Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: high wire

Adding a photo to the map has not been working the last two or three days. Images taken on the Nikon P900 have GPS and are automatically placed on the map. Adding my photos taken with the Canon SX60 will have to wait to be added, until his issue has been fixed. These 15 photos were taken early (yet another sunrise) on Day 4, 22 March 2019, a day of birding and also driving from Rockport, where we had stayed for three nights, to Kingsville. Most of these 15 photos were taken at the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. When we arrived at that location, we discovered that only a small area near the beach was open to the public, as other parts had been closed because of damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We had a short walk there, enjoying seeing a tiny - and fast! - Sedge Wren. We also all took photos of a white caterpillar, only to discover when we got back to Calgary, that in fact it was not a caterpillar after all, but two white moths mating : ) Shortly after leaving that area, we stopped to take a quick shot or two of a Loggerhead Shrike, perched high up on a wire. I have seen a Loggerhead Shrike before, here in Alberta, but I had never seen one this close. After we left this area, we stopped at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, on the edge of the Port Aransas Nature Reserve, which is where my next upload of photos were taken. Lots of birds to see, and an Alligator.

This photo was taken with my old FZ200, posted mainly to compare with the photos taken with the Nikon B700 that I am having all the trouble with. I was curious to see the EXIF data. The photo above was taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm (and looks terrible if seen any larger!). The Nikon B700 has 60x optical zoom, compared to just 24X optical for the FZ200. The very close shot of this bird that I posted yesterday was taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1440 mm and is nowhere near as grainy as the above image when clicked on. Which is why I really, really wanted a camera with more powerful optical zoom - but a camera that is working properly. On 22 April 2018, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph with the B700. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted yesterday shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I needed to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Happy Earth Day 2018, everyone! This wonderful planet needs all the help we can give it. This photo was taken mainly to test the power of the Nikon B700 and see how 'sharp' the resulting images were when zoomed (not fully in this shot - the fully zoomed shots were terrible). This Kestrel was on the far side of a wide road and perched up on a high wire. All my life, I have used cameras with a great lens, that produce sharp photos. Seeing a shot like the one above does not make me happy : ( I am still having the problem regarding image shifting. Someone on the excellent dpreview website suggested that it might be a Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization issue. I already have the camera set to normal VR, but he thought that maybe the camera needs longer to stabilize when the shutter button is pressed half way. Just given that a try, but it makes no difference. The day before yesterday, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test this Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Photos are not as sharp as with my FZ200, though. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

Yay - finally got this image to upload! Good luck, SmugMug! You've got your work cut out for you, now that you have taken over the Flickr website, but keeping it as a separate site. Sounds very hopeful, though : ) I have a good many of my photos (same ones as on Flickr) already on the SmugMug site. Adding a link to my main page, in case anyone is not familiar with SmugMug. annkelliott.smugmug.com/ www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157692729336502/ Yesterday afternoon, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test a Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. Now I need to try and find out the connection between this image shifting and perhaps Image Stabilization/Vibration Reduction. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Photos are not as sharp as with my FZ200, though. Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd". A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on. Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed. The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.

This started off as a photo of a very distant black silhouette. At the time, I thought it could be an American Kestrel, a small bird of prey that I don't see very often. Managed to brighten the image to reveal my guess was correct.. Though not a good quality image, I still liked its talons, and posted it for the record. The Kestrel is the smallest of our five falcons and they typically perch on power lines. "North America’s littlest falcon, the American Kestrel packs a predator’s fierce intensity into its small body. It's one of the most colorful of all raptors: the male’s slate-blue head and wings contrast elegantly with his rusty-red back and tail; the female has the same warm reddish on her wings, back, and tail. Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place. Kestrels are declining in parts of their range; you can help them by putting up nest boxes." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/id In the afternoon of 19 July 2016, I really wanted to go and check on the family of Mountain Bluebird fledglings, SW of the city. It was also getting uncomfortably warm in my place and I needed to spend a bit of time in the air-conditioning of my car. I only felt like a short drive, after the very enjoyable full day of driving with my daughter the previous day. I discovered that the fledglings had grown up a lot in the three days since I had first seen them - constantly on the move and impossible to photograph. There were so few birds to be seen in my usual location - the road had been resurfaced in the three days I hadn't been there. Whether that was the reason for the lack of birds, who knows. I did catch a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds and saw a female with a beak full of bright green larvae for her babies. No sign of any WIlson's Snipes. The distant Black Tern baby was still being fed.

Yay, finally a fix for the Flickr uploading problem this morning! Posting my daily three right before 1:00 p.m., after a few hours of waiting. Unfortunately, I was sitting in the front passenger seat of a friend's car yesterday, 29 May 2016, when we suddenly came across this male American Kestrel on the opposite side of the road. I managed to twist and bend and just managed to see the bird and get a quick couple of shots. Qute a sighting, and probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don't get to see a Kestrel very often at all, even without food. We were so lucky to see it dive to the ground to catch its prey. "North America’s littlest falcon, the American Kestrel packs a predator’s fierce intensity into its small body. It's one of the most colorful of all raptors: the male’s slate-blue head and wings contrast elegantly with his rusty-red back and tail; the female has the same warm reddish on her wings, back, and tail. Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place. Kestrels are declining in parts of their range; you can help them by putting up nest boxes." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/id It was the annual May Species Count yesterday and the day before, so I've had no time for anything else the last couple of days. The Saturday Count was down in Fish Creek Provincial Park, Votier's Flats and Shaw's Meadow. Yesterday, our usual small group (six of us in two cars) covered an area SW of the city - which happens to be one of my favourite and most visited areas. I will add the final list from our leader, Gus Y - 70 bird species seen, wow! "The count goes May 28-29: Calgary birders have been out in force every May since 1979, contributing to a broad census of the constantly changing patterns of bird distributions in North America. Last year (2015) we found 212 species. The count circle is the same as previous years, extending from Olds to Nanton, and from Exshaw to Standard, and includes a variety of environments." From NatureCalgary. "May species count, Terr. #22, Priddis Area: Plummers Rd, from Hwy 22 to #762, SW of Calgary, 0730-1530, Sun. 29May2016. 58 km. Mostly sunny, becoming overcast at noon, S wind, becoming gusty, 10 -20 kph. 13-18°C. Canada Goose-45 Gadwall-2 American Wigeon-6 Mallard-29. Blue-winged Teal-16 Cinnamon Teal-8 Northern Shoveler-3 Green-winged Teal-4 Redhead-6 Ring-necked Duck-12 Lesser Scaup-29 Bufflehead-5 Hooded Merganser-1 f. Ruddy Duck-11 Ring-necked Pheasant-3 Great Blue Heron-1 Swainson’s Hawk-2 Red-tailed Hawk-6 American Kestrel-2 Sora-6 American Coot-10 Killdeer-5 Spotted Sandpiper-8 Wilson’s Snipe-10 Wilson’s Phalarope-4 Black Tern-22 Mourning Dove-1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird-1 Red-naped Sapsucker-1 Black-backed Woodpecker-2 Northern Flicker-3 Western Wood-Pewee-5 Least Flycatcher-6 Easterm Phoebe-1 Easterm Kingbird-1 Gray Jay-2 Clark’s Nutcracker-1 Black-billed Magpie-6 American Crow-4 Common Raven-5 Tree Swallow-86 Cliff Swallow-6 Barn Swallow-2 Black-capped Chickadee-3 Mountain Chickadee-1 Boreal Chickadee-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch-2 House Wren-9 Mountain Bluebird-29 American Robin-13 Gray Catbird-2 European Starling-8 Tennessee Warbler-11 Yellow Warbler-6 Cape May Warbler-1 Chipping Sparrow-8 Clay-coloured Sparrow-13 Savannah Sparrow-4 Song Sparrow-1 Lincoln’s Sparrow-4 White-throated Sparrow-1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak-7 Black-headed Grosbeak-1, or hybrid. Red-winged Blackbird-178 Western Meadowlark-2 Yellow-headed Blackbird-2 Brewer’s Blackbird-7 Brown-headed Cowbird-6 Baltimore Oriole-4 American Goldfinch-5 Richardson’s Ground Squirrel-11 Muskrat-1 Mule Deer-1 White-tailed Deer-4 Boreal Chorus Frog-10+ Green Comma Butterfly-2 Western White-1 Tiger Swallowtail-2 Gus Yaki"

Note: this photo is NOT my "main" (i.e. very last to be uploaded) photo out of the three I've posted this morning. I uploaded this and the next shot first and then uploaded the main image (Echinacea flower) separately, to see if that makes any difference. I did try doing it a couple of times this way weeks ago and seem to remember that there was something I didn't like with the result, but can't for the life of me remember what it was, ha. Hopefully, Flickr (or something else) won't change the order of the way you see my photos displayed! On 26 July 2015, 22 of us drove out to Marsland Basin, E of Calgary. Part of 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. 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 Eastern Kingbird landed on this very high wire, giving me the chance for a reasonably close photo - of course an old, weathered fence post would have been even better, ha. After cropping, the quality is not the best. 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 A report from 2002: esrd.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/species-at-risk/species-at-... 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. 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