Yellow-bellied Marmot
Green honeycreeper and Purple honeycreeper
Agouti, Trinidad
Yellow Oriole, Trinidad
Warm enough to start the melting
Patience required
Finally!
Crested Oropendola, Trinidad
Great Gray Owl #1
Great Gray Owl #2
Yellow Oriole, Trinidad
Banana plant, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Purple Honeycreeper female, Trinidad
Great Gray Owl hunting
Green Honeycreeper female, Trinidad
Great Gray Owl, watching and listening
Prairie life in winter
Great Gray Owl hunting
Bald Eagle getting a hosepipe shower
Is this a White-necked Jacobin female, Trinidad?
Chrysothemis pulchella, Trinidad
Bananaquit, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Boreal Chickadee
Caught in a mesocyclone
Rolling hills from the Whaleback
Tent Caterpillar
Plant from the Whaleback
Nibbling on a tasty leaf
Brewer's Blackbird
A scene in the Whaleback area
Rose-breasted Grosbeak from the archives
Ruddy Duck from the archives
A beautiful day in Weaselhead
Common Redpoll female
With more big storms to come
Coyote crossing the frozen Elbow River
White-necked Jacobin, Trinidad
Pallas's Long-tongued Bat, Trinidad
A rainbow and a Hummingbird wave
A garden in Trinidad
Bird activity?, Trinidad
Unidentified tree, Trinidad
Bird activity?, Trinidad
Bat Falcon, Trinidad
Black Vulture / Coragyps atratus, Trinidad
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Authorizations, license
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Burrowing Owl in the wild
There are 46 images in my Burrowing Owl album - this photo shows one of the first and only Burrowing Owls that I have ever been fortunate enough to see in the wild. To say that it was a thrill is an understatement! The photo was taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and it was very windy.
These endangered owls are tiny and so difficult to see, especially when they are down in the grasses. They are a true delight when or if they are seen on a fence post, so that the whole of the bird can be seen, not just a bright yellow eye peering out between the blades of grass. We saw two different individuals, possibly three, and for a brief moment both were perched on distant fence posts at the same time. Most of the time, though, they were mainly hidden in the grass, so my photos tend to be of "eyes". Such a great pity that this is an endangered species!
Without the help of two friends who helped us know where we might find these birds, and the two friends who invited me to go with them on a wonderful three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, I would never have had this amazing sighting. For years, I had longed to see a wild Burrowing Owl, but never thought it would actually happen! We were SO grateful for the help we received!
During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014) with friends, we saw so many things. Of course, we couldn't have had a more beautiful area to explore! Waterton Lakes National Park has amazing scenery and wildlife. The weather forecast that I saw before we left Calgary said that we were in for three beautiful days of sunshine - too often, it can be rainy weather in that whole area. So, luck was on our side, giving us warm, sunny days - until the BIG STORM hit! We had driven eastwards from the park, hoping to see Yellow-bellied Marmots and, if we were really lucky, a Burrowing Owl. The storm was approaching very fast, around 5:00 p.m. just before we started our return trip to Calgary. It was like nothing I had ever seen before - a menacing shelf cloud that was travelling fast and furious. Despite trying our best to drive away from it, it eventually engulfed our car, surrounding us with more or less zero visibility, pounding hail, thunder and lightning, and very strong winds. There was nothing to do but stop the car and sit tight, hoping that the hail would not break the car windows and that this severe thunderstorm would not develop into a tornado! This storm was very scary, but at the same time, exciting at first (only because all turned out OK in the end!). Our road trip sure went out with a bang! People from the Alberta Tornado Watch said this storm was a mesocyclone.
Some of the things we were fortunate enough to see included fantastic scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer (including several that we saw in the town of Waterton, where we stayed for two nights at the clean and friendly Bear Mountain Motel), Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including the endangered Burrowing Owls, a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators.
These endangered owls are tiny and so difficult to see, especially when they are down in the grasses. They are a true delight when or if they are seen on a fence post, so that the whole of the bird can be seen, not just a bright yellow eye peering out between the blades of grass. We saw two different individuals, possibly three, and for a brief moment both were perched on distant fence posts at the same time. Most of the time, though, they were mainly hidden in the grass, so my photos tend to be of "eyes". Such a great pity that this is an endangered species!
Without the help of two friends who helped us know where we might find these birds, and the two friends who invited me to go with them on a wonderful three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, I would never have had this amazing sighting. For years, I had longed to see a wild Burrowing Owl, but never thought it would actually happen! We were SO grateful for the help we received!
During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014) with friends, we saw so many things. Of course, we couldn't have had a more beautiful area to explore! Waterton Lakes National Park has amazing scenery and wildlife. The weather forecast that I saw before we left Calgary said that we were in for three beautiful days of sunshine - too often, it can be rainy weather in that whole area. So, luck was on our side, giving us warm, sunny days - until the BIG STORM hit! We had driven eastwards from the park, hoping to see Yellow-bellied Marmots and, if we were really lucky, a Burrowing Owl. The storm was approaching very fast, around 5:00 p.m. just before we started our return trip to Calgary. It was like nothing I had ever seen before - a menacing shelf cloud that was travelling fast and furious. Despite trying our best to drive away from it, it eventually engulfed our car, surrounding us with more or less zero visibility, pounding hail, thunder and lightning, and very strong winds. There was nothing to do but stop the car and sit tight, hoping that the hail would not break the car windows and that this severe thunderstorm would not develop into a tornado! This storm was very scary, but at the same time, exciting at first (only because all turned out OK in the end!). Our road trip sure went out with a bang! People from the Alberta Tornado Watch said this storm was a mesocyclone.
Some of the things we were fortunate enough to see included fantastic scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer (including several that we saw in the town of Waterton, where we stayed for two nights at the clean and friendly Bear Mountain Motel), Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including the endangered Burrowing Owls, a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators.
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