Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Shepard area

Seen growing east of the city in the Shepard area. Thorny Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentia) is a tall shrub or small tree is native, has spiny branches and young branches are silvery white. Flowers are yellowish brown, about 4 mm across. Each flower has four sepals, no petals. Blooms May-June. Berries are yellow to scarlet, edible but sour.

I could have cropped a little closer, but I liked the effect of all the dangling catkins : ) Seen on an outing yesterday morning east of Calgary, in the Shepard area.

I think I'm right in saying that this is probably a Horse Fly (Hybomitra spp.). They have amazing eyes with brightly coloured stripes. This one would not leave us alone when we were searching for shore birds recently, on the sloughs (ponds/wetlands) just east of Calgary.

I managed to just get a couple of quick shots of this beautiful American Avocet fairly recently by twisting round in my car seat and just clicking without really seeing : ). Not the best quality, but I was surprised that anything came out at all. Gorgeous birds to see on the sloughs (ponds/wetlands) just east of the city.

We found this dead Coot near the side of one of the sloughs just to the east of the city. Many people think that a Coot is a duck. However, a Coot does not have webbed feet. "Each toe on the foot of the coot has broad flanges, which enables the coot to swim as well as walk on soft sediments and mud without sinking." From uk.encarta.msn.com.

Took this photo from a car window on a drive east of the city to look for birds on some of the sloughs (wetlands). I don't get many chances to photograph Red-winged Blackbirds, so am posting this despite its being a messy photo.