Pileated Woodpecker female
Sharp-tailed Grouse female
Trying to impress the females
American Wigeon pair
Always a good mother
Mountain Bluebird protecting her nest box
Brown-headed Cowbirds
Busy parent
No wonder there are so many Savannah Sparrows : )
Tree Swallow female
Purple Martins / Progne subis
Male and female Purple Martins / Progne subis
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
Mom and her new baby
Northern Shoveler pair
Such good parents
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Red-winged Blackbird female with bokeh
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
A second's rest, together
Time to feed the kids
Collecting food for her babies
Unexpected closeness
Female Spruce Grouse with one of her young
Bighorn Sheep - she's a beauty
A gathering of female Bighorn Sheep
Looking beautiful
Swainson's Hawk female, dark-phase
Mom and her spotted twins
Quite a typical view
Spruce Grouse, adult female
Spruce Sawyer
Larch in fall colour
Lapland Longspur? No, a female Red-winged Blackbi…
Feather finery of a female Mallard
Time for an afternoon nap
Posing nicely
Downy Woodpecker and bokeh
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Moose from the archives
Great Horned Owl
Female Mountain Bluebird with lunch for her babies
Moose in the mountains
Female Kestrel
Black-throated Mango on nest, Tobago, Day 2
Green Honeycreeper female, Asa Wright Nature Centr…
White-necked Jacobin female, Trinidad
White-necked Jacobin female, Asa Wright Nature Cen…
Green Hermit Hummingbird female, Asa Wright Nature…
Purple Honeycreeper female, Trinidad
Green Honeycreeper female, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Green Honeycreeper female, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Mallard female
Purple Honeycreeper female preening, Asa Wright Na…
Mallard female
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Great Horned Owl and owlet
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Mom and her babies
A slight touch of blue
Common Merganser family
Mountain Bluebird with food for her babies
Tree Swallows - time to change places
Rare Leucistic Merlin in different light
Rare LEUCISTIC Merlin enjoying a snack
Fine feathers of a female Mallard
Downy Woodpecker at a park feeder
Memories
A bird in the hand is worth many in the bush
Delicate Damselfly
Dainty little Common Redpoll
Moose cow looking for salt
Downy Woodpecker
Common Redpoll on the wire
Common Redpoll / Carduelis flammea
Dainty little Common Redpoll
Common Redpoll in the forest
Common Redpoll
Hoping for food
Pine Grosbeak female
Pine Grosbeaks adding colour to our winter
One of five White-tailed Deer
At the end of the day
Hairy Woodpecker
White-winged Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Beware!
Licking the salt
Wild Turkeys
Wild Turkeys
Mallard female
Up close and personal
Pretty lady
The last of the fall colour
From the archives
Colourful pair of Wood Ducks / Aix sponsa
Pileated Woodpecker female
Gathering at the feeder
Surprised to see us
Mule Deer, Mom and baby
Violet-green Swallows
American Goldfinch pair
Grizzly Bear with last year's cub
Mountain Bluebird female
Very young Mule deer
Yellow-headed Blackbird female
Moose kneeling to lick salt from the road
Moose in the late evening sun
American Goldfinch female with Sunflower seed
Collecting supper for her babies
Red-winged Blackbird female
Female Red-winged Blackbird / Agelaius phoeniceus
Evening Grosbeaks / Coccothraustes vespertinus
Puffed up for warmth
Red-necked Grebe pair
Lovely lady
Female (?) Sharp-tailed Grouse
Moose, with a bad case of ticks
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Look, Mom, I can fly!
The art of building a nest
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Preening her feathers
Time for nest building
How sweet is this?
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Cinnamon Teal pair
![Cinnamon Teal pair Cinnamon Teal pair](https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/49/92/41714992.d7ce2899.640.jpg?r2)
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The day before yesterday, 24 April 2016, I was out for the day, SE of Calgary around Frank Lake. Finally, after so much glorious, summer-like spring weather, the weather changed for the worse and we had a cool (needed gloves), very overcast day, with light drizzle some of the time. Not good at all for taking photos. We also had a fair bit of desperately needed rain that night. I was especially disappointed with the shots I took of a beautiful Western Meadowlark. Usually, they fly even when they see you in the far distance, but this beauty let me slowly walk quite close to get a number of (very grainy) photos. The quality is awful, but I don't get a chance to photograph Meadowlarks very often, so I did post one yesterday.
Eight friends and I had a great day, despite the weather. This is one of my favourite areas amd I just haven't been getting time to drive there myself for quite a long time. We started off at the main gate and drove to the blind/hide area, stopping half way to search for very distant birds. While everyone else had their binoculars pointed over the water, I was slowly walking towards the Meadowlark, who was singing its beautiful song. You can hear them and they sound so close, but their song seems to carry a long way. It kept flying away but each time returned to the same post. I was amazed and delighted that this one let me get so close. If the sun had been shining, it would have been perfect!
As usual when we go to Frank Lake, almost all the birds are very distant and pretty impossible to photograph. I did catch a male Red-winged Blackbird perched on a sign - the females have not yet returned here. The other amazing thing was when we had walked from the Frank Lake bird blind over to the water in the other direction, a flock of about 50 Tree Swallows were flying to and from a low tree/shrub, catching the many insects while in flight. Again, while everyone was searching over the water, I gradually made my way to within just a few feet of the bush. Quite a feeling to have so many Tree Swallows circling all the way around you. I have never ever seen so many of them acting like this, so it was a neat experience. This pair of Cinnamon Teal was swimming in a very small slough near Frank Lake, along with a few other birds, including Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets.
From this main area, we called in at the usual three other places around the lake. Two were rough roads that led to Basin 2 from the east and the west, and the third was the Ducks Unlimited location at the far southern edge of the lake, at Basin 3.
Thanks so much for a great day, Tony, and for the ride all day. I always look forward to the Frank Lake trips.
I will add our leader, Tony Timmons' list of species seen, adding that only 6 people walked as far as the Hudsonian Godwits - I was not one of them.
"Nine people were on the trip today to Frank Lake. Expected species were present in pretty fair numbers, with the best sighting being 15 Hudsonian Godwits at Basin 3.
A flock of 50 Tree Swallows hacking insects and using a small bush for a perch, made for an interesting scene.
We had 56 species for the trip
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis (1 seen by Dan P.)
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Gray Partridge
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Hudsonian Godwit
Wilson's Snipe
Franklin's Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
House Sparrow"
Eight friends and I had a great day, despite the weather. This is one of my favourite areas amd I just haven't been getting time to drive there myself for quite a long time. We started off at the main gate and drove to the blind/hide area, stopping half way to search for very distant birds. While everyone else had their binoculars pointed over the water, I was slowly walking towards the Meadowlark, who was singing its beautiful song. You can hear them and they sound so close, but their song seems to carry a long way. It kept flying away but each time returned to the same post. I was amazed and delighted that this one let me get so close. If the sun had been shining, it would have been perfect!
As usual when we go to Frank Lake, almost all the birds are very distant and pretty impossible to photograph. I did catch a male Red-winged Blackbird perched on a sign - the females have not yet returned here. The other amazing thing was when we had walked from the Frank Lake bird blind over to the water in the other direction, a flock of about 50 Tree Swallows were flying to and from a low tree/shrub, catching the many insects while in flight. Again, while everyone was searching over the water, I gradually made my way to within just a few feet of the bush. Quite a feeling to have so many Tree Swallows circling all the way around you. I have never ever seen so many of them acting like this, so it was a neat experience. This pair of Cinnamon Teal was swimming in a very small slough near Frank Lake, along with a few other birds, including Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets.
From this main area, we called in at the usual three other places around the lake. Two were rough roads that led to Basin 2 from the east and the west, and the third was the Ducks Unlimited location at the far southern edge of the lake, at Basin 3.
Thanks so much for a great day, Tony, and for the ride all day. I always look forward to the Frank Lake trips.
I will add our leader, Tony Timmons' list of species seen, adding that only 6 people walked as far as the Hudsonian Godwits - I was not one of them.
"Nine people were on the trip today to Frank Lake. Expected species were present in pretty fair numbers, with the best sighting being 15 Hudsonian Godwits at Basin 3.
A flock of 50 Tree Swallows hacking insects and using a small bush for a perch, made for an interesting scene.
We had 56 species for the trip
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis (1 seen by Dan P.)
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Gray Partridge
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Hudsonian Godwit
Wilson's Snipe
Franklin's Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Marsh Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
House Sparrow"
ROL/Photo, have particularly liked this photo
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