Vole brains for her afternoon snack
Common Redpoll
The beauty of Lake Louise
Primula denticulata / Drumstick Primula
A friendly face in Weaselhead
Common Redpoll in the forest
Sweet little poser
Downy Woodpecker
One day closer to spring
Matching colours
A fence without an owl
European Pasque Flower / Pulsatilla vulgaris
Pine Grosbeak / Pinicola enucleator
Wearing a heavy coat of hoar frost
Beware those icy fingers
One of my favourite birds to photograph
A great winter for Pine Grosbeaks
A quick drive-by shot
Yesterday's treat
Dainty little Common Redpoll
Rent a canoe at Emerald Lake
Much better than a utility pole
Eurasian Collared-Dove / Streptopelia decaocto
On a distant fence post
Rough-legged Hawk
The old and the new
Common Redpolls
Common Redpoll / Acanthis flammea
Emerald Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Shepard Energy Centre, east of Calgary, Alberta
Vibrant
Hiding
The best colour to see in winter
Winter wonderland with a bonus
Busy little bee
Common Loon
Emerald Lake
Chateau Lake Louise and ice castle
Summer greens
Home of the Snowshoe Hare
A winter walk
Winter beauty
Snow, snow and more snow
Just in time
Persian Cornflower / Centaurea dealbata?
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Winter on the prairies


On 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 for some of the time - 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 and even they were quite a long way from us. All the Short-eared Owls were tiny dots in the landscape. I don't know how anyone was able to spot them!
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. The splash of pink in an otherwise white world meant that that this distant barn just had to be photographed. Unfortunately, the image was very distorted due to heat haze distortion and was only fit to be deleted. So, I tried putting it through a filter in post-processing and quite liked the result. Most of the photos I took of anything yesterday are so blurry and not fit for use. Zoomed in shots, especially, suffered from the heat distortion - and distorted they are!
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 and even they were quite a long way from us. All the Short-eared Owls were tiny dots in the landscape. I don't know how anyone was able to spot them!
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. The splash of pink in an otherwise white world meant that that this distant barn just had to be photographed. Unfortunately, the image was very distorted due to heat haze distortion and was only fit to be deleted. So, I tried putting it through a filter in post-processing and quite liked the result. Most of the photos I took of anything yesterday are so blurry and not fit for use. Zoomed in shots, especially, suffered from the heat distortion - and distorted they are!
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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