Tangled
Mountain Bluebirds have no blue pigment
Mountain Bluebird
Yellow-headed Blackbirds in every direction
Wilson's Snipe, seen from afar
01 Spic and span
Tree Swallow female
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
I think he caught a beautiful Tiger Moth : )
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
Collecting food for her babies
Eastern Kingbird
Nest-building Dad
A bright splash of blue in August
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
A touch of blue
Northern Shrike / Lanius excubitor
Red-winged Blackbird female or juvenile
Mountain Bluebird with food for her babies
Brewer's Blackbird male
Mountain Bluebird female
Red-winged Blackbird juvenile
European Starling / Sturnus vulgaris
A touch of blue
Western Meadowlark
The beauty of iridescence
A beautiful catch
Mourning Dove - love the blue eye-ring
Mountain Bluebird male / Sialia currucoides
Mountain Bluebird male / Sialia currucoides
American Goldfinch female / Spinus tristis
Mountain Bluebird male / Sialia currucoides
Eastern Kingbird / Tyrannus tyrannus
Mountain Bluebird female / Sialia currucoides
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird / Tyrannus tyrannus
Mountain Bluebird male
Mountain Bluebird with food for his babies
Northern Rough-winged Swallow / Stelgidopteryx ser…
Northern Rough-winged Swallow / Stelgidopteryx ser…
Northern Rough-winged Swallow / Stelgidopteryx ser…
Northern Rough-winged Swallow / Stelgidopteryx ser…
Northern Rough-winged Swallow / Stelgidopteryx ser…
Tree Swallow fledgeling
Fence post with a difference
Natural beauty
A snack for his babies
A view through the bushes
Four more months to wait
A friendly greeting
A fence without an owl
From the archives
Sharp to the touch
Bluebird of happiness
American Goldfinch pair
Mountain Bluebird female
Neighbours of the feathered kind
Eastern Kingbird
Hoar frost on barbed-wire
Hoar frost everywhere you look
Dandelion bokeh
Red-winged Blackbird
Sharing her catch
Keeping an eye on those pesky Tree Swallows
Beautiful catch
Juicy snack for his babies
Mountain Bluebird from my archives
Eastern Kingbird with summer bokeh
A joy to see
Bluebird of happiness
American Goldfinch
On the supper menu
Spider on the menu
One of the joys of spring
Little bird, big world
Three's a crowd
Little bird in a big world
The lady and her jewellery
Yellow on yellow
Bird on a wire
Gleaming iridescence
Pretty little lady
When fields blossomed
Winter
Mountain Bluebird
Young Red-winged Blackbird
Bird on a wire
Mr. and Mrs.
Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird pair
Pretty little lady
Wilson's Snipe
Mountain Bluebird
Barbed-wire in disguise
The look
Watchful
Swainson's Hawk sitting tall
A real poser
Protecting her home
See also...
Keywords
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165 visits
Passing the time
Two days ago, while my birding friends had their binoculars and scope focused on the very distant birds at this location at Frank Lake, my eyes began to wander. Couldn't resist a rather fancy fence post (photo posted yesterday) and barbed wire : ) Also, just in case anyone is getting fed up of seeing owl photos on my photostream, I thought I would wait a day before posted another one, lol!
On 19 March 2016, I was on a birding day trip with a group of friends, going SE of Calgary, E of High River. Though the day started off rather cold, it gradually warmed up and was a beautiful day to be out in nature.
I will add our leader's report that he sent into eBird, adding that I did not see all of the sightings, as the birds were much too far away. As always, my camera lens was turned to various other things, too. Thanks so much, as always, Andrew, for a most enjoyable day! Thanks, too, Anne, for driving - I really appreciated the ride!
"We had 16 participants when we left Calgary on a sunny but frosty morning.
We arrived at the main gate around 10:00 am and set off, in a chilly -5 deg C to walk down to the outfall and then around to the blind. The recent cold nights had refrozen some of the lake, but it is still mostly open water.
Most obvious were the thousands of Pintails and hundreds of swans (mostly Tundra today). We did see the overwintering (presumably) Song Sparrow near the outfall. About 60-80 California Gulls, no other gulls that we could identify.
We left and went to High River for lunch, stopping by the Sutherland Shelterbelt to acknowledge the resident Great Horned Owl.
After lunch we circled the lake on the usual roads and ended up at the Basin 2 West Bay. Several more swans and finally, the Eurasian Wigeon, spotted by Tony Timmons. By lunchtime the temperature had reached about 10 deg C and continued to rise reaching ~14 deg C and making a perfect Alberta Spring (almost) afternoon.
Leaving Frank Lake we stopped in at Blackie to find mostly Starlings, and a few Eurasian Collared Doves.
The list for Frank Lake and Blackie was:
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Frank Lake--NW lookout/blind
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 9:55 AM
(2): Sutherland's Shelterbelt (private property)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 12:30 PM
(3): Frank Lake--Basin 2 (Southeast Corner)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 2:15 PM
(4): Frank Lake--Basin 2 (West Bay)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 3:05 PM
(5): Blackie (hamlet)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 4:10 PM
650 Canada Goose -- (1),(3),(4)
4 Trumpeter Swan -- (1)
225 Tundra Swan -- (1),(4)
3 Gadwall -- (1)
2 Eurasian Wigeon -- (4)
60 American Wigeon -- (1),(4)
160 Mallard -- (1),(3),(4)
2 Northern Shoveler -- (4)
4550 Northern Pintail -- (1),(3),(4)
24 Canvasback -- (1),(4)
76 Redhead -- (1),(4)
5 Lesser Scaup -- (4)
150 Common Goldeneye -- (1),(4)
2 Gray Partridge -- (2)
1 Northern Harrier -- (4)
2 Bald Eagle -- (1),(3)
5 Killdeer -- (1),(2)
80 California Gull -- (1)
6 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(5)
4 Eurasian Collared-Dove -- (5)
2 Great Horned Owl -- (2)
1 Merlin -- (5)
5 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2)
1 Common Raven -- (3)
3 Horned Lark -- (1)
51 European Starling -- (2),(5)
2 American Tree Sparrow -- (1)
1 Song Sparrow -- (1)
8 House Finch -- (5)
20 House Sparrow -- (2),(5)
From Blackie we stopped by Third Lake on the way back to Calgary. A huge number of birds there, somewhere between 4000 and 8000, generally somewhat distant. Mostly Pintails, but we also saw American Wigeon, Mallard, a few Canada Geese, and California Gulls.
Clearly Pintails are on the move right now."
Andrew Hart
After this long day out and then checking the upcoming weather forecast, yesterday, 20 March 2016, looked like it was going to be the only decent day of the coming week. So, my alarm clocks were all set ridiculously early, though I still left home a bit later than I had intended, and I took myself NW of the city again to see if I could see an owl. Just a handful of friends were there and we got a few moments of great views of one of the Great Grays. The rest of the time, I did see an owl fly off into the trees a couple of times, but the time was spent waiting and chatting with my friends. Patience .....
On 19 March 2016, I was on a birding day trip with a group of friends, going SE of Calgary, E of High River. Though the day started off rather cold, it gradually warmed up and was a beautiful day to be out in nature.
I will add our leader's report that he sent into eBird, adding that I did not see all of the sightings, as the birds were much too far away. As always, my camera lens was turned to various other things, too. Thanks so much, as always, Andrew, for a most enjoyable day! Thanks, too, Anne, for driving - I really appreciated the ride!
"We had 16 participants when we left Calgary on a sunny but frosty morning.
We arrived at the main gate around 10:00 am and set off, in a chilly -5 deg C to walk down to the outfall and then around to the blind. The recent cold nights had refrozen some of the lake, but it is still mostly open water.
Most obvious were the thousands of Pintails and hundreds of swans (mostly Tundra today). We did see the overwintering (presumably) Song Sparrow near the outfall. About 60-80 California Gulls, no other gulls that we could identify.
We left and went to High River for lunch, stopping by the Sutherland Shelterbelt to acknowledge the resident Great Horned Owl.
After lunch we circled the lake on the usual roads and ended up at the Basin 2 West Bay. Several more swans and finally, the Eurasian Wigeon, spotted by Tony Timmons. By lunchtime the temperature had reached about 10 deg C and continued to rise reaching ~14 deg C and making a perfect Alberta Spring (almost) afternoon.
Leaving Frank Lake we stopped in at Blackie to find mostly Starlings, and a few Eurasian Collared Doves.
The list for Frank Lake and Blackie was:
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Frank Lake--NW lookout/blind
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 9:55 AM
(2): Sutherland's Shelterbelt (private property)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 12:30 PM
(3): Frank Lake--Basin 2 (Southeast Corner)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 2:15 PM
(4): Frank Lake--Basin 2 (West Bay)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 3:05 PM
(5): Blackie (hamlet)
Date: Mar 19, 2016, 4:10 PM
650 Canada Goose -- (1),(3),(4)
4 Trumpeter Swan -- (1)
225 Tundra Swan -- (1),(4)
3 Gadwall -- (1)
2 Eurasian Wigeon -- (4)
60 American Wigeon -- (1),(4)
160 Mallard -- (1),(3),(4)
2 Northern Shoveler -- (4)
4550 Northern Pintail -- (1),(3),(4)
24 Canvasback -- (1),(4)
76 Redhead -- (1),(4)
5 Lesser Scaup -- (4)
150 Common Goldeneye -- (1),(4)
2 Gray Partridge -- (2)
1 Northern Harrier -- (4)
2 Bald Eagle -- (1),(3)
5 Killdeer -- (1),(2)
80 California Gull -- (1)
6 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(5)
4 Eurasian Collared-Dove -- (5)
2 Great Horned Owl -- (2)
1 Merlin -- (5)
5 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2)
1 Common Raven -- (3)
3 Horned Lark -- (1)
51 European Starling -- (2),(5)
2 American Tree Sparrow -- (1)
1 Song Sparrow -- (1)
8 House Finch -- (5)
20 House Sparrow -- (2),(5)
From Blackie we stopped by Third Lake on the way back to Calgary. A huge number of birds there, somewhere between 4000 and 8000, generally somewhat distant. Mostly Pintails, but we also saw American Wigeon, Mallard, a few Canada Geese, and California Gulls.
Clearly Pintails are on the move right now."
Andrew Hart
After this long day out and then checking the upcoming weather forecast, yesterday, 20 March 2016, looked like it was going to be the only decent day of the coming week. So, my alarm clocks were all set ridiculously early, though I still left home a bit later than I had intended, and I took myself NW of the city again to see if I could see an owl. Just a handful of friends were there and we got a few moments of great views of one of the Great Grays. The rest of the time, I did see an owl fly off into the trees a couple of times, but the time was spent waiting and chatting with my friends. Patience .....
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