Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Lynn Gratz's acreage

This is the only photo I am posting this morning, so that I am not in such a rush. This sunflower was growing, with many others, in the garden at Marsland Basin. Yesterday, I spent the day feeling dizzy, and today I have a long day of driving, so I am really hoping I feel OK. Today is already 5 September 2017! Here, more and more trees are turning yellow, everywhere is bone dry, and we have been getting more high temperatures, with more hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Five days ago, on 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning was quite chilly, in fact. I read that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. A few days later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated.

September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and three days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Two days ago, on 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I will add our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning was quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV yesterday morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Also saw this Mourning Dove through a gap in the branches - looks different, somehow, with that dark mark going down its face. Is it a juvenile? Maybe an injury? Any chance it might be a hybrid of some sort? Later: apparently, it IS a hybrid Mourning Dove-Eurasian Collared Dove - thanks so much, Terry! Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. Two days later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated.

September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and three days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Two days ago, on 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I will add our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning was quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV yesterday morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. Two days later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated.

Today is the first day of September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and two days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Yesterday, 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning was quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV this morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. A day later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated. By the way, I didn't post any photos to Flickr yesterday. The day before was such a hot day (up to 33C, which is no joke when you don't have air-conditioning) and the smoke was bad. By the time evening came, I was just too hot and tired to look through photos and edit them. Also, I knew I was going to have a very early start next morning (4;50 am) and had no energy to post anything that early.

Today is the first day of September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and two days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Yesterday, 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning felt quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV this morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?). It was so small, I almost didn't notice it in flight. Also saw Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. A day later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated. By the way, I didn't post any photos to Flickr yesterday. The day before was such a hot day (up to 33C, which is no joke when you don't have air-conditioning) and the smoke was bad. By the time evening came, I was just too hot and tired to look through photos and edit them. Also, I knew I was going to have a very early start next morning (4;50 am) and had no energy to post anything that early.

On 25 September 2016, it was a day of birding east of the city, with a group of birding friends. We set out at 8:00 am and our main stopping places were Weed Lake, Marsland Basin and Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. I will add our leader's (Howard Heffler) list of species below. Pretty much the usual sightings - lots of ducks, a number of Hawks including a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and several juvenile White-throated Sparrows which were seen while walking around at Lynn and Sue's acreage at Marsland Basin. Also, a Merlin that was perched high up on a power pole. The water level at the wetland at Marsland Basin was very high, so there was no sign of the mudflats there - consequently, barely any shorebirds to be seen. We did have three small flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese fly in formation high overhead while we were looking out over the water, which was great. As usual, most birds we saw were much too far away for photos. As usually happens, when birds are too far away for me to see, my camera lens turns to a few other subjects, including this photo of one of the many Sunflowers that were growing in Lynn's garden. Many thanks for leading this trip, Howard, and thanks, too, to Jim for driving half of us. I always appreciate a trip like this, with people who are all expert birders - and then there's me, lol! "Eight participants met at Carburn Park at 8:00 AM and spent a beautiful fall day birding three locations east of Calgary. We first stopped at the south end of Weed Lake. Water levels were high so there was almost no shorebird habitat. A highlight was the large numbers of American Pipits. Marsland Basin, thanks to Lynn and Sue, is a wonderful spot for both the wetland and the treed areas. Next we went Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. We were not able to pick out a Mew Gull that had been recently reported there among the 100’s of Ring-billed Gulls. Thanks to Nimali Seneviratne for keeping track of species and doing the eBird postings. The combined list for the day was: Greater White-fronted Goose 108 Canada Goose 36 Gadwall 45 American Wigeon 22 Mallard 325 Northern Shoveler 400 Northern Pintail 80 Green-winged Teal 278 Bufflehead 18 Common Merganser 3 Ruddy Duck 5 Gray Partridge 20 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Eared Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 3 American White Pelican 12 Great Blue Heron 4 White-faced Ibis 1 Bald Eagle 1 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Swainson's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 6 American Coot 51 Killdeer 4 Long-billed Dowitcher 9 Wilson's Snipe 2 Greater Yellowlegs 4 Franklin's Gull 3 Ring-billed Gull 1,000 Rock Pigeon 2 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Northern Flicker 1 Merlin 1 Blue Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 6 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Marsh Wren 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4 Swainson's Thrush 2 European Starling 34 American Pipit 95 Ovenbird 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 Dark-eyed Junco 5 White-throated Sparrow 6 Western Meadowlark 5 Common Grackle 2 House Sparrow 12

On 25 September 2016, it was a day of birding east of the city, with a group of birding friends. We set out at 8:00 am and our main stopping places were Weed Lake, Marsland Basin and Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. I will add our leader's (Howard Heffler) list of species below. Pretty much the usual sightings - lots of ducks, a number of Hawks including a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and several juvenile White-throated Sparrows which were seen while walking around at Lynn and Sue's acreage at Marsland Basin. Also, a Merlin that was perched high up on a power pole. The water level at the wetland at Marsland Basin was very high, so there was no sign of the mudflats there - consequently, barely any shorebirds to be seen. We did have three small flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese fly in formation high overhead while we were looking out over the water, which was great. As usual, most birds we saw were much too far away for photos. As usually happens, when birds are too far away for me to see, my camera lens turns to a few other subjects, including this photo of one of the many Sunflowers that were growing in Lynn's garden. Many thanks for leading this trip, Howard, and thanks, too, to Jim for driving half of us. I always appreciate a trip like this, with people who are all expert birdspotters - and then there's me, lol! "Eight participants met at Carburn Park at 8:00 AM and spent a beautiful fall day birding three locations east of Calgary. We first stopped at the south end of Weed Lake. Water levels were high so there was almost no shorebird habitat. A highlight was the large numbers of American Pipits. Marsland Basin, thanks to Lynn and Sue, is a wonderful spot for both the wetland and the treed areas. Next we went Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. We were not able to pick out a Mew Gull that had been recently reported there among the 100’s of Ring-billed Gulls. Thanks to Nimali Seneviratne for keeping track of species and doing the eBird postings. The combined list for the day was: Greater White-fronted Goose 108 Canada Goose 36 Gadwall 45 American Wigeon 22 Mallard 325 Northern Shoveler 400 Northern Pintail 80 Green-winged Teal 278 Bufflehead 18 Common Merganser 3 Ruddy Duck 5 Gray Partridge 20 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Eared Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 3 American White Pelican 12 Great Blue Heron 4 White-faced Ibis 1 Bald Eagle 1 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Swainson's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 6 American Coot 51 Killdeer 4 Long-billed Dowitcher 9 Wilson's Snipe 2 Greater Yellowlegs 4 Franklin's Gull 3 Ring-billed Gull 1,000 Rock Pigeon 2 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Northern Flicker 1 Merlin 1 Blue Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 6 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Marsh Wren 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4 Swainson's Thrush 2 European Starling 34 American Pipit 95 Ovenbird 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 Dark-eyed Junco 5 White-throated Sparrow 6 Western Meadowlark 5 Common Grackle 2 House Sparrow 12

A couple of days ago, on 25 September 2016, it was a day of birding east and south-east of the city, with a group of birding friends. We set out at 8:00 am and our main stopping places were Weed Lake, Marsland Basin and Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. I will add our leader's (Howard Heffler) list of species below. Pretty much the usual sightings - lots of ducks, a number of Hawks including a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk and several juvenile White-throated Sparrows which were seen while walking around at Lynn and Sue's acreage at Marsland Basin. Also, a Merlin that was perched high up on a power pole. The water level at the wetland at Marsland Basin was very high, so there was no sign of the mudflats there - consequently, barely any shorebirds to be seen. We did have three small flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese fly in formation high overhead while we were looking out over the water, which was great. As usual, most birds we saw were much too far away for photos. As usually happens, when birds are too far away for me to see, my camera lens turns to a few other subjects, including the shrub with its bright red berries in this photo. Many thanks for leading this trip, Howard, and thanks, too, to Jim for driving half of us. I always appreciate a trip like this, with people who are all expert birdspotters - and then there's me, lol! "Eight participants met at Carburn Park at 8:00 AM and spent a beautiful fall day birding three locations east of Calgary. We first stopped at the south end of Weed Lake. Water levels were high so there was almost no shorebird habitat. A highlight was the large numbers of American Pipits. Marsland Basin, thanks to Lynn and Sue, is a wonderful spot for both the wetland and the treed areas. Next we went Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. We were not able to pick out a Mew Gull that had been recently reported there among the 100’s of Ring-billed Gulls. Thanks to Nimali Seneviratne for keeping track of species and doing the eBird postings. The combined list for the day was: Greater White-fronted Goose 108 Canada Goose 36 Gadwall 45 American Wigeon 22 Mallard 325 Northern Shoveler 400 Northern Pintail 80 Green-winged Teal 278 Bufflehead 18 Common Merganser 3 Ruddy Duck 5 Gray Partridge 20 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Eared Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 3 American White Pelican 12 Great Blue Heron 4 White-faced Ibis 1 Bald Eagle 1 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Swainson's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 6 American Coot 51 Killdeer 4 Long-billed Dowitcher 9 Wilson's Snipe 2 Greater Yellowlegs 4 Franklin's Gull 3 Ring-billed Gull 1,000 Rock Pigeon 2 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Northern Flicker 1 Merlin 1 Blue Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 6 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Marsh Wren 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4 Swainson's Thrush 2 European Starling 34 American Pipit 95 Ovenbird 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 Dark-eyed Junco 5 White-throated Sparrow 6 Western Meadowlark 5 Common Grackle 2 House Sparrow 12

All three photos posted this morning, were taken yesterday, 25 September 2016. It was a day of birding east and south-east of the city, with a group of birding friends. We set out at 8:00 am and our main stopping places were Weed Lake, Marsland Basin and Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. I will add our leader's (Howard Heffler) list of species below. Pretty much the usual sightings - lots of ducks, a number of Hawks including the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk seen in the previous photo and this juvenile White-throated Sparrow which was seen while we were walking around in Lynn and Sue's acreage at Marsland Basin. These Sparrows are common, but I rarely see one - you often hear one singing, but are unable to see it. Also, a Merlin that was perched high up on a power pole. The water level at the wetland at Marsland Basin was very high, so there was no sign of the mudflats there, so barely any shorebirds. We did have three small flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese fly high overhead while we were looking out over the water, which was great. As usual, most birds we saw were much too far away for photos. As usually happens, when birds are too far away for me to see, my camera lens turns to a few other subjects, including the Sowthistle flower in one of the photos posted this morning, which had three different insects on it. Many thanks for leading this trip, Howard, and thanks, too, to Jim for driving half of us. I always appreciate a trip like this, with people who are all expert birdspotters - and then there's me, lol! "Eight participants met at Carburn Park at 8:00 AM and spent a beautiful fall day birding three locations east of Calgary. We first stopped at the south end of Weed Lake. Water levels were high so there was almost no shorebird habitat. A highlight was the large numbers of American Pipits. Marsland Basin, thanks to Lynn and Sue, is a wonderful spot for both the wetland and the treed areas. Next we went Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park. We were not able to pick out a Mew Gull that had been recently reported there among the 100’s of Ring-billed Gulls. Thanks to Nimali Seneviratne for keeping track of species and doing the eBird postings. The combined list for the day was: Greater White-fronted Goose 108 Canada Goose 36 Gadwall 45 American Wigeon 22 Mallard 325 Northern Shoveler 400 Northern Pintail 80 Green-winged Teal 278 Bufflehead 18 Common Merganser 3 Ruddy Duck 5 Gray Partridge 20 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Eared Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 3 American White Pelican 12 Great Blue Heron 4 White-faced Ibis 1 Bald Eagle 1 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Swainson's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 6 American Coot 51 Killdeer 4 Long-billed Dowitcher 9 Wilson's Snipe 2 Greater Yellowlegs 4 Franklin's Gull 3 Ring-billed Gull 1,000 Rock Pigeon 2 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Northern Flicker 1 Merlin 1 Blue Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 6 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Marsh Wren 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4 Swainson's Thrush 2 European Starling 34 American Pipit 95 Ovenbird 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 5 Dark-eyed Junco 5 White-throated Sparrow 6 Western Meadowlark 5 Common Grackle 2 House Sparrow 12 Will have to finish off my other descriptions and tags later, as I am running late this morning and have a birding walk to get to. Later: I ended up not going on my birding walk this morning. By the time I got up early and had breakfast, I was feeling somewhat queasy and thought I had better not go on the walk. Felt a bit better later in the morning and decided to go to the Park after all (Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park), getting there about noon. Met a delightful young man standing on the bridge over the creek and pointing out to me a perched bird of prey. It took a little while to decide just what it was - helped by excellent birder, Nimali, who happened to come along the path. We decided it was a Cooper's Hawk ('C' for curved edge of tail tip and 'C' for Cooper's). Looking at my photos this evening, I'm still not 100% sure if it was a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned. In a few of the photos, the tail tip edge looked more straight than curved. This hawk stayed around for ages and gave some nice opportunities for photos, including of it 'mantling' (spreading out its wings to form a cloak) when it captured a large dragonfly and returned to the same branch. When two of us were first standing on the bridge, this hawk flew down right over our heads two or three times - maybe because we were attracting insects around us? We noticed a second similar hawk, too, and we wondered if they were maybe juveniles, especially as the main one was very comfortable with us standing nearby. Made my day : ) I even spotted several mushrooms earlier in my walk, which was a surprise. Can't believe I was out in the park for about five hours! A very enjoyable walk - glad to have your company, Nimali, and that of the very knowledgeable young man (an absolute lover of Nature) we had just met.