Sparrow's-egg Orchid
Red barn in a beautiful setting
Let the dancing begin
A close look at a Coot
Yellow Foxglove / Digitalis grandiflora
Preening her feathers
A quick, drive-by shot
Balsam or Hybrid Poplar catkins
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Clouds over a prairie farm
Deep inside a dark barn
Long-tailed Weasel
Red wagon by Bow Valley Ranch
Male Sharp-tailed Grouse
Pine Coulee Reservoir, November 2013
American Coot
Western Meadowlark
Adventurous little owlet
Little more than black silhouettes
A fine day for birding
Grebes with the red "button" eyes
Head to head
Cinnamon Teal
Allium up close
Obsessive Owl Crazyness Disorder
Pine Coulee Reservoir last November
The exotic White-faced Ibis
Growing at Pine Coulee Reservoir
How sweet is this?
Harvestman
Black-capped Chickadee at a cavity
The golds and blues at Frank Lake
Western Meadowlark
X marks the spot
Longing for Poppy time
Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying
Night-flowering Catchfly / Silene noctiflora
Tired out Mom
Rural decay in winter
Vibrant colour of spring
Sharp-tailed Grouse male
Delicate Cornflower
Simple but bright
Remembering happy times
Beauty in the fall
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Time for nest building


Not quite the best pose, but I just managed to get a quick shot before this female Mountain Bluebird turned her back towards me. I was just thankful to be able to post a Bluebird photo that was taken this spring, instead of last, from my archives. Feels so good to see them back here again.
Yesterday morning, 20 April 2015, I got up early to go on a birding walk with friends. I checked the weather forecast for this week and when I saw that rain was expected for four days in a row, starting tomorrow, I changed my mind and went for a long drive NW and SW of the city for the day instead. Left home around 8:45 am and got back about 6:45, driving about 330 km. The day before, I had been out on a day trip to Pine Coulee Reservoir with birding friends, but only got half a dozen very distant, blurry shots of birds.
I just couldn't wait any longer to go and see if I could find one of the Great Gray Owls that a few people had been seeing recently, NW of the city. No luck at all, though I did see a Moose and this pair of Bluebirds, all of which helped lessen the disappointment of not finding an owl. The Moose had been feeding near the edge of the road when I spotted it. A minute or two later, it crossed the road and began feeding there. Suddenly, it took off across that road, leaping over a barbed-wire fence to the safety of the forest. Took me by surprise until I noticed a couple of cows (bulls) that had walked up behind the Moose and spooked it! I almost watched disaster, as the Moose got its leg briefly tangled in the barbed-wire as it leapt and almost stumbled.
The only other thing that I found to photograph were cows, so on my way home, I took the long way and came back via backroads SW of the city. Drove a couple of roads that were new to me and was glad to find a wooden structure that I had seen on someone's Facebook page. He had very kindly told me where to look, though I wasn't quite sure which road it was on until I was there. I also called in briefly at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, hoping that I might just be lucky enough to see one particular bird species that I hadn't seen before - out of luck, again,
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
Once again, sleep was more important, so I'm posting really late again today, shortly after noon.
Yesterday morning, 20 April 2015, I got up early to go on a birding walk with friends. I checked the weather forecast for this week and when I saw that rain was expected for four days in a row, starting tomorrow, I changed my mind and went for a long drive NW and SW of the city for the day instead. Left home around 8:45 am and got back about 6:45, driving about 330 km. The day before, I had been out on a day trip to Pine Coulee Reservoir with birding friends, but only got half a dozen very distant, blurry shots of birds.
I just couldn't wait any longer to go and see if I could find one of the Great Gray Owls that a few people had been seeing recently, NW of the city. No luck at all, though I did see a Moose and this pair of Bluebirds, all of which helped lessen the disappointment of not finding an owl. The Moose had been feeding near the edge of the road when I spotted it. A minute or two later, it crossed the road and began feeding there. Suddenly, it took off across that road, leaping over a barbed-wire fence to the safety of the forest. Took me by surprise until I noticed a couple of cows (bulls) that had walked up behind the Moose and spooked it! I almost watched disaster, as the Moose got its leg briefly tangled in the barbed-wire as it leapt and almost stumbled.
The only other thing that I found to photograph were cows, so on my way home, I took the long way and came back via backroads SW of the city. Drove a couple of roads that were new to me and was glad to find a wooden structure that I had seen on someone's Facebook page. He had very kindly told me where to look, though I wasn't quite sure which road it was on until I was there. I also called in briefly at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, hoping that I might just be lucky enough to see one particular bird species that I hadn't seen before - out of luck, again,
In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
Once again, sleep was more important, so I'm posting really late again today, shortly after noon.
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