like the Texas Tortoise and Texas Indigo, not to mention about 400 species of birds. The federal government had decided it will do as it pleases with our property, swiftly and secretly, in spite of our property rights and right to due process under the law."<br /> <br /> "What the Border Wall will do here:<br /> 1) Eradicate an enormous amount of native habitat, including host plants for butterflies, breeding and feeding areas for wildlife, and lands set aside for conservation of endangered and threatened species-- including avian species that migrate N/S through this area or over-winter, here, in the tip of the Central US Flyway.<br /> <br /> 2) Create devastating flooding to all property up to 2 miles behind the wall, on the banks of the mighty Rio Grande River, here.<br /> <br /> 3) Reduce viable range land for wildlife foraging and mating. This will result in greater competition for resources and a smaller gene pool for healthy species reproduction. Genetic "bottlenecks" can exacerbate blight and disease.<br /> <br /> IN ADDITION:<br /> <br /> 4) Not all birds can fly over the wall, nor will all butterfly species. For example, the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, found on the southern border from Texas to Arizona, only flies about 6 ft in the air. It cannot overcome a 30 ft vertical wall of concrete and steel.<br /> <br /> 5) Nocturnal and crepuscular wildlife, which rely on sunset and sunrise cues to regulate vital activity, will be negatively affected by night time flood lighting of the "control zone" the DHS CBP will establish along the wall and new secondary drag roads. The expansion of these areas to vehicular traffic will increase wildlife roadkill.<br /> <br /> 6) Animals trapped north of the wall will face similar competition for resources, cut off from native habitat in the conservation corridor and from water in the Rio Grande River and adjacent resacas. HUMANS, here, will also be cut off from our only source of fresh water, in this irrigated desert.</div> Day 6, Plain Chachalaca / Ortalis vetula <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48990682"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/06/82/48990682.e28382ff.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">On Day 6 of our birding holiday in South Texas, 24 March 2019, we left our hotel in Kingsville, South Texas, and started our drive to Mission, where we would be staying at La Quinta Inn & Suites for three nights. On the first stretch of our drive, we were lucky enough to see several bird species, including a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Hooded Oriole, Red-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Harris's Hawk, Pyrrhuloxia male (looks similar to a Cardinal) and a spectacular Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I'm not sure if this stretch is called Hawk Alley.<br /> <br /> We had a long drive further south towards Mission, with only a couple of drive-by photos taken en route (of a strangely shaped building that turned out to be a deserted seed storage building). Eventually, we reached our next planned stop, the National Butterfly Centre. This was a great place, my favourite part of it being the bird feeding station, where we saw all sorts of species and reasonably close. Despite the name of the place, we only saw a few butterflies while we were there. May have been the weather or, more likely, the fact that I was having so much fun at the bird feeding station. We also got to see Spike, a giant African Spurred Tortoise. All the nature/wildlife parks that we visited in South Texas had beautiful visitor centres and usually bird feeding stations. And there are so many of these parks - so impressive!<br /> <br /> <a href="https://nationalbutterflycenter.org/nbc-multi-media/in-the-news/184-spike-is-turning-11" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">nationalbutterflycenter.org/nbc-multi-media/in-the-news/1...</a><br /> <br /> "Ten years ago, the North American Butterfly Association broke ground for what has now become the largest native plant botanical garden in the United States. This 100-acre preserve is home to Spike (who thinks he is a butterfly) and the greatest volume and variety of wild, free-flying butterflies in the nation. In fact, USA Today calls the National Butterfly Center, in Mission, Texas, 'the butterfly capitol of the USA'." From the Butterfly Centre's website.<br /> <br /> The Centre is facing huge challenges, as a result of the "Border Wall". The following information is from the Centre's website.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/about-nbc/maps-directions/9-national-butterfly-center/258-border-wall-information" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/about-nbc/maps-directions...</a><br /> <br /> "No permission was requested to enter the property or begin cutting down trees. The center was not notified of any roadwork, nor given the opportunity to review, negotiate or deny the workplan. Same goes for the core sampling of soils on the property, and the surveying and staking of a “clear zone” that will bulldoze 200,000 square feet of habitat for protected species like the Texas Tortoise and Texas Indigo, not to mention about 400 species of birds. The federal government had decided it will do as it pleases with our property, swiftly and secretly, in spite of our property rights and right to due process under the law."<br /> <br /> "What the Border Wall will do here:<br /> 1) Eradicate an enormous amount of native habitat, including host plants for butterflies, breeding and feeding areas for wildlife, and lands set aside for conservation of endangered and threatened species-- including avian species that migrate N/S through this area or over-winter, here, in the tip of the Central US Flyway.<br /> <br /> 2) Create devastating flooding to all property up to 2 miles behind the wall, on the banks of the mighty Rio Grande River, here.<br /> <br /> 3) Reduce viable range land for wildlife foraging and mating. This will result in greater competition for resources and a smaller gene pool for healthy species reproduction. Genetic "bottlenecks" can exacerbate blight and disease.<br /> <br /> IN ADDITION:<br /> <br /> 4) Not all birds can fly over the wall, nor will all butterfly species. For example, the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, found on the southern border from Texas to Arizona, only flies about 6 ft in the air. It cannot overcome a 30 ft vertical wall of concrete and steel.<br /> <br /> 5) Nocturnal and crepuscular wildlife, which rely on sunset and sunrise cues to regulate vital activity, will be negatively affected by night time flood lighting of the "control zone" the DHS CBP will establish along the wall and new secondary drag roads. The expansion of these areas to vehicular traffic will increase wildlife roadkill.<br /> <br /> 6) Animals trapped north of the wall will face similar competition for resources, cut off from native habitat in the conservation corridor and from water in the Rio Grande River and adjacent resacas. HUMANS, here, will also be cut off from our only source of fresh water, in this irrigated desert.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48903592 tag:ipernity.com,2019-04-25,doc-48903592 Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:28:34 +0000 2019-03-22T09:59:56-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48903592"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/35/92/48903592.5571ae1e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Day 4, 22 March, of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. The 9 photos I have just posted tonight were all taken on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. We had driven there from the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre/the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. We loved the Birding Centre, getting great views of the various bird species, looking down from the new boardwalk that has been built after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the previous one in 2017. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator.<br /> <br /> We spent some time on the beach at Mustang Island State Park, watching and listening to the Laughing Gulls. They are such fun to watch and to photograph. The Royal Terns are so beautiful, always looking quite regal in their posture.<br /> <br /> At one point, a man started feeding the Gulls down the beach, and they swarmed over and around him. Managed to get a couple of distant shots.<br /> <br /> "Mustang Island State Park is a state park located south of the city of Port Aransas, Texas, United States on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that covers 3,954 acres (1,600 ha) and has a 5-mile (8.0 km) beachfront. The land was acquired from private owners in 1972 and opened to the public in 1979. The island takes its name from wild mustangs that roamed the island which eventually succumbed to ranching in the late 1800s." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> After our short walk along this beach, we continued our drive towards Kingville, where we were going to spend two nights at the Hampton Inn. We had time to stop at the Bishop City Park before we reached Kingsville. I still have more photos from Mustang Island State Park to finish, and then will add a few from Bishop City Park.</div> Day 4, Laughing Gulls, Mustang Island, Texas <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48903592"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/35/92/48903592.5571ae1e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Day 4, 22 March, of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019, was a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. The 9 photos I have just posted tonight were all taken on the beach at Mustang Island State Park. We had driven there from the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Centre/the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. We loved the Birding Centre, getting great views of the various bird species, looking down from the new boardwalk that has been built after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the previous one in 2017. Lots of birds; even a huge Alligator.<br /> <br /> We spent some time on the beach at Mustang Island State Park, watching and listening to the Laughing Gulls. They are such fun to watch and to photograph. The Royal Terns are so beautiful, always looking quite regal in their posture.<br /> <br /> At one point, a man started feeding the Gulls down the beach, and they swarmed over and around him. Managed to get a couple of distant shots.<br /> <br /> "Mustang Island State Park is a state park located south of the city of Port Aransas, Texas, United States on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico that covers 3,954 acres (1,600 ha) and has a 5-mile (8.0 km) beachfront. The land was acquired from private owners in 1972 and opened to the public in 1979. The island takes its name from wild mustangs that roamed the island which eventually succumbed to ranching in the late 1800s." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> After our short walk along this beach, we continued our drive towards Kingville, where we were going to spend two nights at the Hampton Inn. We had time to stop at the Bishop City Park before we reached Kingsville. I still have more photos from Mustang Island State Park to finish, and then will add a few from Bishop City Park.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48693406 tag:ipernity.com,2019-04-15,doc-48693406 Mon, 15 Apr 2019 23:36:12 +0000 2019-03-21T07:04:33-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48693406"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/34/06/48693406.15dcc405.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Today is 15 April 2019 - such unfortunate news from Paris, France. Historic Notre Dame Cathedral has been heavily damaged by a devastating fire today. Such an icon for that country, and so beautiful. <br /> <br /> This afternoon, I have added 10 more photos, again from Day 3 of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019. This was our second full day there, a day on a tiny boat, called Lady Lori, watching Whooping Cranes and other species. Having posted so many images from basically our first full day, I rather think I will have to be somewhat more 'disciplined" in my choices, or I will never finish : ) Mind you, I had a quick look through Day 3 photos last night, and discovered that a good many of them, especially of the Whooping Cranes, are very blurry - one disadvantage of taking photos from a little boat that is bobbing up and down. Thankfully, enough of them seem to be sufficiently sharp.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.hww.ca/assets/pdfs/factsheets/whooping-crane-en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.hww.ca/assets/pdfs/factsheets/whooping-crane-en.pdf</a><br /> <br /> The previous morning, Day 2 of our holiday, 20 March 2019, after our drive to The Big Tree and then along the Lamar Beach Road area, we went to the Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary. This is a small, 6.25 acre nature sanctuary that exists in Rockport itself. Such a peaceful place to wander, watching for plants and butterflies as well as birds. There is a small pond, where we watched a young White Ibis, a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret all feeding together. Lovely to see their reflections in the water, too. A couple of nights ago, I was Googling and came across an article from 19 March 2019, telling about a group of students who chose to spend their Spring Break week helping to tidy the Sanctuary. Good for them!<br /> <br /> After spending some time at this Sanctuary, we went to the Aransas First Cove Harbor Wetlands Sanctuary, followed by eventually finding the Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden. This was definitely not what we were expecting - just a small area of grass and trees with picnic tables. However, we did see a beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly and a small, purple Winecup flower. Afterwards, a repeat drive along Cape Velero Drive and area turned up some nice birds, too.<br /> <br /> Day 3 was a very different kind of day, spent on board a small boat with just my four friends (and the captain/guide) on board. This private tour was arranged in Calgary beforehand. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone!<br /> <br /> Aransas Bay Birding Charters:<br /> <br /> <a href="http://texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-bay-birding-charters" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-...</a><br /> <br /> It was a very early start to the day, before sunrise, as we had a lot of water to cross in order to reach the area where the Whooping Cranes were. When we first arrived at the location, the Cranes were either asleep or just beginning their morning preening session, before becoming active. Too dark to get any decent shots of them in the dark, though I did post one yesterday morning. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't make up my mind which one or two photos to post yesterday, so I ended up adding a number of them.<br /> <br /> After a while, the Whooping Cranes starting slowly walking and eventually took flight. A bit later in the day, we came across three of them, in the sunshine, busily feeding. This little family consisted of Mom, Dad and junior (their colt). Junior was hungry and eventually, Dad found a crab, which the colt was determined to snatch and eat. Dad was wearing a numbered leg band on one leg; on the other leg was a tracking device. A delightful family group, that was so fascinating to watch from the boat. My photos taken of these three are nicer that the ones I've just posted.<br /> <br /> As well as seeing these amazing, endangered Cranes, Lori found all sorts of other bird species for us, including a pair of Oystercatchers (female was on a nest), Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Belted Kingfisher, Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Royal Terns, Caspian Terns, Ruddy Turnstone, Skimmers, and Cormorants, to name just some of them. One area, which was a rookery, had been badly destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, Wooden nesting platforms have been built to replace most of the original nests, and it was great to see Herons nesting on them. <br /> <br /> Oh, and I forgot to mention that we saw a family of three Dolphins, too.</div> Day 3, ENDANGERED Whooping Cranes / Grus americana, Aransas, South Texas <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/48693406"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/34/06/48693406.15dcc405.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Today is 15 April 2019 - such unfortunate news from Paris, France. Historic Notre Dame Cathedral has been heavily damaged by a devastating fire today. Such an icon for that country, and so beautiful. <br /> <br /> This afternoon, I have added 10 more photos, again from Day 3 of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas, 19-31 March 2019. This was our second full day there, a day on a tiny boat, called Lady Lori, watching Whooping Cranes and other species. Having posted so many images from basically our first full day, I rather think I will have to be somewhat more 'disciplined" in my choices, or I will never finish : ) Mind you, I had a quick look through Day 3 photos last night, and discovered that a good many of them, especially of the Whooping Cranes, are very blurry - one disadvantage of taking photos from a little boat that is bobbing up and down. Thankfully, enough of them seem to be sufficiently sharp.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.hww.ca/assets/pdfs/factsheets/whooping-crane-en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.hww.ca/assets/pdfs/factsheets/whooping-crane-en.pdf</a><br /> <br /> The previous morning, Day 2 of our holiday, 20 March 2019, after our drive to The Big Tree and then along the Lamar Beach Road area, we went to the Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary. This is a small, 6.25 acre nature sanctuary that exists in Rockport itself. Such a peaceful place to wander, watching for plants and butterflies as well as birds. There is a small pond, where we watched a young White Ibis, a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret all feeding together. Lovely to see their reflections in the water, too. A couple of nights ago, I was Googling and came across an article from 19 March 2019, telling about a group of students who chose to spend their Spring Break week helping to tidy the Sanctuary. Good for them!<br /> <br /> After spending some time at this Sanctuary, we went to the Aransas First Cove Harbor Wetlands Sanctuary, followed by eventually finding the Newbury Park Hummingbird Garden. This was definitely not what we were expecting - just a small area of grass and trees with picnic tables. However, we did see a beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly and a small, purple Winecup flower. Afterwards, a repeat drive along Cape Velero Drive and area turned up some nice birds, too.<br /> <br /> Day 3 was a very different kind of day, spent on board a small boat with just my four friends (and the captain/guide) on board. This private tour was arranged in Calgary beforehand. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone!<br /> <br /> Aransas Bay Birding Charters:<br /> <br /> <a href="http://texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-bay-birding-charters" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-...</a><br /> <br /> It was a very early start to the day, before sunrise, as we had a lot of water to cross in order to reach the area where the Whooping Cranes were. When we first arrived at the location, the Cranes were either asleep or just beginning their morning preening session, before becoming active. Too dark to get any decent shots of them in the dark, though I did post one yesterday morning. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't make up my mind which one or two photos to post yesterday, so I ended up adding a number of them.<br /> <br /> After a while, the Whooping Cranes starting slowly walking and eventually took flight. A bit later in the day, we came across three of them, in the sunshine, busily feeding. This little family consisted of Mom, Dad and junior (their colt). Junior was hungry and eventually, Dad found a crab, which the colt was determined to snatch and eat. Dad was wearing a numbered leg band on one leg; on the other leg was a tracking device. A delightful family group, that was so fascinating to watch from the boat. My photos taken of these three are nicer that the ones I've just posted.<br /> <br /> As well as seeing these amazing, endangered Cranes, Lori found all sorts of other bird species for us, including a pair of Oystercatchers (female was on a nest), Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Belted Kingfisher, Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Royal Terns, Caspian Terns, Ruddy Turnstone, Skimmers, and Cormorants, to name just some of them. One area, which was a rookery, had been badly destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, Wooden nesting platforms have been built to replace most of the original nests, and it was great to see Herons nesting on them. <br /> <br /> Oh, and I forgot to mention that we saw a family of three Dolphins, too.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727918 tag:ipernity.com,2018-11-22,doc-47727918 Thu, 22 Nov 2018 18:18:15 +0000 2018-05-10T05:22:10-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727918"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/79/18/47727918.7d60136e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Hope someone at Flickr will fix the commenting problem that has been going on for days now! Unfortunately, with the US Thanksgiving holiday, the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.<br /> <br /> Today, 22 November 2018, is Thanksgiving Day for Americans. I had not intended posting any photos this morning, but when I realized that the next few photos to upload from our Ontario and Quebec trip were of Wild Turkeys, I thought it appropriate to edit and post some this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, wherever you happen to be living at the moment.<br /> <br /> 9 Fun Facts about Turkeys:<br /> <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys</a><br /> <br /> Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock</a><br /> <br /> This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. I have added Anne B's ebird list for Day 4 in a comment box below. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them!<br /> <br /> The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends.<br /> <br /> For a more detailed account of our trip east, see <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/dateposted-friend/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...</a></div> Day 4, Wild Turkey, Pt Pelee, Ontario <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727918"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/79/18/47727918.7d60136e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Hope someone at Flickr will fix the commenting problem that has been going on for days now! Unfortunately, with the US Thanksgiving holiday, the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.<br /> <br /> Today, 22 November 2018, is Thanksgiving Day for Americans. I had not intended posting any photos this morning, but when I realized that the next few photos to upload from our Ontario and Quebec trip were of Wild Turkeys, I thought it appropriate to edit and post some this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, wherever you happen to be living at the moment.<br /> <br /> 9 Fun Facts about Turkeys:<br /> <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys</a><br /> <br /> Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock</a><br /> <br /> This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. I have added Anne B's ebird list for Day 4 in a comment box below. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them!<br /> <br /> The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends.<br /> <br /> For a more detailed account of our trip east, see <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/dateposted-friend/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...</a></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727900 tag:ipernity.com,2018-11-22,doc-47727900 Thu, 22 Nov 2018 18:15:45 +0000 2018-05-10T05:23:18-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727900"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/79/00/47727900.28691eb6.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Hope someone at Flickr will fix the commenting problem that has been going on for days now! Unfortunately, with the US Thanksgiving holiday, the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.<br /> <br /> Today, 22 November 2018, is Thanksgiving Day for Americans. I had not intended posting any photos this morning, but when I realized that the next few photos to upload from our Ontario and Quebec trip were of Wild Turkeys, I thought it appropriate to edit and post some this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, wherever you happen to be living at the moment.<br /> <br /> 9 Fun Facts about Turkeys:<br /> <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys</a><br /> <br /> Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock</a><br /> <br /> This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. I have added Anne B's ebird list for Day 4 in a comment box below. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them!<br /> <br /> The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends.<br /> <br /> For a more detailed account of our trip east, see <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/dateposted-friend/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...</a></div> Day 4, Wild Turkey, Pt Pelee <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/47727900"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/79/00/47727900.28691eb6.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Hope someone at Flickr will fix the commenting problem that has been going on for days now! Unfortunately, with the US Thanksgiving holiday, the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.<br /> <br /> Today, 22 November 2018, is Thanksgiving Day for Americans. I had not intended posting any photos this morning, but when I realized that the next few photos to upload from our Ontario and Quebec trip were of Wild Turkeys, I thought it appropriate to edit and post some this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, wherever you happen to be living at the moment.<br /> <br /> 9 Fun Facts about Turkeys:<br /> <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.audubon.org/news/9-fun-facts-about-turkeys</a><br /> <br /> Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock</a><br /> <br /> This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. I have added Anne B's ebird list for Day 4 in a comment box below. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them!<br /> <br /> The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends.<br /> <br /> For a more detailed account of our trip east, see <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/dateposted-friend/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...</a></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740954 tag:ipernity.com,2018-05-21,doc-46740954 Mon, 21 May 2018 20:03:59 +0000 2018-05-07T05:10:42-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740954"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/09/54/46740954.12dfce08.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">My plan had been to post a number of photos today, but then I decided to just post the next three in more or less the order in which they were taken. I have a lot of images that I want to add to my albums for this holiday, many of poor quality or of little interest to others. Maybe I can add more tonight, when most people are probably off Flickr. I will try and add the occasional better photo as I go along! Please bear with me.<br /> <br /> Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. <br /> <br /> Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as a camera(s) is enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.<br /> <br /> We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! <br /> <br /> We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).<br /> <br /> The Friends of Point Pelee have food available that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.<br /> <br /> At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! <br /> <br /> We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos.<br /> <br /> Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early two evenings ago. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! <br /> <br /> Anne, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )</div> Mourning Dove, Pt. Pelee, Ontario, Canada <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740954"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/09/54/46740954.12dfce08.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">My plan had been to post a number of photos today, but then I decided to just post the next three in more or less the order in which they were taken. I have a lot of images that I want to add to my albums for this holiday, many of poor quality or of little interest to others. Maybe I can add more tonight, when most people are probably off Flickr. I will try and add the occasional better photo as I go along! Please bear with me.<br /> <br /> Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. <br /> <br /> Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as a camera(s) is enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.<br /> <br /> We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! <br /> <br /> We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).<br /> <br /> The Friends of Point Pelee have food available that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.<br /> <br /> At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! <br /> <br /> We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos.<br /> <br /> Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early two evenings ago. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! <br /> <br /> Anne, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740948 tag:ipernity.com,2018-05-21,doc-46740948 Mon, 21 May 2018 20:01:51 +0000 2018-05-07T04:58:00-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740948"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/09/48/46740948.9d9cc6fc.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Just a quick glimpse of this Wild Turkey as we set off early morning on our first day at Pt Pelee, for a day of birding. We saw more Turkeys during our four days at Pt Pelee, and managed to get better photos of them.<br /> <br /> My plan had been to post a number of photos today, but then I decided to just post the next three in more or less the order in which they were taken. I have a lot of images that I want to add to my albums for this holiday, many of poor quality or of little interest to others. Maybe I can add more tonight, when most people are probably off Flickr. I will try and add the occasional better photo as I go along! Please bear with me.<br /> <br /> Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. <br /> <br /> Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as a camera(s) is enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.<br /> <br /> We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! <br /> <br /> We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).<br /> <br /> The Friends of Point Pelee have food available that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.<br /> <br /> At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! <br /> <br /> We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos.<br /> <br /> Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early two evenings ago. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! <br /> <br /> Anne, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )</div> Wild Turkey, Pt Pelee, Ontario <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46740948"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/09/48/46740948.9d9cc6fc.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Just a quick glimpse of this Wild Turkey as we set off early morning on our first day at Pt Pelee, for a day of birding. We saw more Turkeys during our four days at Pt Pelee, and managed to get better photos of them.<br /> <br /> My plan had been to post a number of photos today, but then I decided to just post the next three in more or less the order in which they were taken. I have a lot of images that I want to add to my albums for this holiday, many of poor quality or of little interest to others. Maybe I can add more tonight, when most people are probably off Flickr. I will try and add the occasional better photo as I go along! Please bear with me.<br /> <br /> Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. <br /> <br /> Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as a camera(s) is enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.<br /> <br /> We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! <br /> <br /> We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).<br /> <br /> The Friends of Point Pelee have food available that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.<br /> <br /> At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! <br /> <br /> We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to the Brandy Pot Islands, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for us, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos.<br /> <br /> Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early two evenings ago. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! <br /> <br /> Anne, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46505274 tag:ipernity.com,2018-04-11,doc-46505274 Wed, 11 Apr 2018 16:33:33 +0000 2018-04-10T09:08:35-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46505274"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/52/74/46505274.ec3c15ae.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I wasn't going to edit and post any photos this morning, as there are things that I have to get done on a deadline, and it will take me many hours to do. Changed my mind this morning, as I wanted to post a couple of photos taken yesterday, 10 April 2018, just as a record of a three-hour walk with friends in Fish Creek Park. A dull, overcast morning, and definitely not the greatest for photography. However, I don't often get the chance to photograph either a Ring-necked Pheasant or a Hooded Merganser, both of which were a long way off, but within camera reach.<br /> <br /> "The ring-necked pheasant is a native of Japan and southern China. It was first successfully introduced into southwestern Alberta in 1908. It soon became common throughout central and southeastern Alberta in agricultural areas of the prairie and parkland zones." From Alberta Fish and Wildlife.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/wild-species/birds/grouse-related-birds/pheasant.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/wild-species/birds/grouse-re...</a></div> Ring-necked Pheasant male / Phasianus colchicus <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46505274"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/52/74/46505274.ec3c15ae.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I wasn't going to edit and post any photos this morning, as there are things that I have to get done on a deadline, and it will take me many hours to do. Changed my mind this morning, as I wanted to post a couple of photos taken yesterday, 10 April 2018, just as a record of a three-hour walk with friends in Fish Creek Park. A dull, overcast morning, and definitely not the greatest for photography. However, I don't often get the chance to photograph either a Ring-necked Pheasant or a Hooded Merganser, both of which were a long way off, but within camera reach.<br /> <br /> "The ring-necked pheasant is a native of Japan and southern China. It was first successfully introduced into southwestern Alberta in 1908. It soon became common throughout central and southeastern Alberta in agricultural areas of the prairie and parkland zones." From Alberta Fish and Wildlife.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/wild-species/birds/grouse-related-birds/pheasant.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/wild-species/birds/grouse-re...</a></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46481242 tag:ipernity.com,2018-04-02,doc-46481242 Mon, 02 Apr 2018 16:02:47 +0000 2018-04-01T13:51:24-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46481242"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/12/42/46481242.ea746b98.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description"></div> One of two Coyotes <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46481242"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/12/42/46481242.ea746b98.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description"></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46338798 tag:ipernity.com,2018-03-05,doc-46338798 Mon, 05 Mar 2018 16:18:29 +0000 2018-03-04T14:04:17-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46338798"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/87/98/46338798.da8a797e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">A huge leap from the rainforest of Trinidad photos posted yesterday to the snowy shots posted today! Yesterday, 4 March 2018, was such a beautiful day, and I decided to join seven friends for a walk down into Weaselhead in the afternoon. The previous day, a birding walk had been cancelled because the weather was so bad and the long, steep hill down to river level was very icy. It is almost unheard of for a birding walk to be cancelled! The roads were not in good condition especially the residential streets. I have a bad feeling that my car is now stuck in the ruts outside my place - when I got home after the walk, it was almost impossible to drive over the mounds of snow that have built up over the last few months. Not sure how I am going to be able to reverse out of this spot. Guess I will find out. I have lived in this city for 40 years and I don't remember ever seeing this much snow on the ground. Just crazy.<br /> <br /> There were not a whole lot of birds to be seen on yesterday's walk, but it is always a delight to see the dainty little Common Redpolls. I seem to remember that last winter, there were no Redpolls to be seen. Nice to see a beautiful lone Coyote travelling across the frozen, snow-covered Elbow River. I will add the leaders' list of species seen in a comment box below. Coffee at Tim Horton's afterwards was enjoyable, as always. Thanks for a great walk, Janet, Bernie and Stephen! I always appreciate your giving up your Sunday afternoon for the rest of us.<br /> <br /> I made the mistake of checking the weather forecast for Alberta for the coming spring and summer, though of course we all know that the forecast is often incorrect. For us, it will be a cold spring followed by an above normal summer. More big storms to come - actually, March is said to be our snowiest month, anyway. Looks like it could be another year without mushrooms growing, just like last year. The temperature this morning, 5 March 2018, is -22C (windchill -29C).</div> Coyote crossing the frozen Elbow River <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46338798"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/87/98/46338798.da8a797e.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">A huge leap from the rainforest of Trinidad photos posted yesterday to the snowy shots posted today! Yesterday, 4 March 2018, was such a beautiful day, and I decided to join seven friends for a walk down into Weaselhead in the afternoon. The previous day, a birding walk had been cancelled because the weather was so bad and the long, steep hill down to river level was very icy. It is almost unheard of for a birding walk to be cancelled! The roads were not in good condition especially the residential streets. I have a bad feeling that my car is now stuck in the ruts outside my place - when I got home after the walk, it was almost impossible to drive over the mounds of snow that have built up over the last few months. Not sure how I am going to be able to reverse out of this spot. Guess I will find out. I have lived in this city for 40 years and I don't remember ever seeing this much snow on the ground. Just crazy.<br /> <br /> There were not a whole lot of birds to be seen on yesterday's walk, but it is always a delight to see the dainty little Common Redpolls. I seem to remember that last winter, there were no Redpolls to be seen. Nice to see a beautiful lone Coyote travelling across the frozen, snow-covered Elbow River. I will add the leaders' list of species seen in a comment box below. Coffee at Tim Horton's afterwards was enjoyable, as always. Thanks for a great walk, Janet, Bernie and Stephen! I always appreciate your giving up your Sunday afternoon for the rest of us.<br /> <br /> I made the mistake of checking the weather forecast for Alberta for the coming spring and summer, though of course we all know that the forecast is often incorrect. For us, it will be a cold spring followed by an above normal summer. More big storms to come - actually, March is said to be our snowiest month, anyway. Looks like it could be another year without mushrooms growing, just like last year. The temperature this morning, 5 March 2018, is -22C (windchill -29C).</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46279604 tag:ipernity.com,2018-02-20,doc-46279604 Tue, 20 Feb 2018 18:05:20 +0000 2018-02-17T09:55:55-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46279604"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/96/04/46279604.eebfbc30.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Three days ago, on 17 February 2018, a small group of us headed way SW of the city - and into yet another snow storm. I kept checking to see if the trip was going to be cancelled, but fortunately, our leader had only read about the "few flurries" for the day. I had read further detail that said that a huge snow storm was moving into the area, bringing up to 25 cm of fresh snow, poor visibility, white-outs, treacherous roads! I knew taking photos was going to be a challenge, and seeing anything in the first place was going to be an even bigger challenge. So glad we went, though - even more so, that I wasn't driving, other than to our local meeting place in the city.<br /> <br /> The main reason for the trip was to look for Golden Eagles, though of course we were happy to see anything else, too. Last year, we saw five, but this time we couldn't find any. With such poor visibility, they could still have been out there.<br /> <br /> We did see Bald Eagles, though, and quite a few (mainly very distant) Sharp-tailed Grouse. At one location, they were on the road way ahead of us. I was able to get two or three closer shots of one of them, and managed to sharpen the 'best' one as much as I could, enough to make it just about fit to post. They are such beautiful birds. I thought we might see some small birds during the day, but we saw no Snow Buntings or Horned Larks. A very distant Great Horned Owl was seen in the yard at one of the places we always used to call in at when we were doing the annual Christmas Bird Count for the area. Also spotted a distant Merlin perched in a bare-branched tree.<br /> <br /> Three Moose were seen - a lone Moose and then two together at a different location. The lone Moose had been standing but took a few steps and lay down in the deep snow. The other two were spotted when we were almost at the top of a steep, snow-covered back road. Our leader slowed down and, though I normally don't ask someone if they would stop for something, I did so this time. Oops, sorry, Tony, lol! We were stuck, unable to continue our climb to the top of the steep hill. Luckily, Tony is really good at reversing (and trying again)! There were also many Mule Deer to be seen, especially along the coulee. <br /> <br /> I love the landscape in this whole area and always enjoy photographing it. This day, the weather was so bad that most of the landscape was just a faint shape in the distance, or else had completely vanished. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell if the distant shapes were actually hills or clouds!<br /> <br /> A great day, despite the weather. Thanks so much, Tony, for the ride and for another most enjoyable day!</div> Sharp-tailed Grouse <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46279604"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/96/04/46279604.eebfbc30.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Three days ago, on 17 February 2018, a small group of us headed way SW of the city - and into yet another snow storm. I kept checking to see if the trip was going to be cancelled, but fortunately, our leader had only read about the "few flurries" for the day. I had read further detail that said that a huge snow storm was moving into the area, bringing up to 25 cm of fresh snow, poor visibility, white-outs, treacherous roads! I knew taking photos was going to be a challenge, and seeing anything in the first place was going to be an even bigger challenge. So glad we went, though - even more so, that I wasn't driving, other than to our local meeting place in the city.<br /> <br /> The main reason for the trip was to look for Golden Eagles, though of course we were happy to see anything else, too. Last year, we saw five, but this time we couldn't find any. With such poor visibility, they could still have been out there.<br /> <br /> We did see Bald Eagles, though, and quite a few (mainly very distant) Sharp-tailed Grouse. At one location, they were on the road way ahead of us. I was able to get two or three closer shots of one of them, and managed to sharpen the 'best' one as much as I could, enough to make it just about fit to post. They are such beautiful birds. I thought we might see some small birds during the day, but we saw no Snow Buntings or Horned Larks. A very distant Great Horned Owl was seen in the yard at one of the places we always used to call in at when we were doing the annual Christmas Bird Count for the area. Also spotted a distant Merlin perched in a bare-branched tree.<br /> <br /> Three Moose were seen - a lone Moose and then two together at a different location. The lone Moose had been standing but took a few steps and lay down in the deep snow. The other two were spotted when we were almost at the top of a steep, snow-covered back road. Our leader slowed down and, though I normally don't ask someone if they would stop for something, I did so this time. Oops, sorry, Tony, lol! We were stuck, unable to continue our climb to the top of the steep hill. Luckily, Tony is really good at reversing (and trying again)! There were also many Mule Deer to be seen, especially along the coulee. <br /> <br /> I love the landscape in this whole area and always enjoy photographing it. This day, the weather was so bad that most of the landscape was just a faint shape in the distance, or else had completely vanished. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell if the distant shapes were actually hills or clouds!<br /> <br /> A great day, despite the weather. Thanks so much, Tony, for the ride and for another most enjoyable day!</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194298 tag:ipernity.com,2018-01-29,doc-46194298 Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:03:05 +0000 2018-01-28T14:13:00-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194298"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/42/98/46194298.c9128ce1.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I am posting these three photos this morning just for the record of yesterday's horribly cold walk in Fish Creek Park. The temperature was only around -15C (windchill was much colder!), but there was a light wind and it was the worst kind of cold. <br /> <br /> Our walk started at the Ranch and, after just a short walk west in the hope of finding a Pileated Woodpecker that strangers had told us about, we made our way east to the Bow River. It looked as cold as it felt! Worth it, though, to see a Great Horned Owl at the start of our walk, perched very high up in a Spruce tree. There was a tangle of thin twigs right in front of its face, but the owl lowered its head just once to see us better and I clicked. <br /> <br /> On the way to the river, we noticed, through the lightly-falling snow, several White-tailed Deer in the distance. Though the river was not frozen over, endless small pieces of ice were flowing fast, with a few ducks in the water, too. In the third photo I posted, if you look carefully, you can see two Bald Eagles perched in the trees on the far side of the river.<br /> <br /> It was a long walk, two and a half hours, giving me the 10,000 steps for the day - which so very rarely happens these days (the last two years). Because there were so few birds to stop and watch, the walk was almost non-stop walking, which I always find difficult and painful. The only way to fix that was with a stop at Tim Horton's for coffee : ) Always just as enjoyable to sit and chat as it is to be on a walk itself.</div> White-tailed Deer through the snow <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194298"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/42/98/46194298.c9128ce1.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I am posting these three photos this morning just for the record of yesterday's horribly cold walk in Fish Creek Park. The temperature was only around -15C (windchill was much colder!), but there was a light wind and it was the worst kind of cold. <br /> <br /> Our walk started at the Ranch and, after just a short walk west in the hope of finding a Pileated Woodpecker that strangers had told us about, we made our way east to the Bow River. It looked as cold as it felt! Worth it, though, to see a Great Horned Owl at the start of our walk, perched very high up in a Spruce tree. There was a tangle of thin twigs right in front of its face, but the owl lowered its head just once to see us better and I clicked. <br /> <br /> On the way to the river, we noticed, through the lightly-falling snow, several White-tailed Deer in the distance. Though the river was not frozen over, endless small pieces of ice were flowing fast, with a few ducks in the water, too. In the third photo I posted, if you look carefully, you can see two Bald Eagles perched in the trees on the far side of the river.<br /> <br /> It was a long walk, two and a half hours, giving me the 10,000 steps for the day - which so very rarely happens these days (the last two years). Because there were so few birds to stop and watch, the walk was almost non-stop walking, which I always find difficult and painful. The only way to fix that was with a stop at Tim Horton's for coffee : ) Always just as enjoyable to sit and chat as it is to be on a walk itself.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194282 tag:ipernity.com,2018-01-28,doc-46194282 Sun, 28 Jan 2018 16:30:32 +0000 2017-03-19T14:16:25-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194282"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/42/82/46194282.49f0d810.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="240" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">This drive-by shot was taken on the way to the Caroni Swamp, on the island of Trinidad, on 19 March 2017. At the Swamp, my six friends and I were privileged to be able to watch the arrival of huge flocks of amazing Scarlet Ibis flying in to roost. Will add this YouTube link (not my video) to give an idea of what our boat ride was like - including the large snake curled up in a tree over our heads! All the other boats we saw were packed full of people, but we were given a boat to ourselves, which was great.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/vV9XvW2JSVE" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/vV9XvW2JSVE</a><br /> <br /> This adventure was only the second holiday of any kind, anywhere, that I have had in something like 30 or 35 years! The other holiday was a wonderful, one-week trip with my dear friends from England, Linda and Tony, when we went down south to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons in September 2012. I have had maybe half a dozen weekends away, including to Waterton National Park, which have helped keep me going. <br /> <br /> Six birding/photographer friends and I decided that we would take this exciting trip together (from 12-21 March 2017), spending the first two or three days on the island of Tobago and then the rest of the time at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the nearby, much larger island of Trinidad. We decided to take a complete package, so everything was included - accommodation at both places, all our food, and the various walks and day trips that we could choose from. Two of my friends, Anne B. and Brenda, saw to all the planning of flights and accommodations, which was so very much appreciated by the rest of us. I could never have done all this myself! We were so lucky with our flights, as we were just in time to get Black Friday prices, which were 50% off! <br /> <br /> What a time we had, seeing so many beautiful and interesting things - and, of course, everything was a lifer for me. Some of these friends had visited Costa Rica before, so were familiar with some of the birds. There was a lot more to see on Trinidad, so we were glad that we chose Tobago to visit first and then spend a longer time at Asa Wright. It was wonderful to be right by the sea, though, at the Blue Waters Inn on the island of Tobago. Just gorgeous. <br /> <br /> The Asa Wright Nature Centre, on Trinidad, is such an amazing place! We stayed in cabins up or down hill from the main building. Really, one doesn't need to travel away from the Centre for birding, as so many different species visit the Hummingbird feeders that are right by the huge, open veranda, and the trees of the rain forest high up the mountainous road. The drive up and down this narrow, twisting, pot-holed road was an adventure in itself! Never would I ever do this drive myself - we had a guide who drove us everywhere in a minibus. I had read many accounts of this road, lol! There was enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, and the honking of horns was almost continuous - either to warn any vehicle that might be coming fast around the next bend or as a sign that drivers knew each other. The drive along this road, from the coast to Asa Wright, took just over an hour each way.<br /> <br /> I still miss the great food that was provided every single day at Asa Wright and even the Rum Punch that appeared each evening. I never drink at all, so I wasn't sure if I would even try the Punch - glad I did, though, as it was delicious and refreshing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served buffet-style, with a great variety of dishes from which to choose. To me, pure luxury. So very, very grateful to have been invited to be part of this amazing adventure.<br /> <br /> This is a video that I came across on YouTube, taken by Rigdon Currie and Trish Johnson, at many of the same places we visited on Trinidad and Tobago. Not my video, but it made me feel like I was right there still. Posting the link here again, so that I won't lose it. <br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/BBifhf99f_M" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/BBifhf99f_M</a><br /> <br /> I also came across the following 27-minute YouTube video of the flora and fauna of Trinidad, filmed by John Patrick Smith in February 2015.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/6HHBm9MIxnk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/6HHBm9MIxnk</a></div> (Cattle?) Egret, on way to Caroni Swamp, Trinidad <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/46194282"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/42/82/46194282.49f0d810.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="240" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">This drive-by shot was taken on the way to the Caroni Swamp, on the island of Trinidad, on 19 March 2017. At the Swamp, my six friends and I were privileged to be able to watch the arrival of huge flocks of amazing Scarlet Ibis flying in to roost. Will add this YouTube link (not my video) to give an idea of what our boat ride was like - including the large snake curled up in a tree over our heads! All the other boats we saw were packed full of people, but we were given a boat to ourselves, which was great.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/vV9XvW2JSVE" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/vV9XvW2JSVE</a><br /> <br /> This adventure was only the second holiday of any kind, anywhere, that I have had in something like 30 or 35 years! The other holiday was a wonderful, one-week trip with my dear friends from England, Linda and Tony, when we went down south to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons in September 2012. I have had maybe half a dozen weekends away, including to Waterton National Park, which have helped keep me going. <br /> <br /> Six birding/photographer friends and I decided that we would take this exciting trip together (from 12-21 March 2017), spending the first two or three days on the island of Tobago and then the rest of the time at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the nearby, much larger island of Trinidad. We decided to take a complete package, so everything was included - accommodation at both places, all our food, and the various walks and day trips that we could choose from. Two of my friends, Anne B. and Brenda, saw to all the planning of flights and accommodations, which was so very much appreciated by the rest of us. I could never have done all this myself! We were so lucky with our flights, as we were just in time to get Black Friday prices, which were 50% off! <br /> <br /> What a time we had, seeing so many beautiful and interesting things - and, of course, everything was a lifer for me. Some of these friends had visited Costa Rica before, so were familiar with some of the birds. There was a lot more to see on Trinidad, so we were glad that we chose Tobago to visit first and then spend a longer time at Asa Wright. It was wonderful to be right by the sea, though, at the Blue Waters Inn on the island of Tobago. Just gorgeous. <br /> <br /> The Asa Wright Nature Centre, on Trinidad, is such an amazing place! We stayed in cabins up or down hill from the main building. Really, one doesn't need to travel away from the Centre for birding, as so many different species visit the Hummingbird feeders that are right by the huge, open veranda, and the trees of the rain forest high up the mountainous road. The drive up and down this narrow, twisting, pot-holed road was an adventure in itself! Never would I ever do this drive myself - we had a guide who drove us everywhere in a minibus. I had read many accounts of this road, lol! There was enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, and the honking of horns was almost continuous - either to warn any vehicle that might be coming fast around the next bend or as a sign that drivers knew each other. The drive along this road, from the coast to Asa Wright, took just over an hour each way.<br /> <br /> I still miss the great food that was provided every single day at Asa Wright and even the Rum Punch that appeared each evening. I never drink at all, so I wasn't sure if I would even try the Punch - glad I did, though, as it was delicious and refreshing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served buffet-style, with a great variety of dishes from which to choose. To me, pure luxury. So very, very grateful to have been invited to be part of this amazing adventure.<br /> <br /> This is a video that I came across on YouTube, taken by Rigdon Currie and Trish Johnson, at many of the same places we visited on Trinidad and Tobago. Not my video, but it made me feel like I was right there still. Posting the link here again, so that I won't lose it. <br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/BBifhf99f_M" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/BBifhf99f_M</a><br /> <br /> I also came across the following 27-minute YouTube video of the flora and fauna of Trinidad, filmed by John Patrick Smith in February 2015.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://youtu.be/6HHBm9MIxnk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">youtu.be/6HHBm9MIxnk</a></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/45421326 tag:ipernity.com,2017-08-29,doc-45421326 Tue, 29 Aug 2017 17:11:03 +0000 2017-08-28T17:27:10-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/45421326"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/13/26/45421326.5eed56de.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Basically, I never go for walks any more, apart from the rare walk outside the city with a group of friends, which is not good, but yesterday evening, I pushed myself out the front door and drove to Mallard Point in Fish Creek Park. People have been seeing all sorts of birds there recently, thanks to bird migration. Several friends had the same idea, too, and they were very helpful and patient, telling me where a tiny Canada Warbler and a Redstart female/juvenile kept moving to. As any birder/photographer knows, Warblers are not easy (almost impossible!) to see and photograph! A huge amount of patience is needed.<br /> <br /> I also walked along the edge of the Bow River, just as far as the bridge, which is where I took this photo of a Yellowlegs. This was a fast-moving bird, constantly changing direction. My birding skills are not good enough to be able to tell if this is a Greater Yellowlegs or a Lesser Yellowlegs. The two species are very similar, but this one was on its own, with nothing to compare it to. A wild guess would say "Greater Yellowlegs". A Gull sp. was the only other thing I photographed. At least one Osprey was circling the river from way, way up.<br /> <br /> Why are Yellowlegs so hard to identify? - Sibley Guides.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.sibleyguides.com/2012/07/why-are-yellowlegs-hard-to-identify/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.sibleyguides.com/2012/07/why-are-yellowlegs-hard-to-i...</a></div> Yellowlegs <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/45421326"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/13/26/45421326.5eed56de.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Basically, I never go for walks any more, apart from the rare walk outside the city with a group of friends, which is not good, but yesterday evening, I pushed myself out the front door and drove to Mallard Point in Fish Creek Park. People have been seeing all sorts of birds there recently, thanks to bird migration. Several friends had the same idea, too, and they were very helpful and patient, telling me where a tiny Canada Warbler and a Redstart female/juvenile kept moving to. As any birder/photographer knows, Warblers are not easy (almost impossible!) to see and photograph! A huge amount of patience is needed.<br /> <br /> I also walked along the edge of the Bow River, just as far as the bridge, which is where I took this photo of a Yellowlegs. This was a fast-moving bird, constantly changing direction. My birding skills are not good enough to be able to tell if this is a Greater Yellowlegs or a Lesser Yellowlegs. The two species are very similar, but this one was on its own, with nothing to compare it to. A wild guess would say "Greater Yellowlegs". A Gull sp. was the only other thing I photographed. At least one Osprey was circling the river from way, way up.<br /> <br /> Why are Yellowlegs so hard to identify? - Sibley Guides.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.sibleyguides.com/2012/07/why-are-yellowlegs-hard-to-identify/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.sibleyguides.com/2012/07/why-are-yellowlegs-hard-to-i...</a></div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44267806 tag:ipernity.com,2017-01-29,doc-44267806 Sun, 29 Jan 2017 14:22:15 +0000 2017-01-28T11:05:14-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44267806"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/78/06/44267806.b3b5e481.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">"Thirteen keen birders showed up for the trip this morning (28 January 2017) at 8:00 a.m. The initial meeting place was Fish Creek Glennfield. After car pooling, We planned to meet again at the Truck Stop south of Nanton. From here, We drove West along 533 to our starting point-William's Coulee.<br /> <br /> Most of the day was spent birding in the Western half of the Nanton Christmas Bird Count circle. Our target for the trip was Golden Eagle, and the birds didn't disappoint. We found six, plus one more bird that we thought may have been a duplicate, so was not counted.<br /> <br /> We watched a group of four adult Bald Eagles, and thirty Ravens feasting on a carcass. Sharp-tailed grouse numbers came in at 44, but the four groups that we saw only gave us quick glimpses. <br /> <br /> A late afternoon treat was a Prairie Falcon circling over the parked cars, and giving everyone a great look. A second Prairie Falcon was found in a coulee, several kilometres to the East.<br /> <br /> Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the day, take in the beautiful scenery, and help spot the birds.<br /> <br /> Golden Eagle 6<br /> Bald Eagle 7<br /> Rough-legged Hawk 1<br /> Prairie Falcon 2<br /> Great Horned Owl 5<br /> Sharp-tailed Grouse 44<br /> Gray Partridge 10<br /> Common Raven 40<br /> Black-billed Magpie 25<br /> European Starling 10<br /> Rock Pigeon 5<br /> <br /> Tony Timmons"<br /> <br /> I absolutely love the area that we covered yesterday, and I couldn't resist going on Tony's day trip. The scenery is spectacular and, even if no birds had been seen, I would still go, just to be driven in this seemingly endless area of foothills, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance.<br /> <br /> Though this is winter, we were surprised at how little snow was on the ground. I think the temperature got up to about +11C, but the wind was very strong - too strong to be able to hold my camera steady.<br /> <br /> For me, the highlights of the trip were the scenery and a Spruce tree in which three (though I only saw two) Great Horned Owls were hiding. Also, I loved the sight of this herd of horses who made their way in our direction, against a beautifully wild landscape. How different this whole area would look in the summer time.<br /> <br /> A most enjoyable day, Tony! Thanks so much for giving up a Saturday for us - much appreciated! Pat, thank you for the ride out there, and Tony for the ride the rest of the day.</div> Non-wild horses in a wild landscape <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44267806"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/78/06/44267806.b3b5e481.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">"Thirteen keen birders showed up for the trip this morning (28 January 2017) at 8:00 a.m. The initial meeting place was Fish Creek Glennfield. After car pooling, We planned to meet again at the Truck Stop south of Nanton. From here, We drove West along 533 to our starting point-William's Coulee.<br /> <br /> Most of the day was spent birding in the Western half of the Nanton Christmas Bird Count circle. Our target for the trip was Golden Eagle, and the birds didn't disappoint. We found six, plus one more bird that we thought may have been a duplicate, so was not counted.<br /> <br /> We watched a group of four adult Bald Eagles, and thirty Ravens feasting on a carcass. Sharp-tailed grouse numbers came in at 44, but the four groups that we saw only gave us quick glimpses. <br /> <br /> A late afternoon treat was a Prairie Falcon circling over the parked cars, and giving everyone a great look. A second Prairie Falcon was found in a coulee, several kilometres to the East.<br /> <br /> Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the day, take in the beautiful scenery, and help spot the birds.<br /> <br /> Golden Eagle 6<br /> Bald Eagle 7<br /> Rough-legged Hawk 1<br /> Prairie Falcon 2<br /> Great Horned Owl 5<br /> Sharp-tailed Grouse 44<br /> Gray Partridge 10<br /> Common Raven 40<br /> Black-billed Magpie 25<br /> European Starling 10<br /> Rock Pigeon 5<br /> <br /> Tony Timmons"<br /> <br /> I absolutely love the area that we covered yesterday, and I couldn't resist going on Tony's day trip. The scenery is spectacular and, even if no birds had been seen, I would still go, just to be driven in this seemingly endless area of foothills, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance.<br /> <br /> Though this is winter, we were surprised at how little snow was on the ground. I think the temperature got up to about +11C, but the wind was very strong - too strong to be able to hold my camera steady.<br /> <br /> For me, the highlights of the trip were the scenery and a Spruce tree in which three (though I only saw two) Great Horned Owls were hiding. Also, I loved the sight of this herd of horses who made their way in our direction, against a beautifully wild landscape. How different this whole area would look in the summer time.<br /> <br /> A most enjoyable day, Tony! Thanks so much for giving up a Saturday for us - much appreciated! Pat, thank you for the ride out there, and Tony for the ride the rest of the day.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44007450 tag:ipernity.com,2016-12-15,doc-44007450 Thu, 15 Dec 2016 15:24:35 +0000 2016-10-26T09:43:46-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44007450"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/74/50/44007450.f7ca00f5.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I'm only posting one photo this morning.<br /> <br /> On 26 October 2016, I went on a day trip with friends, Shirley and Anne. We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. This photo shows the two that we saw first. They were moving in and out of all the bushes, but I was able to get a shot or two when they were at least partly out in the open. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The second two were fairly young ones.<br /> <br /> “The moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with adendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly reduced it over the years. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are wolves, bears, and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing for a female.<br /> <br /> The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9,770 kcal (40.9 MJ) per day to maintain its body weight. Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.” From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose</a><br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and a very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated.</div> Two&#039;s company <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/44007450"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/74/50/44007450.f7ca00f5.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">I'm only posting one photo this morning.<br /> <br /> On 26 October 2016, I went on a day trip with friends, Shirley and Anne. We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. This photo shows the two that we saw first. They were moving in and out of all the bushes, but I was able to get a shot or two when they were at least partly out in the open. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The second two were fairly young ones.<br /> <br /> “The moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with adendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly reduced it over the years. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are wolves, bears, and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing for a female.<br /> <br /> The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9,770 kcal (40.9 MJ) per day to maintain its body weight. Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.” From Wikipedia.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose</a><br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and a very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43816556 tag:ipernity.com,2016-11-17,doc-43816556 Thu, 17 Nov 2016 17:30:20 +0000 2016-05-08T14:19:18-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43816556"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/65/56/43816556.c3ac11df.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">JELLYFIELDS - warning!<br /> <br /> A few days ago, I did a Google search to see what blogs have used my photos. Many of them asked permission before hand, but, needless to say, others did not. If you post photos anywhere on the Internet, that is unfortunately just a fact of life. I just scrolled down, clicking on each one in turn. When I clicked on one website in the search result list, I discovered that not only were a lot of my photos being displayed, but they were also mixed in with a pile of pornographic videos and photos. According to someone on the Flickr Help Forum, these photos were probably taken from the Jellyfields website before they disabled right-click. Not impressed one bit, I contacted Jellyfields and asked for all my photos to be removed from their site. James was in touch with me immediately and, after getting me to confirm that the displayed photos were mine, said they will remove my photos as requested. He was surprised that nature/wildlife photos would be stolen and added to a porn site, but that is exactly what has happened. Haven't yet found a way to contact the porn site, Tumview.com to demand my photos be removed. I should add that Jellyfields does refer photos back to Flickr, saying to check what the copyright is for each photo.<br /> <br /> Who needs all this hassle?!!<br /> <br /> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> This is one of the few shorebird photos I took this spring and summer. I'm sure there were plenty of birds to be seen, but I just didn't seem to go to areas where you find shorebirds. <br /> <br /> This Stilt walking through a small 'pond' near Frank Lake on 8 May 2016. Perhaps 'large puddle' would describe the body of water more accurately. I love these elegant Black-necked Stilts, often found feeding around American Avocets.<br /> <br /> "A striking black-and-white bird with very long, thin red legs, the Black-necked Stilt is found along the edges of shallow water in open country." From AllAboutBirds.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-necked_Stilt/lifehistory" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-necked_Stilt/lifehistory</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_stilt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_stilt</a><br /> <br /> My plan on 8 May 2016, was to join friends for an afternoon walk at Carburn Park. Closer to the time, I knew I would never make it in time and decided at the last minute that I would instead go for a short drive SE of the city. I knew that I was far more likely to see a few closer birds and get some photo opportunities if I went SE. <br /> <br /> I stayed around Frank Lake for most of the time. When I checked the weather forecast before I left, I knew that there was a possibility of rain later on. I totally forgot to check how windy it was going to be, and ended up barely being able to hold my camera steady enough to try and get a few shots. The strong wind was causing mini waves both on the lake itself and also on this very small slough I stopped at, creating a few neat water patterns. <br /> <br /> Shorebirds included the always beautiful American Avocet and Black-necked Stilts and a couple of different shorebirds. I don't see shorebirds very often and I am not good at IDs for them. A pair of Killdeer were making a lot of noise, as usual. Saw several kinds of ducks, but many of them were too far to get any photos worth keeping. I was happy to see a pair of Canvasbacks and several Ruddy Ducks. The male Ruddy Ducks were busy trying to impress the females - these small guys are so funny to watch, especially during the breeding season, as they seem to have lots of character and a real attitude. The males have quite a stunning, chestnut coloured body and sky-blue bill.<br /> <br /> After Frank Lake, I called in at a slough that used to be so good for shorebirds, only to find that there was not a drop of water left. The whole area was white ground (salt?). So disappointing, as last year I had White-faced Ibis walking just 8 or 10 feet from my car, and I had been longing to go back again this spring! On this day, I didn't see any Ibis at all, but someone I was talking to had seen one earlier. <br /> <br /> There were so many Yellow-headed Blackbirds - everywhere! They were in quite large groups, flying from fields over the road ahead of me, in fields amongst the stubble, and at one location they were feeding on the ground at the feet of cows.<br /> <br /> Just as I was leaving the area to start my drive home, the rain arrived. Greatly needed, though we need a whole lot of precipitation to do any good. At this time, Alberta was a tinder box, ready to go up in smoke.</div> Black-necked Stilt <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43816556"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/65/56/43816556.c3ac11df.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">JELLYFIELDS - warning!<br /> <br /> A few days ago, I did a Google search to see what blogs have used my photos. Many of them asked permission before hand, but, needless to say, others did not. If you post photos anywhere on the Internet, that is unfortunately just a fact of life. I just scrolled down, clicking on each one in turn. When I clicked on one website in the search result list, I discovered that not only were a lot of my photos being displayed, but they were also mixed in with a pile of pornographic videos and photos. According to someone on the Flickr Help Forum, these photos were probably taken from the Jellyfields website before they disabled right-click. Not impressed one bit, I contacted Jellyfields and asked for all my photos to be removed from their site. James was in touch with me immediately and, after getting me to confirm that the displayed photos were mine, said they will remove my photos as requested. He was surprised that nature/wildlife photos would be stolen and added to a porn site, but that is exactly what has happened. Haven't yet found a way to contact the porn site, Tumview.com to demand my photos be removed. I should add that Jellyfields does refer photos back to Flickr, saying to check what the copyright is for each photo.<br /> <br /> Who needs all this hassle?!!<br /> <br /> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> This is one of the few shorebird photos I took this spring and summer. I'm sure there were plenty of birds to be seen, but I just didn't seem to go to areas where you find shorebirds. <br /> <br /> This Stilt walking through a small 'pond' near Frank Lake on 8 May 2016. Perhaps 'large puddle' would describe the body of water more accurately. I love these elegant Black-necked Stilts, often found feeding around American Avocets.<br /> <br /> "A striking black-and-white bird with very long, thin red legs, the Black-necked Stilt is found along the edges of shallow water in open country." From AllAboutBirds.<br /> <br /> <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-necked_Stilt/lifehistory" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-necked_Stilt/lifehistory</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_stilt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_stilt</a><br /> <br /> My plan on 8 May 2016, was to join friends for an afternoon walk at Carburn Park. Closer to the time, I knew I would never make it in time and decided at the last minute that I would instead go for a short drive SE of the city. I knew that I was far more likely to see a few closer birds and get some photo opportunities if I went SE. <br /> <br /> I stayed around Frank Lake for most of the time. When I checked the weather forecast before I left, I knew that there was a possibility of rain later on. I totally forgot to check how windy it was going to be, and ended up barely being able to hold my camera steady enough to try and get a few shots. The strong wind was causing mini waves both on the lake itself and also on this very small slough I stopped at, creating a few neat water patterns. <br /> <br /> Shorebirds included the always beautiful American Avocet and Black-necked Stilts and a couple of different shorebirds. I don't see shorebirds very often and I am not good at IDs for them. A pair of Killdeer were making a lot of noise, as usual. Saw several kinds of ducks, but many of them were too far to get any photos worth keeping. I was happy to see a pair of Canvasbacks and several Ruddy Ducks. The male Ruddy Ducks were busy trying to impress the females - these small guys are so funny to watch, especially during the breeding season, as they seem to have lots of character and a real attitude. The males have quite a stunning, chestnut coloured body and sky-blue bill.<br /> <br /> After Frank Lake, I called in at a slough that used to be so good for shorebirds, only to find that there was not a drop of water left. The whole area was white ground (salt?). So disappointing, as last year I had White-faced Ibis walking just 8 or 10 feet from my car, and I had been longing to go back again this spring! On this day, I didn't see any Ibis at all, but someone I was talking to had seen one earlier. <br /> <br /> There were so many Yellow-headed Blackbirds - everywhere! They were in quite large groups, flying from fields over the road ahead of me, in fields amongst the stubble, and at one location they were feeding on the ground at the feet of cows.<br /> <br /> Just as I was leaving the area to start my drive home, the rain arrived. Greatly needed, though we need a whole lot of precipitation to do any good. At this time, Alberta was a tinder box, ready to go up in smoke.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43693054 tag:ipernity.com,2016-11-08,doc-43693054 Tue, 08 Nov 2016 15:34:44 +0000 2016-10-26T09:43:41-07:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43693054"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/30/54/43693054.16b87cb1.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">GOOD LUCK, AMERICA!! GOOD LUCK, WORLD!!<br /> <br /> Today is THE day - voting for the next U.S. President. May the BEST person win.<br /> <br /> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> What crazy weather we are having here in Calgary - it's already 10C this morning and it is forecast to soar to 20C this afternoon! Insane weather for 8 November. As warm as many of our days this past, rainy summer.<br /> <br /> On 26 October 2016, I went on a day trip with friends, Shirley and Anne. We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. This photo shows one of the two that we saw first. They were moving in and out of all the bushes, but I was able to get a shot or two when they were out in the open. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The second two were fairly young ones.<br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated.</div> Eye contact with a very distant Moose <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43693054"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/30/54/43693054.16b87cb1.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">GOOD LUCK, AMERICA!! GOOD LUCK, WORLD!!<br /> <br /> Today is THE day - voting for the next U.S. President. May the BEST person win.<br /> <br /> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> What crazy weather we are having here in Calgary - it's already 10C this morning and it is forecast to soar to 20C this afternoon! Insane weather for 8 November. As warm as many of our days this past, rainy summer.<br /> <br /> On 26 October 2016, I went on a day trip with friends, Shirley and Anne. We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. This photo shows one of the two that we saw first. They were moving in and out of all the bushes, but I was able to get a shot or two when they were out in the open. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The second two were fairly young ones.<br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated.</div> Anne Elliott https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43541960 tag:ipernity.com,2016-10-29,doc-43541960 Sat, 29 Oct 2016 15:46:29 +0000 2016-10-26T10:35:02-06:00 nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43541960"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/19/60/43541960.8ef92b2f.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Usually, I don't have three long day outings within five days, except during the Christmas Bird Counts, but three days ago, I was lucky enough to go with friends, Shirley and Anne, for a day's outing SW and SE of the city.<br /> <br /> We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The two animals in this photo were fairly young ones who were eating the bushes along a country road. Our presence didn't seem to bother them at all. Unfortunately, the fence made it impossible to get any decent shots.<br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and a very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated. So glad we didn't have today's weather instead!</div> 02 Two young Moose <p class="who"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/home/293827">Anne Elliott</a> has posted:</p><p class="preview"><a href="https://www.ipernity.com/doc/293827/43541960"><img src="https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/19/60/43541960.8ef92b2f.240.jpg?r2" width="240" height="180" alt=""/></a></p><div class="description">Usually, I don't have three long day outings within five days, except during the Christmas Bird Counts, but three days ago, I was lucky enough to go with friends, Shirley and Anne, for a day's outing SW and SE of the city.<br /> <br /> We had a very early start, 7:00 am, and drove west of the city to start with, driving to the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). While at Elbow Falls, we saw a pair of American Dippers flying from rock to rock. They were vocalizing, too, which I had never heard before.<br /> <br /> Though there seemed to be very few birds to be seen all day, we were so lucky to see a total of four Moose - two at each of two different locations SW of the city. It is always nice to see a Moose, and to see four in one day was a real treat. The two animals in this photo were fairly young ones who were eating the bushes along a country road. Our presence didn't seem to bother them at all. Unfortunately, the fence made it impossible to get any decent shots.<br /> <br /> From Elbow Falls Trail, we drove down through the Millarville area and finally ended up east of High River. We found one of the Great Horned Owls that everyone had been following earlier in the year, along with a nearby little American Tree Sparrow. We did see a few Hawks, including a Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale and a very dark morph Hawk later in the day.<br /> <br /> A great day, ladies - thank you so much for inviting me along and thanks so much, Shirley, for driving! Greatly appreciated. So glad we didn't have today's weather instead!</div> Anne Elliott