Moose in the mountains
Eyes fixed on supper
Picked for demonstration
Entrance to a ranch
Cattle drive
A view from the Porcupine Hills
Old times remembered
Great Gray Owl, focused
Cattle drive - and a few old barns and sheds
Stubble pattern
Northern Hawk Owl
Skull on a fence post
Logging piles in the Porcupine Hills
Upper Kananaskis Lake
Colour among the mosses and lichens
Greenish sky beneath a Chinook Arch
Bark patterns on a cut log
Wild Bergamot
Farm cat
Meadow Vole for a late lunch
Lovable Llama
Showing off its gills
Meerkat deep in thought
Mandrill
Burrowing Owl
Guardian of the path
Humboldt Penguin / Spheniscus humboldti
Chocolate Pansy / Chocolate Soldier / Junonia iphi…
Heart of a Snowdrop
Perch with a good view
Mountain Goat
Mongoose Lemur
Taveta Golden Weaver
Such a beautiful owl
Just needed colour
Peacefully waiting
Dreaming of spring
Great Gray Owl from 2013
Seedhead wisps
Typically Western
Quietly watching, always alert
Decorating the base of a tree
Mountain Chickadee / Poecile gambeli
Yellow-bellied Marmot
A highlight of a bird count
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193 visits
A mix of textures


In Canada, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This happened to be on 10 May in 2015, and my daughter had asked if I wanted to spend the day out with our cameras, looking for birds and old barns and anything else that was interesting and/or beautiful. I couldn't imagine a nicer way to spend this special day : )
We started off locally, visiting a wetland in the SW of the city, where we had good or reasonable views of several different bird species, including Lesser Scaup, Redheads, Red-necked Grebe, a Killdeer, Savannah Sparrow, Wigeon, and a Common Grackle (which I love to see).
From that location, we drove some of my familiar backroads SW of the city, where we saw a Snipe walking across a gravel road (it had such a cute way of walking), another pair of Red-breasted Grebe, a quick glimpse of a Mountain Bluebird, a pair of juvenile Swans (very distant, but I think they were Trumpeters).
Our drive then took us further south than I had ever driven before. We knew we wanted to see an old grain elevator at Azure (near Cayley) and we were able to find it. Drove a few of the country backroads in that whole area, eventually ending up at Silver Lake, where we watched some American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts.
From there, we drove backroads all the way north to Frank Lake, where we saw Eared Grebes, a Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, Coots, Canada Geese (of course!), and RAIN! A lot of the day, apart from when we first started the drive, was overcast and we did have rain on and off. There were some pretty black clouds seen from Frank Lake. Managed to get a few photos of a couple of different Swainson's Hawks during the day. Twice, when we had a great opportunity to get photos, they were disturbed by another vehicle. The driver of one car thought it would be fun to drive past as noisily as he could, of course making the hawks fly.
We called in at the Saskatoon Farm on the way home, hoping to have a delicious meal there, or at least we drove as far as the entrance. The parking lots were full and overflowing and there was a constant stream of new arrivals. No idea if it was because it was Mother's Day, or perhaps there was a wedding being held there. Whatever the reason, we knew that there was no chance of ever getting a table in the restaurant. Thanks for the treat at Tim Horton's, Rachel : ) And thank you for spending the whole day with me - it made a lovely Mother's Day!
We started off locally, visiting a wetland in the SW of the city, where we had good or reasonable views of several different bird species, including Lesser Scaup, Redheads, Red-necked Grebe, a Killdeer, Savannah Sparrow, Wigeon, and a Common Grackle (which I love to see).
From that location, we drove some of my familiar backroads SW of the city, where we saw a Snipe walking across a gravel road (it had such a cute way of walking), another pair of Red-breasted Grebe, a quick glimpse of a Mountain Bluebird, a pair of juvenile Swans (very distant, but I think they were Trumpeters).
Our drive then took us further south than I had ever driven before. We knew we wanted to see an old grain elevator at Azure (near Cayley) and we were able to find it. Drove a few of the country backroads in that whole area, eventually ending up at Silver Lake, where we watched some American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts.
From there, we drove backroads all the way north to Frank Lake, where we saw Eared Grebes, a Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, Coots, Canada Geese (of course!), and RAIN! A lot of the day, apart from when we first started the drive, was overcast and we did have rain on and off. There were some pretty black clouds seen from Frank Lake. Managed to get a few photos of a couple of different Swainson's Hawks during the day. Twice, when we had a great opportunity to get photos, they were disturbed by another vehicle. The driver of one car thought it would be fun to drive past as noisily as he could, of course making the hawks fly.
We called in at the Saskatoon Farm on the way home, hoping to have a delicious meal there, or at least we drove as far as the entrance. The parking lots were full and overflowing and there was a constant stream of new arrivals. No idea if it was because it was Mother's Day, or perhaps there was a wedding being held there. Whatever the reason, we knew that there was no chance of ever getting a table in the restaurant. Thanks for the treat at Tim Horton's, Rachel : ) And thank you for spending the whole day with me - it made a lovely Mother's Day!
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