Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Elbow River

I wasn't going to edit and post any photos this morning, as there are things that I have to get done on a deadline, and it will take me many hours to do. Changed my mind this morning, as I wanted to post a couple of photos taken yesterday, 10 April 2018, just as a record of a three-hour walk with friends in Fish Creek Park. A dull, overcast morning, and definitely not the greatest for photography. However, I don't often get the chance to photograph either a Ring-necked Pheasant or a Hooded Merganser, both of which were a long way off, but within camera reach. "“Hooded” is something of an understatement for this extravagantly crested little duck. Adult males are a sight to behold, with sharp black-and-white patterns set off by chestnut flanks. Females get their own distinctive elegance from their cinnamon crest. Hooded Mergansers are fairly common on small ponds and rivers, where they dive for fish, crayfish, and other food, seizing it in their thin, serrated bills. They nest in tree cavities; the ducklings depart with a bold leap to the forest floor when only one day old." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Merganser

A huge leap from the rainforest of Trinidad photos posted yesterday to the snowy shots posted today! Yesterday, 4 March 2018, was such a beautiful day, and I decided to join seven friends for a walk down into Weaselhead in the afternoon. The previous day, a birding walk had been cancelled because the weather was so bad and the long, steep hill down to river level was very icy. It is almost unheard of for a birding walk to be cancelled! The roads were not in good condition especially the residential streets. I have a bad feeling that my car is now stuck in the ruts outside my place - when I got home after the walk, it was almost impossible to drive over the mounds of snow that have built up over the last few months. Not sure how I am going to be able to reverse out of this spot. Guess I will find out. I have lived in this city for 40 years and I don't remember ever seeing this much snow on the ground. Just crazy. There were not a whole lot of birds to be seen on yesterday's walk, but it is always a delight to see the dainty little Common Redpolls. I seem to remember that last winter, there were no Redpolls to be seen. Nice to see a beautiful lone Coyote travelling across the frozen, snow-covered Elbow River. I will add the leaders' list of species seen in a comment box below. Coffee at Tim Horton's afterwards was enjoyable, as always. Thanks for a great walk, Janet, Bernie and Stephen! I always appreciate your giving up your Sunday afternoon for the rest of us. I made the mistake of checking the weather forecast for Alberta for the coming spring and summer, though of course we all know that the forecast is often incorrect. For us, it will be a cold spring followed by an above normal summer. More big storms to come - actually, March is said to be our snowiest month, anyway. Looks like it could be another year without mushrooms growing, just like last year. The temperature this morning, 5 March 2018, is -22C (windchill -29C).

This morning, I am again posting four more photos taken a few days ago, on 7 June 2017, when a group of eight of us spent a wonderful day exploring Elbow Falls and Forgetmenot Pond, in Kananaskis. We drove west of the city into the eastern edge of the mountains, stopping at three different places, including a stop along the edge of the main highway, where we found beautiful Shooting stars and a few little brown cup fungi. The devastating flood of 2013 destroyed the picnic area and trails at Elbow Falls. It is a very popular area, within easy reach of Calgary. The huge parking lot tends to fill up completely, especially at weekends. This photo shows the top of the falls in the centre of the photo, just as the water starts to plunge down. hikingwithbarry.com/2014/01/01/elbow-falls-flood-kananask... www.albertawow.com/hikes/Elbow_Falls/Elbow_Falls.htm What a great day we had! It was one beautiful find after another, and I think we all must have arrived back home at the end of the day, feeling happy and content. Dorothy and Stephen, as always, you planned a wonderful day for us and you even managed to arrange with the weatherman for beautiful sunshine and warmth, with an occasional welcome slight breeze. I still can't believe how lucky we were, seeing so many interesting things. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to decide what was the highlight for me. The Harlequin Duck, the distant Common Nighthawk flying high overhead, the two Morel mushrooms, the small cluster of beautiful brown jelly cup fungi?? And so on .... Great to spend a day with such a pleasant group of keen, interested people. Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such a great day - my favourite kind of day : ) Thank you, also, for the ride and for the donuts you brought along for everyone to enjoy. Nice to end our day with a stop at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek, for a very welcome coffee.

What a miserable, wet day we are having today, 10 June 2017. Continuous rain and much cooler. The day after this trip, Thursday, we had a really bad storm, with high winds and torrential rain. Lots of small branches were strewn all over my street and conditions were probably worse in many places. This morning, I am again posting four photos taken three days ago, on 7 June 2017, when I went out for the day with seven friends, to Kananaskis. We drove west of the city into the eastern edge of the mountains, stopping at a few different places, including Forgetmenot Pond and Elbow Falls. The devastating flood of 2013 destroyed the picnic area and trails at Elbow Falls. The area of gravel in the centre distance was deposited where the trees and day use area had been washed away. Elbow Falls is a very popular area, within easy reach of Calgary. The huge parking lot tends to fill up completely, especially at weekends. hikingwithbarry.com/2014/01/01/elbow-falls-flood-kananask... www.albertawow.com/hikes/Elbow_Falls/Elbow_Falls.htm Forgetmenot Pond is actually a man-made pond, left over from the excavation of a gravel pit. The water is crystal clear. It's just a short walk around the pond, but enjoyable to do. The main road this far into Kananaskis only opens in June each year, as a winter gate at Elbow Falls closes in December for the winter months, to protect the wildlife in the area. I found the following 4-minute video on YouTube, taken by Kenneth Lori using a DJI Phantom 3 Professional quadcopter and taken on 16 June 2016. It travels over Forgetmenot Pond and the surrounding river and mountains. youtu.be/fEamf0nDXt4 What a great day we had! It was one beautiful find after another, and I think we all must have arrived back home at the end of the day, feeling happy and content. Dorothy and Stephen, as always, you planned a wonderful day for us and you even managed to arrange with the weatherman for beautiful sunshine and warmth, with an occasional welcome slight breeze. I still can't believe how lucky we were, seeing so many interesting things. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to decide what was the highlight for me. The Harlequin Duck, the distant Common Nighthawk, the dried-up Morel mushrooms, the small cluster of beautiful brown jelly cup fungi?? And so on .... Great to spend a day with such a pleasant group of keen, interested people. Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such a great day - my favourite kind of day : ) Thank you, also, for the ride and for the donuts you brought along for everyone to enjoy. Nice to end our day with a stop at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek, for a very welcome coffee.

These are always fun birds to watch, as they go under the water, or bob up and down on a rock. This one was busy collecting food to take back to its babies in the nest (which was just out of our sight). "A chunky bird of western streams, the American Dipper is North America's only truly aquatic songbird. It catches all of its food underwater in swiftly flowing streams by swimming and walking on the stream bottom." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Dipper/id This morning, I am again posting four more photos taken three days ago, on 7 June 2017, when I went out for the day with seven friends, to Kananaskis. We drove west of the city into the eastern edge of the mountains, stopping at a few different places, including Forgetmenot Pond and Elbow Falls. What a great day we had! It was one beautiful find after another, and I think we all must have arrived back home at the end of the day, feeling happy and content. Dorothy and Stephen, as always, you planned a wonderful day for us and you even managed to arrange with the weatherman for beautiful sunshine and warmth, with an occasional welcome slight breeze. I still can't believe how lucky we were, seeing so many interesting things. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to decide what was the highlight for me. The Harlequin Duck, the distant Common Nighthawk, the Morel mushrooms, the small cluster of beautiful brown jelly cup fungi?? And so on .... Great to spend a day with such a pleasant group of keen, interested people. Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such a great day - my favourite kind of day : ) Thank you, also, for the ride and for the donuts you brought along for everyone to enjoy. Nice to end our day with a stop at the Cinnamon Spoon cafe in Bragg Creek, for a very welcome coffee.

This is part of one of the main parks in the city. I was standing at the top of the cliff in North Glenmore Park, looking over the delta towards the green, metal bridge that goes from right to left into Weaselhead (the treed area that you see in this photo). This image is zoomed, so the Rocky Mountains look closer than they really are. Aren't we lucky to live in such a beautiful place? Was out in Fish Creek Park all morning - checked on the nesting Great Horned Owl, but we couldn't see any sign off little white balls of fluff yet. It was another gorgeous day - wonderful, after six months of snow and ice! As soon as I'm ready, I'm heading for the nearest backroads in search of (hopefully) a Mountain Bluebird : )

A gorgeous, male Wood Duck, swimming on the Elbow River this morning at Stanley Park (Calgary, not Vancouver). A very heavily cropped photo, as the duck was out in the middle of the river! We had a very enjoyable three-hour walk on this beautiful fall day. So glad I went, as when I checked the long-range forecast for the city last night, there was a tiny snowflake graphic on about six days in a row for the week after next. Of course, the forecast could change by then.

On the way back from Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis, I stopped at this pull-off to capture a few fall colours. Wish I could throw in a few splashes of orange and red : )

Seen this morning, a sign of spring with the melting of the thick ice on the Elbow River at Weaselhead. For some strange reason, I always like seeing the patterns of the broken ice. I guess this is the closest I'll ever get to seeing a cold, Arctic landscape, LOL!

Liked the patterns in these reflections in melting ice along the Elbow River.

Saw this Wood Duck when we walked by the Elbow River yesterday morning, for the Christmas Bird Count. Highly zoomed and cropped - these birds are always too far away! Rare to uncommon in Alberta from April to October. The male Wood Duck is one of the most colourful water birds in North America. The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary is a good place to see these ducks.

These overhead wires always spoil this view but, what can you do? This was the start of the sunrise, looking in the direction of downtown. I so often marvel that one can live in a large city, yet be this close to nature.

I should get out before sunrise more often, LOL! Sunrise and sunset both cast such a beautiful glow on the ice and snow.

Thought I'd add a few photos taken yesterday morning starting just before sunrise. This photo shows the frozen, snow-covered Elbow River and Weaselhead. Temperature was something like -13C.

Part of the walk this morning (in temperatures around -6C) was along the banks of the Elbow River at Stanley Park. There is still some ice left on the river and I thought the reflections looked nice. Coyotes are often seen in this area - we did see one at a further area, high up at the top of a hill.

Took this photo this time last year, looking across the Elbow River from near Sandy Beach. Mother Nature is such a gifted artist!