A birder's first time
Dark chocolate bunny with milk chocolate eyes
Feather finery of a female Mallard
Wood Ducks on a local pond
A beauty from mushroom season
Waiting for me
European Starling / Sturnus vulgaris
Growing in the cracks
Standing in sunshine
Peregrine Falcon talons
Hypomyces luteovirens, syn. Hypomyces tulasneanus
Ferruginous Hawk
Rare Long-tailed Duck
Eye contact with a very distant Moose
Under a stormy sky
Osprey on the hunt
Shingled/Scaly Hedgehog fungus / Sarcodon imbricat…
A brief close encounter
Hiding in the shadows
Simplicity
A blast from the past
Two winters ago
Exshaw Legion memorial
Snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris
Growing on a tree trunk
When storms blow in
The second owl
A colourful walk through the woods
A gleam in the eye
A splash of different colour
American Tree Sparrow
An old favourite
Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Silos/grain terminal and old elevator, Herronton
01 The glory of fall
02 Hidden in the clouds
3 Nature's artwork
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
02 Two young Moose
Mariposa Lily
Colours and textures
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
Rough-legged Hawk on a hay bale
One of four Moose seen yesterday
The beauty of fall
See also...
See more...Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
287 visits
A mountain Bluebird with 'bling'


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...
It was the annual May Species Count on the weekend of 28 and 29 May 2016. My group's Saturday Count was down in Fish Creek Provincial Park at Votier's Flats and Shaw's Meadow. On the Sunday, our usual small group (six of us in two cars) covered an area SW of the city - which happens to be one of my favourite and most visited areas. We had a great day, stopping at a few wetlands and calling in at Barb Castell's acreage where she usually has amazing birds to show us. Several special species were missing, but we were delighted to watch a teeny Ruby-throated Hummingbird. We stopped at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park and ate our picnic lunches and then did a short walk to look for Calypso Orchids. I took too long to try and get a sharp photo of a group of fungi that I missed the orchids, but that was OK, as I have seen them a few times before.
After the Count came to an end, I drove a few of the back roads again, taking a few more shots of the Wilson's Snipe and Mountain Bluebirds, including the male in this photo.
I will add the final list from our leader - 70 bird species seen, wow! - in a comment box below.
"The count goes May 28-29: Calgary birders have been out in force every May since 1979, contributing to a broad census of the constantly changing patterns of bird distributions in North America. Last year (2015) we found 212 species. The count circle is the same as previous years, extending from Olds to Nanton, and from Exshaw to Standard, and includes a variety of environments." From NatureCalgary.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id
www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...
It was the annual May Species Count on the weekend of 28 and 29 May 2016. My group's Saturday Count was down in Fish Creek Provincial Park at Votier's Flats and Shaw's Meadow. On the Sunday, our usual small group (six of us in two cars) covered an area SW of the city - which happens to be one of my favourite and most visited areas. We had a great day, stopping at a few wetlands and calling in at Barb Castell's acreage where she usually has amazing birds to show us. Several special species were missing, but we were delighted to watch a teeny Ruby-throated Hummingbird. We stopped at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park and ate our picnic lunches and then did a short walk to look for Calypso Orchids. I took too long to try and get a sharp photo of a group of fungi that I missed the orchids, but that was OK, as I have seen them a few times before.
After the Count came to an end, I drove a few of the back roads again, taking a few more shots of the Wilson's Snipe and Mountain Bluebirds, including the male in this photo.
I will add the final list from our leader - 70 bird species seen, wow! - in a comment box below.
"The count goes May 28-29: Calgary birders have been out in force every May since 1979, contributing to a broad census of the constantly changing patterns of bird distributions in North America. Last year (2015) we found 212 species. The count circle is the same as previous years, extending from Olds to Nanton, and from Exshaw to Standard, and includes a variety of environments." From NatureCalgary.
sasithorn_s, Pam J have particularly liked this photo
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2025
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Canada Goose-45
Gadwall-2
American Wigeon-6
Mallard-29.
Blue-winged Teal-16
Cinnamon Teal-8
Northern Shoveler-3
Green-winged Teal-4
Redhead-6
Ring-necked Duck-12
Lesser Scaup-29
Bufflehead-5
Hooded Merganser-1 f.
Ruddy Duck-11
Ring-necked Pheasant-3
Great Blue Heron-1
Swainson’s Hawk-2
Red-tailed Hawk-6
American Kestrel-2
Sora-6
American Coot-10
Killdeer-5
Spotted Sandpiper-8
Wilson’s Snipe-10
Wilson’s Phalarope-4
Black Tern-22
Mourning Dove-1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-1
Red-naped Sapsucker-1
Black-backed Woodpecker-2
Northern Flicker-3
Western Wood-Pewee-5
Least Flycatcher-6
Easterm Phoebe-1
Easterm Kingbird-1
Gray Jay-2
Clark’s Nutcracker-1
Black-billed Magpie-6
American Crow-4
Common Raven-5
Tree Swallow-86
Cliff Swallow-6
Barn Swallow-2
Black-capped Chickadee-3
Mountain Chickadee-1
Boreal Chickadee-2
Red-breasted Nuthatch-2
House Wren-9
Mountain Bluebird-29
American Robin-13
Gray Catbird-2
European Starling-8
Tennessee Warbler-11
Yellow Warbler-6
Cape May Warbler-1
Chipping Sparrow-8
Clay-coloured Sparrow-13
Savannah Sparrow-4
Song Sparrow-1
Lincoln’s Sparrow-4
White-throated Sparrow-1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-7
Black-headed Grosbeak-1, or hybrid.
Red-winged Blackbird-178
Western Meadowlark-2
Yellow-headed Blackbird-2
Brewer’s Blackbird-7
Brown-headed Cowbird-6
Baltimore Oriole-4
American Goldfinch-5
Richardson’s Ground Squirrel-11
Muskrat-1
Mule Deer-1
White-tailed Deer-4
Boreal Chorus Frog-10+
Green Comma Butterfly-2
Western White-1
Tiger Swallowtail-2
Gus Yaki"
A beauty !
Admired in ~ I ♥ Nature
Vu et admiré/Admired in
www.ipernity.com/group/nous.-nature
Vu et admiré/Admired in
www.ipernity.com/group/nous.-nature
Sign-in to write a comment.