One of my favourite barns
From the archives
Home of the Snowshoe Hare
Time for an old barn again
A fine old barn
And they call this winter (in Alberta)?
The long road south
Our beautiful foothills on an overcast day
Following the fenceline
One of my favourite views
The fun times are over
Heading into the mountains
The storm rolls in
Gravel and dust - a favourite road
No two are the same
A barn to be proud of
A prairie view
Old barn on the prairie
Do you see what I see? Look very closely at the w…
Made to feel welcome
View from a barn doorway
Red
Weathered
Of days gone by
The perfect mailbox
A country road in fall colours
Juvenile European Starling
European Starling juvenile
12 baby Tree Swallows!
A baby Tree Swallow about to be banded
Handsome male
Sharing her catch
A different kind of perch
Little Bluebird on a snowy day
Beautiful catch
A posed Crow
Juicy snack for his babies
Dressed in gold
Winter sunrise.jpg
When winter is beautiful
Buzzed by a Red-winged Blackbird
Abandoned
The beauty of golden stubble
A face at the window, but not an owl : )
Towards the sun
Harsh reality
Winter simplicity
Road conditions
Backroads only for the brave
Joyful memories
Suppertime catch
A touch of autumn colour
Blanket of gold
Bluebird of happiness
Sleepy baby
Time to head for home
A beakful of bugs
Iridescence
Little bird, big caterpillar
On the supper menu
Spider on the menu
Six little siblings
If every day was like this ....
Bluebird and bokeh
In the other direction ....
One of the joys of spring
Colours of fall
Hills and peaks of Alberta
The touch of winter
Surrounded by colour
The famous five - in autumn
A memory of winter
I love Alberta
The changing seasons
Nothing like a red barn in winter
Poultry barn
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Roller coaster roads in winter
On 21 December 2014, it was the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton (roughly 98 km / 61 miles S of Calgary) was so different from the previous year's Count, with snow mainly seen only on the roads at higher elevations. This made the roads so much easier to drive, along with temperatures that were much milder (-7C). As usual, I got practically no birds photos other than a close shot of a beautiful Sharp-tailed Grouse, but I was happy to get photos of other things, such as scenery. Needless to say, seeing five (or 6?) distant Golden Eagles was a real treat! I love the landscape in this area, in the SW quadrant of the Count circle for Nanton - rolling hills that are beautiful at any time of year.
The PREVIOUS Nanton Count was originally supposed to have taken place on 28 December 2013, but the weather forecast warned of a Flash Freeze, and so it was postponed till 5 January 2014. The weather was bright and sunny for us that day. However, photos taken on that day did not show how brutally cold it was! On the hour-long drive south of Calgary, we hit -34C (-29.2F)!!!!! It did eventually warm up a few degrees and thankfully, there was no or very little wind, which makes all the difference. The only walking we had to do was when we called in at various farms and homesteads. One backroad in particular had too much snow on it, so we had to leave that one out. Also, there was just too much snow in many of the farmyards, so we weren't able to check out all the trees and bushes as thoroughly as we would like to have done.
After the Count, we returned to the meeting place at the home of Leah and Bill, where they had prepared a delicious supper that they so generously provide each year for us (as well as a breakfast snack). You couldn't wish for a nicer, more welcoming family (includes their son, Mike, who puts in a lot of effort organizing as well as taking part in, this annual Count each year).
I'm posting Andrew Hart's E-bird Summary of our small (just four of us in one car) group's day (leader Tony Timmons). Won't be of interest to most of you, but it helps me remember what we see from year to year!
"Andrew Hart
BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Dec 14, 2014
Number of Checklists: 7
Number of Species: 14
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:20 AM
(2): CA-AB-Cayley - 50.3485x-114.0250 - Dec 21, 2014, 8:57 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:55 AM
(3): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 9:45 AM
(4): CA-AB-Nanton - 50.3330x-113.8737 - Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
(5): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:52 AM
(6): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:20 PM
(7): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:30 PM
36 Sharp-tailed Grouse -- (2),(3)
6 Golden Eagle -- (1),(3),(5),(6)
3 Rough-legged Hawk -- (2),(3),(6)
102 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(4)
1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1)
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (4)
1 Merlin -- (4)
1 Prairie Falcon -- (1)
27 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
42 Common Raven -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3),(4)
4 European Starling -- (4)
21 Common Redpoll -- (4)
38 House Sparrow -- (2),(4),(7)
Andrew Hart"
I will also add leader Tony Timmons' account - simpler to read : ) A few of the numbers are slightly different in each summary, though I'm not quite sure why. We were so lucky to see so many Golden Eagles this Count.
"Nanton Count-Area D
Species 14
Rough-legged Hawk 3
Golden Eagle 5
Merlin 1
Sharp-tailed Grouse 46
Rock Pigeon 106
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Northern Shrike 1
Black-billed Magpie 36
Common Raven 44
Black-capped Chickadee 11
Common Redpoll 21
European Starling 4
House Sparrow 38
Prairie Falcon 1 Seen in Williams Coulee, included in Area B
Tony Timmons"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...
The PREVIOUS Nanton Count was originally supposed to have taken place on 28 December 2013, but the weather forecast warned of a Flash Freeze, and so it was postponed till 5 January 2014. The weather was bright and sunny for us that day. However, photos taken on that day did not show how brutally cold it was! On the hour-long drive south of Calgary, we hit -34C (-29.2F)!!!!! It did eventually warm up a few degrees and thankfully, there was no or very little wind, which makes all the difference. The only walking we had to do was when we called in at various farms and homesteads. One backroad in particular had too much snow on it, so we had to leave that one out. Also, there was just too much snow in many of the farmyards, so we weren't able to check out all the trees and bushes as thoroughly as we would like to have done.
After the Count, we returned to the meeting place at the home of Leah and Bill, where they had prepared a delicious supper that they so generously provide each year for us (as well as a breakfast snack). You couldn't wish for a nicer, more welcoming family (includes their son, Mike, who puts in a lot of effort organizing as well as taking part in, this annual Count each year).
I'm posting Andrew Hart's E-bird Summary of our small (just four of us in one car) group's day (leader Tony Timmons). Won't be of interest to most of you, but it helps me remember what we see from year to year!
"Andrew Hart
BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Dec 14, 2014
Number of Checklists: 7
Number of Species: 14
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:20 AM
(2): CA-AB-Cayley - 50.3485x-114.0250 - Dec 21, 2014, 8:57 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:55 AM
(3): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 9:45 AM
(4): CA-AB-Nanton - 50.3330x-113.8737 - Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
(5): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:52 AM
(6): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:20 PM
(7): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:30 PM
36 Sharp-tailed Grouse -- (2),(3)
6 Golden Eagle -- (1),(3),(5),(6)
3 Rough-legged Hawk -- (2),(3),(6)
102 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(4)
1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1)
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (4)
1 Merlin -- (4)
1 Prairie Falcon -- (1)
27 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
42 Common Raven -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3),(4)
4 European Starling -- (4)
21 Common Redpoll -- (4)
38 House Sparrow -- (2),(4),(7)
Andrew Hart"
I will also add leader Tony Timmons' account - simpler to read : ) A few of the numbers are slightly different in each summary, though I'm not quite sure why. We were so lucky to see so many Golden Eagles this Count.
"Nanton Count-Area D
Species 14
Rough-legged Hawk 3
Golden Eagle 5
Merlin 1
Sharp-tailed Grouse 46
Rock Pigeon 106
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Northern Shrike 1
Black-billed Magpie 36
Common Raven 44
Black-capped Chickadee 11
Common Redpoll 21
European Starling 4
House Sparrow 38
Prairie Falcon 1 Seen in Williams Coulee, included in Area B
Tony Timmons"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...
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