Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Cinnamon Teal

The day before yesterday, 24 April 2016, I was out for the day, SE of Calgary around Frank Lake. Finally, after so much glorious, summer-like spring weather, the weather changed for the worse and we had a cool (needed gloves), very overcast day, with light drizzle some of the time. Not good at all for taking photos. We also had a fair bit of desperately needed rain that night. I was especially disappointed with the shots I took of a beautiful Western Meadowlark. Usually, they fly even when they see you in the far distance, but this beauty let me slowly walk quite close to get a number of (very grainy) photos. The quality is awful, but I don't get a chance to photograph Meadowlarks very often, so I did post one yesterday. Eight friends and I had a great day, despite the weather. This is one of my favourite areas amd I just haven't been getting time to drive there myself for quite a long time. We started off at the main gate and drove to the blind/hide area, stopping half way to search for very distant birds. While everyone else had their binoculars pointed over the water, I was slowly walking towards the Meadowlark, who was singing its beautiful song. You can hear them and they sound so close, but their song seems to carry a long way. It kept flying away but each time returned to the same post. I was amazed and delighted that this one let me get so close. If the sun had been shining, it would have been perfect! As usual when we go to Frank Lake, almost all the birds are very distant and pretty impossible to photograph. I did catch a male Red-winged Blackbird perched on a sign - the females have not yet returned here. The other amazing thing was when we had walked from the Frank Lake bird blind over to the water in the other direction, a flock of about 50 Tree Swallows were flying to and from a low tree/shrub, catching the many insects while in flight. Again, while everyone was searching over the water, I gradually made my way to within just a few feet of the bush. Quite a feeling to have so many Tree Swallows circling all the way around you. I have never ever seen so many of them acting like this, so it was a neat experience. This pair of Cinnamon Teal was swimming in a very small slough near Frank Lake, along with a few other birds, including Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets. From this main area, we called in at the usual three other places around the lake. Two were rough roads that led to Basin 2 from the east and the west, and the third was the Ducks Unlimited location at the far southern edge of the lake, at Basin 3. Thanks so much for a great day, Tony, and for the ride all day. I always look forward to the Frank Lake trips. I will add our leader, Tony Timmons' list of species seen, adding that only 6 people walked as far as the Hudsonian Godwits - I was not one of them. "Nine people were on the trip today to Frank Lake. Expected species were present in pretty fair numbers, with the best sighting being 15 Hudsonian Godwits at Basin 3. A flock of 50 Tree Swallows hacking insects and using a small bush for a perch, made for an interesting scene. We had 56 species for the trip Horned Grebe Eared Grebe Western Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron White-faced Ibis (1 seen by Dan P.) Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan Tundra Swan 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 Ruddy Duck Northern Harrier Swainson's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Gray Partridge American Coot Killdeer Black-necked Stilt American Avocet Lesser Yellowlegs Willet Hudsonian Godwit Wilson's Snipe Franklin's Gull Bonaparte's Gull California Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Marsh Wren American Robin European Starling Song Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Red-winged Blackbird Yellow-headed Blackbird Western Meadowlark Brewer's Blackbird House Sparrow"

I only had three photos of Cinnamon Teal on Flickr and all are distant. They are always far away when I very occasionally do happen to see one. This is my closest shot of one and far from good, but will do until I hopefully get a better one. They really are a beautiful duck and their colour is gorgeous when the sun shines on them. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cinnamon_Teal/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_teal Three days ago, on 26 April 2015, I spent the day with a fair-sized group of friends, at 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 this one, there are a lot of the birds that I don't see, as I don't use binoculars. Also, my interest is not to see as many species as possible, but to hopefully come across a few birds close enough to photograph. Fortunately, at the bird blind/hide, a couple of Eared Grebe were within camera range as well as a Coot or two. Every once in a while, they stayed still for a few seconds before continuing their constant swimming and diving. 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. (Anne's note: on this trip one year ago, we found 53 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"

On the rare occasion that I see one of these beautiful Cinnamon Teals, they are always far, far away. This one was a little closer, though I still had to use full zoom and heavy cropping. They are such gorgeous ducks, especially when the sun shines on their plumage. Sun??? Where is the sun? Yet another day of heavy, endless rain. When I think of how we all longed for spring to arrive after seven months of severe winter, lol.

The male Cinnamon Teal is such a gorgeous colour - unfortunately it is yet another bird that is always far, far away! Once again, this photo will have to do until I manage to get a closer shot (in my dreams!). The book, "Birds of Alberta", describes these males as "glowing upon the water like embers". Uncommon in Alberta from April to September, spotted only occasionally.

"Birds of Alberta" book: Male Cinnamon Teals, unlike most male ducks, often stay with their mates through most of the incubation period. Males have sometimes even been seen accompanying their mates and her brood."