Small, orange butterfly
Tiny Bishop's Cap seeds
Twinflower / Linnaea borealis
Beetle on Cow Parsnip
Mama Ruffed Grouse
Lesser Scaup and lines
One-sided Pyrola / Orthilia secunda
Avian beauty
Two of a kind!
A little Pholiota cluster
Police Car Moth and Skipper
The Wilson's Snipe - such a fine bird
Police Car Moth
Adult and juvenile Three-toed Woodpeckers
Lighting up the forest
Hiding in the moss
Three-toed Woodpecker
Just a little mushroom
Red-tailed Hawk
Three-toed Woodpecker
Backlit
A country road in fall colours
A sight for sore eyes
Goblet with matching insect
Design by Mother Nature
Perfect gills
Puffballs in the forest
From pale to vibrant
Backlit gills
Gregarious
One of the few seen this year
Shelf or Bracket Fungus
Black Tern
Bison in winter
Return of the Famous Five
Snow + red barn = a happy day
Dark-eyed Junco
Where have all the birds gone?
Rolling hills close to home
Memories of last summer
Beauty in the forest
Our beautiful Foothills
The Famous Five again
Slime Mold
Tree Swallow
There once was an owl
Black Tern
Moss Phlox
Red-winged Blackbird displaying
The Poser - Spotted Sandiper
Red-winged Blackbird
Spotted Sandpiper with bokeh
European Skipper
Early Blue Violets
Pine Coulee Reservoir, November 2013
Moose, with a bad case of ticks
Letting his presence be known
Dark phase Swainson's Hawk
A splash of red
The highlight of my day
Tree Swallow on road sign
The joy of Dandelions
Evening Grosbeaks / Coccothraustes vespertinus
Curious Muskrat
Oh, so cute
A splash of colour
12 baby Tree Swallows!
A baby Tree Swallow about to be banded
A Snipe from last year
Mother Nature at her best
A beautiful display of Elephant's Head
Cedar Waxwing
Dandelion bokeh
Throat-tickling supper
The perfection of Mother Nature
Brewer's Blackbird with food for his babies
Red-winged Blackbird
Black Tern on fence post
An over the shoulder look
Yes, yes, YES!
Handsome male
One less Grasshopper in the world
Great choice of fence post
A good poser
Blue-green iridescence
Shaking off the raindrops
Swainson's Hawk on a rainy day
A two-legged Wilson's Snipe : )
I'm forever blowing bubbles
Savannah Sparrow
Feeling blue
Tennessee Warbler
Sharing her catch
Time to catch supper
Evening Grosbeak
Purple Finch
An extra bonus
What a big beak you have
Dark-eyed Junco
A touch of England
Horsetails
Scaup pair
Wilson's Snipe
A highlight of our May Species Count
Sharing a meal of Dandelions and grass
A different kind of perch
Keeping an eye on those pesky Tree Swallows
A matching stripe
Beautiful catch
A colourful guy
Five in a row
Subalpine Fir / Abies lasiocarpa
Juicy snack for his babies
Mountain Bluebird from my archives
Forest beauty
Hiding in the moss
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Ruddy Duck
Colourful trio
The simplicity of freedom
Enjoying the sun
Elk at a Ranch
Buzzed by a Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Kingbird with summer bokeh
Fungi from the archives
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Wilson's Snipe - what a beauty
Love seeing and photographing Wilson Snipes, especially when they are perched on a fence post rather than on the ground. This Snipe was not one of my usual ones, which made a nice change. It was seen yesterday, 16 July 2014, when I took a drive along some of the backroads SW of the city.
Temperatures got up to around 32C or 33C yesterday afternoon. My desk thermometer said it was 32C in my computer room, so I knew I just had to get out for a while, to enjoy the air-conditioning in my car. The backroads SW of the city come in handy when I don't have a lot of time, and I can usually find something of interest to photograph. This gorgeous Snipe was sitting on a fence post along one of the backroads, right before I was about to turn on to Highway 22X. They are fairly small birds and I only noticed it at the last minute. Fortunately, there were no other cars behind me, so I was able to reverse till the Snipe was level with my car. I had to shoot from the driver's side - could have got an even closer shot if I had been sitting on the passenger seat : )
"These plump, long-billed birds are among the most widespread shorebirds in North America. They can be tough to see thanks to their cryptic brown and buff coloration and secretive nature. But in summer they often stand on fence posts or take to the sky with a fast, zigzagging flight and an unusual “winnowing” sound made with the tail." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wilsons_snipe/id
"Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is a small, stocky shorebird. This species was considered to be a subspecies of the Common Snipe (G. gallinago) until 2003 when it was given its own species status. Wilson's Snipe differs from the latter species in having a narrower white trailing edge to the wings, and eight pairs of tail feathers instead of the typical seven of the Common Snipe. Its common name commemorates the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson's_snipe
According to Fisher and Acorn's book, "Birds of Alberta", "the common Snipe is both secretive and well camouflaged, so few people notice it until it flushes suddenly from a nearby grassy tussock. As soon as the Snipe takes to the air, it performs a series of quick zigzags - an evasive maneuver designed to confuse predators. Because of this habit, Snipes were among the most difficult birds to shoot (in the days when shorebirds were hunted for sport), and skilled sportsmen were known as "snipers" - a term later adopted by the military."
youtu.be/Z16CUdX2g5Q
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH from Weather Network, for afternoon of 17 July 2014:
"Severe thunderstorm conditions possible - afternoon to evening. Conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts, damaging hail and heavy rain. There is also a risk of a tornado. A warm and humid airmass in Southern and east-central Alberta has the potential to produce severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Severe thunderstorms are expected to develop early this afternoon in the Red Deer, Airdrie, and Drumheller regions and then spread eastward into the Hanna, Brooks and Medicine Hat regions. As the severe thunderstorms develop, there is an increased risk for tornadoes to develop in the Drumheller and Hanna regions this afternoon."
Temperatures got up to around 32C or 33C yesterday afternoon. My desk thermometer said it was 32C in my computer room, so I knew I just had to get out for a while, to enjoy the air-conditioning in my car. The backroads SW of the city come in handy when I don't have a lot of time, and I can usually find something of interest to photograph. This gorgeous Snipe was sitting on a fence post along one of the backroads, right before I was about to turn on to Highway 22X. They are fairly small birds and I only noticed it at the last minute. Fortunately, there were no other cars behind me, so I was able to reverse till the Snipe was level with my car. I had to shoot from the driver's side - could have got an even closer shot if I had been sitting on the passenger seat : )
"These plump, long-billed birds are among the most widespread shorebirds in North America. They can be tough to see thanks to their cryptic brown and buff coloration and secretive nature. But in summer they often stand on fence posts or take to the sky with a fast, zigzagging flight and an unusual “winnowing” sound made with the tail." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wilsons_snipe/id
"Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is a small, stocky shorebird. This species was considered to be a subspecies of the Common Snipe (G. gallinago) until 2003 when it was given its own species status. Wilson's Snipe differs from the latter species in having a narrower white trailing edge to the wings, and eight pairs of tail feathers instead of the typical seven of the Common Snipe. Its common name commemorates the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson's_snipe
According to Fisher and Acorn's book, "Birds of Alberta", "the common Snipe is both secretive and well camouflaged, so few people notice it until it flushes suddenly from a nearby grassy tussock. As soon as the Snipe takes to the air, it performs a series of quick zigzags - an evasive maneuver designed to confuse predators. Because of this habit, Snipes were among the most difficult birds to shoot (in the days when shorebirds were hunted for sport), and skilled sportsmen were known as "snipers" - a term later adopted by the military."
youtu.be/Z16CUdX2g5Q
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH from Weather Network, for afternoon of 17 July 2014:
"Severe thunderstorm conditions possible - afternoon to evening. Conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts, damaging hail and heavy rain. There is also a risk of a tornado. A warm and humid airmass in Southern and east-central Alberta has the potential to produce severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Severe thunderstorms are expected to develop early this afternoon in the Red Deer, Airdrie, and Drumheller regions and then spread eastward into the Hanna, Brooks and Medicine Hat regions. As the severe thunderstorms develop, there is an increased risk for tornadoes to develop in the Drumheller and Hanna regions this afternoon."
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