Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Zenaida macroura

Wow, I believe I missed posting any photos the last three days! I was out on 7th, 8th and 11th July, and the trip on 11th was a long, 12-hour day that was totally exhausting! That day, I made myself drive south, almost to the US/Canada border, to visit the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre. This is one of the long drives I make myself do each year now, to make sure I don't lose the courage to do the drive. It took me almost 6 hours to get there, as I kept stopping to take photos : ) In fact, I wasn't sure I was going to make it as far as my destination, or if I did, I might end up driving the last part of my drive home in the dark, which I definitely had to avoid. It was such a great day, though my poor old body was in so much pain the next day or two. A very hot day, too, but beautiful weather. I haven't even started going through my photos from that trip. Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you yesterday, 13 July 2019, while you were out again at your summer trailer at Eagle Lake for the weekend! The five photos posted this morning were taken while sitting on your deck or walking around the edge of the campground. Last year, on our visit, we saw fewer birds than in June 2017. This year, there seemed to be fewer birds than in August last year, but still plenty to keep us happy. With all the rain that we have been having the last few weeks, we were so lucky with the weather yesterday - it was perfect. It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. We had an extra treat of seeing baby Northern Flickers in their cavity and watching a pair of House Sparrows busily feeding their babies right near the deck. Talk about cute! A few kinds of shorebirds were down along the edge of the lake, as usual, including an elegant Black-necked Stilt. I didn't notice any soapsud "icebergs" on the lake this year, but there were a few patches of soapsud foam at the water's edge. The small Hutterite food stand was in the trailer campground again this year. A delightfully friendly lady showed us what she was selling and some of us bought a jar of her strawberry/rhubarb jam. After chatting for quite a while, it was a huge surprise when she insisted on giving us one of her fruit pies to share back at the trailer - delicious, too, I should add. Great to see everyone who went, and we all enjoyed an array of salads and desserts, along with Shirley's Chili, that left me feeling full till the early evening. Many thanks, Anne B, for driving the four of us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated, as always!

On the spur of the moment tonight, I decided that I might just try and get up early tomorrow morning and go for a drive. The smoke from the British Columbia wildfires hasn't been hanging around the last few days, so I really should make the most of a clear day. Rather than post my three photos in the morning, I thought I would post them tonight, to avoid leaving home later than I want. On 21 August 2018, it turned out to be such a great day, with some much-appreciated sightings. I must have spent about 8 or 9 hours driving and almost every inch of my body ached like crazy. Now, each summer, I try and do two or three longer (for me) drives, making sure I don't lose confidence to get there. I left home at 9:00 am, just a bit later than I had hoped. Arrived back home somewhere around 8:30 pm. Weather-wise, it was around 24C, so not too hot. Yes, it was still smokey from the British Columbia wildfires, making distant hills barely visible and deleting mountains from view, but it didn't have too much effect on closer photography. Unfortunately, this Bison is a domestic animal, on a farm. A Prairie Bison? I have seen wild Bison and I do have photos of them in the wild. Couldn't resist stopping to take a few shots of these animals. It was also a good day for Hawks, seeing three on the way south and a few on the way home. I almost missed two of the hawks, as the hay bale was way out in a large field. At first, I thought there were three hawks together, but when I stopped to take a few photos, I realized that there were only two - one looked almost like two hawks close together, but then I saw that it had its wings mantled. I guess it wanted to make sure that the second hawk behind it couldn't steal any of the food from it. A Horned Lark, a Vesper Sparrow, a Mourning Dove, and a Western Meadowlark gave me the chance for a photo or two and, to my delight, a hawk I spotted way in the distance turned out to be a Ferruginous Hawk. A happy sighting, as they tend to be few and far between. My actual destination was the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, near Lethbridge. I know some people feel that photographing birds that are not out in the wild is cheating. I kind of agree, though I think it's fine as long as someone says where it was taken. I have seen and photographed many wild owls in their natural habitat, but I still love seeing them at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale - up close and personal.

This photo was taken yesterday afternoon, 16 August 2014, SE of Calgary, near Frank Lake. I ended up being out all day, spending three hours in the morning birding with a group of friends at Carburn Park in the city. It's the time of year when the various tiny Warblers are passing through the city again. Then, Flickr/birder/photography friend, Pam, asked if I wanted to go SE of the city to the Frank Lake area. We had a fun afternoon, with a few reasonable bird sightings. The clouds were amazing, though somehow I didn't manage to get any good photos of them. Seeing them reflected in the lake was perhaps the best place. Spotted this Mourning Dove along one of the backroads. I don't remember ever seeing a Mourning Dove perched on a fence post before - usually, they are perched on a very high wire when I see them. Thanks, Pam, for suggesting a drive to one of my favourite areas! Hope your photos came out better than mine, lol!! "A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/mourning_dove/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove

There was a family of several of these beautiful Mourning Doves the other day, 16 July 2014, along one of the gravel roads just within the SW city limits. I've never yet seen one perched on a fence post, but always way up on a high wire. Not as sharp as I would have liked. "A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America. The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Every year hunters harvest more than 20 million, but the Mourning Dove remains one of our most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million. The oldest known Mourning Dove was 31 years 4 months old." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/mourning_dove/lifehistory Temperatures got up to around 32C or 33C three days ago. My desk thermometer said it was 32C in my computer room, so I knew I just had to get out for a while, to enjoy the air-conditioning in my car. The backroads SW of the city come in handy when I don't want to spend too much time on a drive, and I can usually find something of interest to photograph. Didn't see a whole lot this time, though I did see a Swainson's Hawk perched on a high power pole and the gorgeous Wilson's Snipe that I posted the day before yesterday. Think the Hawk must have been the same one that I have photographed before. It was just so laid back, letting me walk past it along the gravel road, so that I wasn't looking into the sun. Now if only it would perch on a fence post instead : ) Today, the sun is shining, but there are some grey clouds up there. I predict rain - the reason is that yesterday, I washed my car for the first time in several months, and after I've done this, it almost always rains (or snows). My arms and shoulders have been just too painful to do this before, but I managed OK yesterday. I have two long drives coming up in the next little while (both of which I've never done before - yikes!), so I wanted to get rid of the awful build-up of dried mud and gravel dust. Driving the gravel backroads, which I love to do, means that I rarely have a clean car :)

After a walk at Beaverdam Flats on 25 February 2013, we drove a few streets away to see if we could find any of the four Mourning Doves that someone has in her garden. This one was hiding deep within the dense branches of a Spruce tree on the other side of the road. I only manage to get a cropped, grainy shot, but it still shows the beautiful colouring and feather patterns. The "mourning" part of its common name comes from its call. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_Dove Did you know that "all members of the pigeon family (including doves) feed "milk" to their young. It isn't true milk - birds don't have mammary glands - but a nutritious liquid produced by glands in the bird's crop. The chicks insert their bills down the adult's throat to eat the thick liquid." From "Birds of Alberta" by Fisher and Acorn.

A very heavily cropped photo of this Mourning Dove - adding it to my Birds of Alberta set, as I so rarely see these common birds. Photographed when I drove a few backroads SW of Calgary on 23 September 2012. "The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family (Columbidae). The bird is also called the Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also the leading gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and for meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure stems from its prolific breeding: in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods a year. Its plaintive woo-OO-oo-oo-oo call gives the bird its name. The wings can make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing. The bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph). Mourning Doves are light grey and brown and generally muted in color. Males and females are similar in appearance. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents incubate and care for the young. Mourning Doves eat almost exclusively seeds, but the young are fed crop milk by their parents." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_Dove www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/id

LOL, a really, really bad photo of this Mourning Dove, but wanted to add it to my Birds of Alberta Set because I don't yet have a photo in there of this species. After a three-hour walk at Beaverdam Flats yesterday morning, we called in at someone's garden to catch a glimpse of two of these Doves, sitting fairly close together on a branch deep within a huge Spruce tree. There was no way to get a better shot : ) These birds are uncommon to common in Alberta from April to October, so we were lucky to see some overwintering. "A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America." From www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/id .