I love Llamas
A welcome sight on a Christmas Bird Count
Sunrise colour over the mountain peaks
Happy New Year, everyone!
A well looked after barn
Open wide - big yawn
New Year's Day Bird Count
A splash of colour on a snowy day
Mountain Chickadee
Nanton Christmas Bird Count
Gray Jay
Winter walking
'Barn' Owl, alias Great Horned Owl
Colour for winter
Snow turns something ordinary into beautiful
Same tiny Northern Pygmy-owl
Downy Woodpecker and bokeh
A sweet encounter
White beauty
Textures
Our beautiful Alberta
A change from a Black-capped Chickadee
Way, way up
Winter on the farm
Gray Jay - Canada's new National bird
Red's the best in winter
Trees in winter
Yesterday's treat
TV's "Heartland" series location
Mountain Chickadee on Donna's hand
Pika pose
Snowman who loves Amanitas
Remembering summer colours
Almost-disappearing act
Have yourself a merry little Christmas!
Happy Christmas, everyone!
Beauty in the final stage
Christmas star
Canada's new National Bird - the Gray Jay
Before the snow
Sunset wildness
This was the only way
Poor quality, but of interest
Master of camouflage
Barn Owl
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A beautiful start to a day
I had these three images from two days ago ready to post yesterday, but I overslept by about an hour and a half yesterday, which left me just 27 minutes from waking up suddenly and actually leaving the house!! This is always my biggest concern on any Count day - will I wake up in time or might I sleep through my two alarm clock radios and a kitchen timer. Well, yesterday, it was the latter, and it was not pleasant! Annoying, too, as yesterday's Count is my favourite Count. I did three long-day counts within the last four days, with the last two being back to back days, which is just too much. By the way, this is the 113th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, so it has been going on for more than a century! Today will be a day for staying home, but tomorrow morning, I take part in the 27th annual New Year's Day Fish Creek Park Count in the city. The forecast for tomorrow is more snow.
All three photos posted this morning, 31 December 2016, were taken two days ago, when three of us took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called a Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of backroads and farms just like on our other Counts. Only three of us went two days ago, travelling in just one car, and the area we covered was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail (across from the Water Valley area). We have to be way NW of the city by 8:00 am, ready to start driving our Count area. There always seems to be a beautiful sunrise when we start this Count.
One of the highlights of this Count for me is seeing several Llamas on one of the farms. Unfortunately, it was very overcast all day. Several of the backroads were in bad condition and I was expecting us to get stuck, which fortunately didn't happen. A huge bag of gravel and a snow shovel were in the back of the driver's vehicle, just in case.
Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a shy, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, we drove in past them, but didn't stop - of course, it IS a birding trip : ) A bit further in, we did get out of the car while our leader tried to find someone to ask permission for us to get out and look for birds. No one could be found, but it gave me the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of the second barn, from a side view, which I had never seen it from before.
So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Many thanks, Andrew, for driving our leader and myself. You did a great job of handling the roads that had not been cleared of snow. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below.
All three photos posted this morning, 31 December 2016, were taken two days ago, when three of us took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called a Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of backroads and farms just like on our other Counts. Only three of us went two days ago, travelling in just one car, and the area we covered was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail (across from the Water Valley area). We have to be way NW of the city by 8:00 am, ready to start driving our Count area. There always seems to be a beautiful sunrise when we start this Count.
One of the highlights of this Count for me is seeing several Llamas on one of the farms. Unfortunately, it was very overcast all day. Several of the backroads were in bad condition and I was expecting us to get stuck, which fortunately didn't happen. A huge bag of gravel and a snow shovel were in the back of the driver's vehicle, just in case.
Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a shy, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, we drove in past them, but didn't stop - of course, it IS a birding trip : ) A bit further in, we did get out of the car while our leader tried to find someone to ask permission for us to get out and look for birds. No one could be found, but it gave me the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of the second barn, from a side view, which I had never seen it from before.
So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Many thanks, Andrew, for driving our leader and myself. You did a great job of handling the roads that had not been cleared of snow. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below.
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