Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Western Meadowlark

On this day, 26 July 2015, 22 of us drove out to Marsland Basin, E of Calgary. This beautiful wetland belongs to our friend, Lyn, and her partner - they have a house and yard that overlooks the wetland. This was the second time that I had visited the area, the first being on 28 June 2015. Each time, we have to sign a small guestbook. Also, everyone who can is asked to please submit a list of species seen to eBird. The birds on the water are very distant, so you need binoculars (which I don't have) and even better, a spotting scope. Really, they are too far away for photos, though I can get a distant shot with my point-and-shoot camera set at 48x zoom and then cropped. However, we did see 53 bird species there. Like last time, I took a long look over the lake and then wandered round Lyn's property, this time finding a mushroom or two, a beautiful moth, a Thistle or two, their two donkeys, a House Wren, an Eastern Kingbird, a Mourning Dove, and a family of Western Kingbirds (that were just about impossible to see as they flitted in amongst the high branches. The highlight of the visit for many of us was seeing a very, very distant family of American Badgers that were in a neighbour's field (so, private land), digging for prey (probably the nearby Richardson's Ground Squirrels). There are four family members, though some of us only saw three. I think I have only ever seen a Badger three times before in 37 years, the last one being on 11 June 2012, on one of Don Stiles' annual Mountain Bluebird outings. The General Status of the American Badger in Alberta is Sensitive. More detailed Status is "Data Deficient" - not enough current information to determine its status. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_badger After our visit to the Marsland Basin, friends Dorothy and Stephen drove two of us back to Calgary again, travelling the roads slowly so that we could see a number of perched Swainson's Hawks, and a Meadowlark with mouth full of insects to feed to her babies. We also called in briefly at Weed Lake, closer to Calgary. Weed Lake is a popular place with birders, though I have still never driven out there myself. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/western_meadowlark/id Thanks so much, Stephen, for the safe ride there and back. As always, hugely appreciated! For a list of the 53 species of bird that were seen yesterday morning, look under the Badger family photo. flic.kr/p/wygV8B

Yesterday, 4 May 2015, we finally had a day without strong winds. I decided that it might be a good day to drive SE of the city again to see what I could find. The last few times I had been there recently, the wind had been so strong, making it almost impossible to take photos. The very first thing I saw when I reached the gravel road off 23 at Frank Lake, was this beautiful Western Meadowlark. I only see one occasionally, though yesterday I did see a second one later in the afternoon. "The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, where flocks strut and feed on seeds and insects." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Meadowlark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_meadowlark Link to ebird map of sightings, year-round, 2011-2015: ebird.org/ebird/map/wesmea?bmo=1&emo=12&byr=2011&... At, or near, the bird blind/hide, there were a few Eared Grebes, Coots, Canada Geese, numerous and noisy Franklin's Gulls, a Ruddy Duck, a few Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, several Western Grebes (further away and barely within camera range) and American Avocets. White-faced Ibis were either down on the ground in the distance or flying around, mixed in with the Franklin's Gulls. After visiting the blind, I drove around the lake, seeing the second Meadowlark and, to my delight, a pair of Long-billed Curlews that were extremely well-camouflaged with the stubble and dried grasses in a field. I'm sure I have seen one before, probably through someone's scope, but never really "seen" one properly. Managed to get a few shots, though the birds don't show up very clearly. Along one of the roads, friend Greg passed me, going in the same direction. He stopped briefly and said he was on his way to help mutual friend, George. A few hours later, I saw a photo on Facebook of the predicament that George had found himself in. When I say his vehicle was stuck in mud, I really mean STUCK, lol! Not sure how he managed to find such wet, muddy ground, as everywhere else is bone dry. Well done, George! The things we birders/photographers sometimes go through to get photos! At the end of the lake drive, I decided to drive north on the Blackie road, stopping at one of the sloughs there, where I was able to get photos of the American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts (seen in one of the three photos I posted today. So, all in all, an enjoyable, quite rewarding afternoon, spent in one of my favourite areas.

Yesterday, 26 April 2015, was spent with a fair-sized group of friends, driving out to Frank Lake. The weather was beautiful and, for once, not windy. Frank Lake and the surrounding area is one of my favourite places to spend a day or half a day. On a trip like the one yesterday, there are a lot of the birds that I don't see, as I don't use binoculars, and my interest is not to see as many species as possible, but to hopefully come across a few birds close enough to photograph. As with this photo, most photos tend to be barely within camera range. However, I don't see Western Meadowlarks very often, so I do like to add the occasional, usually distant, image to my Birds of Alberta set(s). "The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, where flocks strut and feed on seeds and insects." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Meadowlark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_meadowlark I will add the final list of the 51 species seen, complied by our Leader, Tony Timmons. Probably not of much interest to most people, but it does help my memory. Many thanks, as always, Tony, for a very successful and most enjoyable day! Really appreciate your giving up a precious weekend day to take us out there. "The birds put on a spectacular show for the 19 participants on the Frank Lake trip today. We tallied 51 species. Expected species were present in pretty good numbers; most noteworthy being American Avocet (200+) and White-faced Ibis (120). Thousands of ducks were on the Lake. Thanks to Dan Parliament and Al Borgardt for scoping birds and sharing sightings with the group. Before the start of the trip,Rose Painter spotted two Long-billed Curlew near Blackie. Later in the day, We searched for the birds without success. Eared Grebe 250 Western Grebe 20 Double-crested Cormorant 25 Black-crowned Night Heron 1 White-faced Ibis 120 Canada Goose Swan sp. 12 Gadwall American Wigeon Mallard Blue-winged Teal Cinnamon Teal Green-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser 2 f. Ruddy Duck Northern Harrier 3 Swainson's Hawk 3 Gray Partridge 4 American Coot Killdeer 5 Black-necked Stilt 10 American Avocet 200+ Greater Yellowlegs 5 Lesser Yellowlegs 17 Franklin's Gull 1000 Bonaparte's Gull 10 Ring-billed Gull 5 California Gull 20 Rock Pigeon Great Horned Owl ( 3 ad. + 3 owlets ) Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow 60 Bank Swallow 1 Marsh Wren 4 American Robin European Starling Red-winged Blackbird Western Meadowlark 5 Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird 1 House Sparrow Tony Timmons"

This is a fully zoomed image and cropped. There was little I could do with the composition, but I liked the distant splash of colour from this beautiful Western Meadowlark. ""The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, where flocks strut and feed on seeds and insects." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Meadowlark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_meadowlark The photo was taken on 5 April 2015, when I woke up to a winter scene, as it had snowed overnight. I wasn't sure if the birding outing would be cancelled, but fortunately we went ahead as planned. The whole area at and around Frank Lake is one of my favourite places. It was snowing on and off during the day and visibility was not very good. Pretty well all the birds we saw were distant or very distant, as usual when I go on one of these outings. A very enjoyable day as always, though, in an interesting place and with good company. I will add the leader, Tony Timmons' list of our sightings, below, mainly for my own memory. Thanks for the great day, Tony! "Five participants for the Easter Sunday, Nature Calgary Trip to Frank Lake. We found 47 species. Best sighting for the group was an adult Golden Eagle perched on the ground close to the road, (along 184st.E and west of the intersection with 594 Ave.E. on route to Basin3) A Eurasian Wigeon was along the access road to Basin 2,and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers were spotted in Basin 1. Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan 15 Tundra Swan 2 Eurasian Wigeon 1 American Wigeon Mallard Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Barrow's Goldeneye 1m Common Merganser 5 Hooded Merganser 8 Red-breasted Merganser 2 Ruddy Duck 1 Bald Eagle 1 ad. Golden Eagle 1 ad. Northern Harrier 7 Red-tailed Hawk 2 American Kestrel 2 Gray Partridge 8 American Coot Killdeer 2 American Avocet 2 Franklin"s Gull 8 Ring-billed Gull 10 California Gull 100 Rock Pigeon Great Horned Owl 3 ad. Northern Shrike 1 Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Horned Lark 25 American Robin European Starling Dark-eyed Junco 1 Lapland Longspur (small flock overhead 5-6) Red-winged Blackbird 10 Yellow-headed Blackbird 5 Western Meadowlark 6 House Sparrow Tony Timmons"

I rarely see Western Meadowlarks, so I'm always happy when I do spot one. I hoped it might turn around to face me, but no, I was out of luck. Fortunately, it did turn its head so that at least a bit of bright yellow could be seen. On 28 July 2014, I drove along some of the dusty, gravel backroads SE of the city. It was another really hot day, so I just had to get out of the house and into the air-conditioning of my vehicle. Some of the fields were still pure gold, but others seemed to have already lost their colour. Birds seen that afternoon/evening included a Barn Swallow, a young Marsh Wren that was enjoying a dust bath, a single young Sora, several Coots including one young one, two or three different species of shore bird (will eventually post photos, but I may not have the IDs), American Avocets, a couple of Swainson's Hawks, a lone White-faced Ibis on one of the small sloughs in the area. and this Western Meadowlark. "The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, where flocks strut and feed on seeds and insects." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/western_meadowlark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_meadowlark

This was a very lucky shot, taken rapidly through the car window, just in time before the bird flew. It had been a long time since I had seen a Western Meadowlark, so I was thrilled to bits when I spotted this one. It had been feeding in the dried grasses along the side of the gravel backroad and then flew to a fence post. The photo was taken on 14 April 2014, when I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help. Our drive was not to see one kind of thing only. Both of us love to photograph anything beautiful or interesting. Naturally, birds were on our wish list, too, and we were lucky to come across several different species, including this beautiful Western Meadowlark. The very first place I drove to, was to see a Great Horned Owl nest. Those who know me won't be at all surprised to hear that I couldn't find the nest that I had intended going to, lol! I was so confident driving to where I "knew" it would be, yet there was no sign of it. Next time I go back to that area, I will have to have a longer look. However, we were so happy to see the nest we did find. There were two very young ones in it, snuggled up to Mom. Other birds seen included a Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Shovelers, Pintail ducks, and lots of elegant Trumpeter Swans which looked so beautiful in the sunshine, with the distant Rocky Mountains in the background. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Meadowlark www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/western_meadowlark/id

Overnight, winter returned here and the steadily falling snow looks like it is here to stay. Two days ago, it was a glorious spring day, with temperatures up to 13C. This was a very lucky shot, taken rapidly through the car window, just in time before the bird disappeared out of sight behind the front of the car. It had been a long time since I had seen a Western Meadowlark, so I was thrilled to bits when I spotted this one, feeding in the dried grasses along the side of the gravel backroad. I had to crop the photo from the left, as the bird's bill was this close to the right hand edge of the shot. Almost missed it, ha. The photo was taken two days ago, on 14 April 2014, when I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help. Once we got quite close, the problem thankfully went away. Our drive was not to see one kind of thing only. Both of us love to photograph anything beautiful or interesting. Naturally, birds were on our wish list, too, and we were lucky to come across several different species, including this beautiful Western Meadowlark. The very first place I drove to, was to see a Great Horned Owl nest. Those who know me won't be at all surprised to hear that I couldn't find the nest that I had intended going to, lol! I was so confident driving to where I "knew" it would be, yet there was no sign of it. Next time I go back to that area, I will have to have a longer look. However, we were so happy to see the nest we did find. There were two very young ones in it, snuggled up to Mom (photo also posted today). Other birds seen included a Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Shovelers, Pintail ducks, and lots of elegant Swans which looked so beautiful in the sunshine with the distant Rocky Mountains in the background. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Meadowlark www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/western_meadowlark/id flic.kr/p/naUfAS

I was thrilled today to have the chance to get a few photos of this beautiful Western Meadowlark (who wouldn't let me get any closer)! A friend was going to Confluence Park and asked if I'd like to go along, too. So, thank you, D! Very much appreciated and enjoyed. Despite the blue sky seen in this image, a short while later the sky turned black, thunder rolled and lightning flashed and very heavy, cold rain absolutely drenched us both, LOL!

This grassland bird has the most beautiful song! One of these days, hopefully I will get to see another one with its breast facing me so that the bright yellow can be seen properly.