On a bitterly cold, hoar frosty day
Heritage tree from 1907, at Carburn Park
Hoping for food
Enjoying the morning sun
Winter chill
Little red barn on the prairie
Get well, Rachel
Christmas remnants
Old barns in heavy frost
Pine Grosbeak in pretty light
Red-breasted Merganser, juvenile male
Shoo Fly / Nicandra physalodes
A tiny owl from the past
Red-sided Garter Snake scales
A different style
Reflection through the fog
Farm cat watching for farm mice
Rusty Blackbird
White beauty
Avenue of trees at Baker Park
Cosy little birdhouse
A friendly visitor
A new find on a bitterly cold day
The donkeys with reflector eyes
Desolate
A fine old barn
The gathering
So pretty against the snow
Farm friends
Pine Grosbeak female
Foothills and mountains
A typical pose for the White-breasted Nuthatch
Coturnix quail?
Another day closer to spring
Outlined in frost
Keeper of the farmyard
In the bleak midwinter
Pine Grosbeaks adding colour to our winter
Golden Eagle along the fenceline
Pine Grosbeak / Pinicola enucleator
A road less travelled
Each one different from the others
Fiona - forever in our hearts
Guarding the barn
One of five White-tailed Deer
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A splash of much-needed red


All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 9 January 2016, when I took part in a Mid-winter Bust-out trip east of the city, led by Terry Korolyk. Eight of us, plus our leader, took part in this day trip - maybe when everyone else saw what the temperature was first thing in the morning (-23C, not counting windchill, which would have made it much colder), they changed their mind about going! Everything was covered in a heavy layer of hoar frost, which turned everywhere into a beautiful winter wonderland. The sky was blue - what more could anyone want? Well, a few birds would be nice, of course : )
The highlight of the day was seeing 6 Short-eared Owls, in addition to 6 Snowy Owls (7 seen by the people in the other cars, when we split up at the end of the day). As a photographer, though, the only birds that were close enough were two of the Snowy Owls - the one in my previous photo and another one that was even further away. All the Short-eared Owls were tiny dots in the landscape. I don't know how anyone was able to spot them! We could have driven closer to this Snowy, but chose to keep our distance, meaning that 48x zoom and cropping were needed. I'm amazed (and thankful) that this photo came out OK, as most of the photos I took of anything yesterday are so blurry and not fit for use. Zoomed in shots, especially, suffered from heat distortion - and distorted they are!
Our meeting place was right across the city; a drive that I never enjoy at all, but I really didn't want to miss this outing. Some of the roads we travelled were ones that I had driven several times before. Most of the time, though, I had no idea where we were : )
As always happens on any day that I go anywhere, I turned my camera lens to anything else of interest/beauty, even more so when the birds are way, way off in the distance. I know this is not the most photogenic barn, and it's obviously more modern, but the splash of red in an otherwise white world meant that it just had to be photographed.
I will add the list of bird species seen that Andrew H. compiled. Many thanks for driving some of us. Thank you, Terry - it was a great day and much appreciated, as always! You did an excellent write-up of the whole day (not posted here).
3 Canada Goose
4 Rough-legged Hawk
6 Snowy Owl
6 Short-eared Owl
1 Downy Woodpecker
34 Black-billed Magpie
46 Common Raven
73 Horned Lark
1 Black-capped Chickadee
75 Snow Bunting
511 Common Redpoll
1 Hoary Redpoll
32 House Sparrow
The highlight of the day was seeing 6 Short-eared Owls, in addition to 6 Snowy Owls (7 seen by the people in the other cars, when we split up at the end of the day). As a photographer, though, the only birds that were close enough were two of the Snowy Owls - the one in my previous photo and another one that was even further away. All the Short-eared Owls were tiny dots in the landscape. I don't know how anyone was able to spot them! We could have driven closer to this Snowy, but chose to keep our distance, meaning that 48x zoom and cropping were needed. I'm amazed (and thankful) that this photo came out OK, as most of the photos I took of anything yesterday are so blurry and not fit for use. Zoomed in shots, especially, suffered from heat distortion - and distorted they are!
Our meeting place was right across the city; a drive that I never enjoy at all, but I really didn't want to miss this outing. Some of the roads we travelled were ones that I had driven several times before. Most of the time, though, I had no idea where we were : )
As always happens on any day that I go anywhere, I turned my camera lens to anything else of interest/beauty, even more so when the birds are way, way off in the distance. I know this is not the most photogenic barn, and it's obviously more modern, but the splash of red in an otherwise white world meant that it just had to be photographed.
I will add the list of bird species seen that Andrew H. compiled. Many thanks for driving some of us. Thank you, Terry - it was a great day and much appreciated, as always! You did an excellent write-up of the whole day (not posted here).
3 Canada Goose
4 Rough-legged Hawk
6 Snowy Owl
6 Short-eared Owl
1 Downy Woodpecker
34 Black-billed Magpie
46 Common Raven
73 Horned Lark
1 Black-capped Chickadee
75 Snow Bunting
511 Common Redpoll
1 Hoary Redpoll
32 House Sparrow
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