Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: gravel bar

This morning, I have added 10 images taken at Carburn Park, on 2 July 2019. As keeps happening, I have fallen way behind with editing and posting my photos. This was an evening walk with a group of friends. Though I rarely go on any evening walks, I knew this one would finally get me over to Carburn Park. It's always a delight to see a gathering of American White Pelicans on the Bow River. They like to rest on the gravel bars and either sleep or preen. Such exotic looking birds and they almost look like they don't belong here. Two other things I was happy to see were a scattering of beautiful, pink Sainfoin flowers. This is the only location where I have seen them. The other thrill was when a huge American Beaver swam past us when we were walking along the trail at the edge of the river. We were able to see just how huge it really was when it climbed up on to the bank not many feet away from us, and began eating the tall grass.

This morning, I have added 10 images taken at Carburn Park, on 2 July 2019. As keeps happening, I have fallen way behind with editing and posting my photos. This was an evening walk with a group of friends. Though I rarely go on any evening walks, I knew this one would finally get me over to Carburn Park. It's always a delight to see a gathering of American White Pelicans on the Bow River. They like to rest on the gravel bars and either sleep or preen. Such exotic looking birds and they almost look like they don't belong here. Two other things I was happy to see were a scattering of beautiful, pink Sainfoin flowers. This is the only location where I have seen them. The other thrill was when a huge American Beaver swam past us when we were walking along the trail at the edge of the river. We were able to see just how huge it really was when it climbed up on to the bank not many feet away from us, and began eating the tall grass.

HAPPY EASTER, everyone! It seems an appropriate time to think of all those (around the world) who have been affected by the enormous damage that Notre Dame, Paris, has recently gone through. I can't remember if I have seen this stunning Cathedral twice or three times, many, many years ago. I was reading on the Weather Network this evening that three beehives had been installed in Notre Dame during 2013 as part of a city-wide initiative to boost dwindling bee numbers in the city. Nearly 200,000 bees have been found alive below Notre Dame's main roofing. Having flooded my photostream with Whooping Cranes the last few days, today I am now flooding it again, this time with photos taken while stopping at a rookery during our day boat trip to the Aransas Pass Wetlands. There was a number of different species on this small 'island', but even the Herons alone looked so beautiful in their different positions, I just couldn't post fewer images. I want to remember as much as possible. Usually, when I am lucky enough to ever see a rookery, it is always seen from far, far away, so as not to stress out the nesting birds. This time, we were privileged to see one much closer, from our little boat, the "Lady Lori". What an amazing, fascinating time we spent with the Whooping Cranes a bit earlier in the morning, and then these Herons and Egrets. Thank you, Lori, captain of the Lady Lori boat, for this wonderful experience! Something that will never be forgotten. It was interesting to see the wooden platforms that had been built on the 'island' to replace the natural nesting places for the Herons, that had been destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. It was also nice to see that various species of Egrets were living very comfortably side by side with the Great Blues. This private tour for four friends and myself was arranged in Calgary beforehand. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone! Aransas Bay Birding Charters: texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-... The Whooping Crane family that we watched, with the youngster (colt) learning how to preen and how to catch food, especially from watching Dad, was wonderful. Our presence seemed to have zero affect on these Cranes, as they went about their daily routines. So neat to know that all these Whooping Cranes will fly north to Alberta, my own province, where they will spend the summer. Wise birds, avoiding our many months of brutal winter weather up north! This is a Youtube video that shows the capture of a wild Whooping Crane adult and a tracking device being attached: youtu.be/YtVt842trpo "Before human interference, there were believed to be 15,000 to 20,000 whooping cranes, which fell to roughly 1,400 in 1860 and then plummeted to an all-time low of 15 birds in 1941. All signs pointed towards the end of the whooping crane. The 15 surviving whooping cranes all belonged to one flock that migrated between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Conservationists worked with local, federal, and international governments to protect the flock and encourage breeding. Their efforts paid off slowly as the numbers reached 57 by 1970 and 214 by 2005." www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Wh... "Cellular Tracking Technologies is privileged to be working with the scientists employed by both the US and Canadian federal governments in the international team effort to monitor and protect the last remaining natural population of the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). The so-called “Wood Buffalo-Aransas” population is the only remaining group of Whooping Cranes that has continued to nest, migrate, and overwinter in the traditional areas where they were first documented by Western ornithologists. The entire Whooping Crane species consists of only 437 wild individuals among four populations, three of which were artificially reared and reintroduced to the wild, plus 162 individuals in captivity (as of 2011). However, the only surviving remnant of the naturally-occurring Whooping Crane population is the Wood Buffalo-Aransas flock, consisting of only 283 individuals (as of the winter of 2011-12). This is the only group of Whooping Cranes that has managed to continually pass on the traditional ways of life of this species, in an unbroken chain of chick-rearing and parenting by birds that can live more than 30 years in the wild. The vital nesting grounds lie in the vast Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada. The park is an immense area, a sprawling 17,300 square miles (44,807 km²), spanning northeastern Alberta into the southern Northwest Territories. Amazingly, Wood Buffalo National Park is larger than nine US states. The equally vital wintering grounds lie in southern Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. In winter, Whooping Cranes are seafood aficionados, preying on blue crabs and clams in the brackish Gulf Coast marshes. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, near Rockport, TX, is one of the few areas of protected public property where people can reliably visit and expect to see these rare and special birds. This is also the exact area where Hurricane Harvey came ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm on 26 August 2017, with sustained winds of 130 mph (209 km/h). Hurricane Harvey went on to set records for both the astounding amounts of rainfall in the Houston metropolitan area, as well as the cost of the damage inflicted to human structures. The storm is currently tied with 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone to hit the United States. Luckily, the Whooping Crane population was still up in Canada when the storm hit." From link below. celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/

HAPPY EASTER, everyone! It seems an appropriate time to think of all those (around the world) who have been affected by the enormous damage that Notre Dame, Paris, has recently gone through. I can't remember if I have seen this stunning Cathedral twice or three times, many, many years ago. I was reading on the Weather Network this evening that three beehives had been installed in Notre Dame during 2013 as part of a city-wide initiative to boost dwindling bee numbers in the city. Nearly 200,000 bees have been found alive below Notre Dame's main roofing. Having flooded my photostream with Whooping Cranes the last few days, today I am now flooding it again, this time with photos taken while stopping at a rookery during our day boat trip to the Aransas Pass Wetlands. There was a number of different species on this small 'island', but even the Herons alone looked so beautiful in their different positions, I just couldn't post fewer images. I want to remember as much as possible. Usually, when I am lucky enough to ever see a rookery, it is always seen from far, far away, so as not to stress out the nesting birds. This time, we were privileged to see one much closer, from our little boat, the "Lady Lori". What an amazing, fascinating time we spent with the Whooping Cranes a bit earlier in the morning, and then these Herons and Egrets. Thank you, Lori, captain of the Lady Lori boat, for this wonderful experience! Something that will never be forgotten. It was interesting to see the wooden platforms that had been built on the 'island' to replace the natural nesting places for the Herons, that had been destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. It was also nice to see that various species of Egrets were living very comfortably side by side with the Great Blues. This private tour for four friends and myself was arranged in Calgary beforehand. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone! Aransas Bay Birding Charters: texasbirdingphotos.net/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=aransas-... The Whooping Crane family that we watched, with the youngster (colt) learning how to preen and how to catch food, especially from watching Dad, was wonderful. Our presence seemed to have zero affect on these Cranes, as they went about their daily routines. So neat to know that all these Whooping Cranes will fly north to Alberta, my own province, where they will spend the summer. Wise birds, avoiding our many months of brutal winter weather up north! This is a Youtube video that shows the capture of a wild Whooping Crane adult and a tracking device being attached: youtu.be/YtVt842trpo "Before human interference, there were believed to be 15,000 to 20,000 whooping cranes, which fell to roughly 1,400 in 1860 and then plummeted to an all-time low of 15 birds in 1941. All signs pointed towards the end of the whooping crane. The 15 surviving whooping cranes all belonged to one flock that migrated between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Conservationists worked with local, federal, and international governments to protect the flock and encourage breeding. Their efforts paid off slowly as the numbers reached 57 by 1970 and 214 by 2005." www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Birds/Wh... "Cellular Tracking Technologies is privileged to be working with the scientists employed by both the US and Canadian federal governments in the international team effort to monitor and protect the last remaining natural population of the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). The so-called “Wood Buffalo-Aransas” population is the only remaining group of Whooping Cranes that has continued to nest, migrate, and overwinter in the traditional areas where they were first documented by Western ornithologists. The entire Whooping Crane species consists of only 437 wild individuals among four populations, three of which were artificially reared and reintroduced to the wild, plus 162 individuals in captivity (as of 2011). However, the only surviving remnant of the naturally-occurring Whooping Crane population is the Wood Buffalo-Aransas flock, consisting of only 283 individuals (as of the winter of 2011-12). This is the only group of Whooping Cranes that has managed to continually pass on the traditional ways of life of this species, in an unbroken chain of chick-rearing and parenting by birds that can live more than 30 years in the wild. The vital nesting grounds lie in the vast Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada. The park is an immense area, a sprawling 17,300 square miles (44,807 km²), spanning northeastern Alberta into the southern Northwest Territories. Amazingly, Wood Buffalo National Park is larger than nine US states. The equally vital wintering grounds lie in southern Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. In winter, Whooping Cranes are seafood aficionados, preying on blue crabs and clams in the brackish Gulf Coast marshes. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, near Rockport, TX, is one of the few areas of protected public property where people can reliably visit and expect to see these rare and special birds. This is also the exact area where Hurricane Harvey came ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm on 26 August 2017, with sustained winds of 130 mph (209 km/h). Hurricane Harvey went on to set records for both the astounding amounts of rainfall in the Houston metropolitan area, as well as the cost of the damage inflicted to human structures. The storm is currently tied with 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone to hit the United States. Luckily, the Whooping Crane population was still up in Canada when the storm hit." From link below. celltracktech.com/portfolio/whooping-cranes/

Yesterday, 2 September 2015, I made myself go on a birding walk with friends at Carburn Park. I tend to miss most of the birding and botany walks and I find it even harder to push myself out the front door when there are far fewer things to see and photograph as we head into fall. Glad I went yesterday, though, as I would have missed seeing this group of beautiful American White Pelicans, gathered on a gravel bar in the middle of the Bow River. I would also have missed a distant Merlin, perched near the top of a tall snag, and Ospreys flying high over the river - one was carrying a fish in its talons. A few Double-crested Cormorants were flying along the river or standing on a large tree trunk (?) in the river. Our temperature got down to 5C last night and it's only 12C just after 10:30 this morning. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days.