Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Richard Chamberland

This is a three-week-old Barred Owlet, really just a bundle of fluff that was too young to do anything : ) It and its only sibling were carefully shown to a group of us bird lovers and photographers, so this is not a "natural" photo, but a posed one. On 4 June 2013, we had such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) on private land up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and me up there. The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't yet banded), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. The Barred Owlets were very much bigger than the Saw-whets. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl

Yesterday was such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes, that were on private property). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's work (paid - his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so really this was the last chance he'd be able to do this. As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day), and both the Barred Owls. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other (seen in my image above) was three weeks old. I think the Barred Owlets were about three weeks old. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog. Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : ) Previously posted photo of an adult Northern Saw-whet Owl is in a comment box below. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/id ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a three-week-old Barred Owlet, really just a bundle of fluff that was too young to do anything : ) It and its only sibling were carefully brought down from the nesting box to show a group of us bird lovers and photographers, so this is not a "natural" photo, but a posed one. Of course, me being me, I loved the bright orange lichen that was growing on this branch, too : ) On 4 June 2013, we had such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) on private land up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so really this was the last chance he'd be able to do this. As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. The Barred Owlets were very much bigger than the Saw-whets. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog (photo posted today, too). Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : ) Previously posted photo of an adult Barrred Owl (seen at a talk at the University of Calgary a few years ago) is in a comment box below. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl It's pouring with rain and thunder here this afternoon and I'm so glad : ) Waiting for my car to be looked at and fixed next Tuesday, so I am avoiding going out anywhere for these few days. A wet day makes it easier to bear, ha. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This tiny Northern-Saw-whet Owl female has six little ones this season. On 4 June 2013, we had such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) on private land up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so really this was the last chance he'd be able to do this. As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. The Barred Owlets were very much bigger than the Saw-whets, but they, too, were about 3 weeks old, I believe. The female adults of both families were up high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on (image above shows the female Northern Saw-whet Owl), so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog (photo posted today, too). Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : ) "Adults are 17–22 cm (6.7–8.7 in) long with a 42–56.3 cm (17–22.2 in) wingspan. They can weigh from 54 to 151 g (1.9 to 5.3 oz) with an average of around 80 g (2.8 oz), making them one of the smallest owls in North America. In relative size to other owls they are close to the size of an American Robin." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/id ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This helpless little thing is a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owlet, around one week old, being held very gently by the five-year-old daughter of Richard Chamberland, licensed Raptor Bander. I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) up near Edmonton. Both families of owls had nested in wooden nest boxes. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes, that were on private property). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so we were lucky to get this chance. Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded the older one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day, but that was now old enough to be banded), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets, seen in the image above) was only about a week old and the other was three weeks old. I think the Barred Owlets were about three weeks old. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog. Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : ) Previously posted photo of an adult Northern Saw-whet Owl is in a comment box below. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/id NO WILD BIRD OR ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE TAKEN HOME AS A PET!!!

A very grainy photo, taken deep in the woods where the light was not good, but I did want to add it to my Sets. Not every day that we see a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) up near Edmonton. Both families of owls had nested in wooden nest boxes. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes, that were on private property). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's paid work (his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so we were lucky to get this chance. Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded the older one of these that he hadn't banded the other day and that was now old enough to be banded), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other was about three weeks old. I think the Barred Owlets were about three weeks old. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. My photo above shows the adult female Saw-whet before she left the nest box that Richard had built and placed on the property of someone who had volunteered to have a nest box. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog. Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/id NO WILD BIRD OR ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE TAKEN HOME AS A PET!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am so utterly exhausted this morning after an amazing evening of watching licensed bird banders band some of the owls I know, and then having to drive home in the worst rain storm I have ever experienced! This morning, I am in agony every inch of my upper body from gripping the steering wheel so hard for so long. Phil and Rob, so glad you were both able to come along, too. However, no thanks are passed your way for missing the turn to the only paved road going south, resulting in a nightmare drive north of Calgary and then all the way home on the dreaded Deerfoot Trail!!! You couldn't see the road or vehicles - all you could see was a faint red blur from the rear lights of the car in front of you. It was very windy, too, which didn't help, and we were surrounded by a lightning storm. Must go online and read various newspaper reports of the storm, ha. This is Richard, the main licensed bird bander who came down to Calgary from near Edmonton yesterday evening. He had so generously invited me to join him and several other banders while they banded a Northern Hawk Owlet and 1 adult Great Gray Owl (male) and three of his four adorable Owlets. This is one of the the latter, looking quite curiously at Richard : ) Unfortunately, it was extremely foggy yesterday evening (very unusual) and the rain drizzled the whole time. My camera lens was permanently fogged up, and I couldn't take many photos, and I wasn't expecting any of them to turn out at all. Fortunately, a few did, including this one of Richard, which I love. Just look at those owlet legs, one of which is now sporting a little bit of "bling". Not sure if this little Owlet is the same one as I posted yesterday or one of its siblings, when, with permission, I photographed the owlets - looking nice and dry. I even got the chance to hold some of the owls, which was just amazing. There's nothing like holding a warm little body just a few inches away and having the owl(et) turn and stare at you, ha. Absolutely priceless. Richard, thank you SO much for such a wonderful evening - one I will think of often and will never forget! You obviously love what you are doing : ) And there is worse weather on its way?? www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/Tornadoes+spotted+stor...

This is one of two Great Gray Owl adults that were banded by licenced bird bander, Richard Chamberland, who came down to Calgary from near Edmonton on the evening of June 5th. He and a few others banded the first adult on their way to meeting the rest of us. The adult male in my image has four owlets, who all looked as bedraggled as Dad. Can you believe I held this amazing owl?? I still find it hard to believe! Such an amazing feeling. The weather was awful, fog and rain and low light - not what my little point-and-shoot camera likes at all! I had to use flash to get a few of my photos, including this one (which I really didn't like doing). I wasn't expecting any photos to turn out, but was so happy that a few of them did. Thank you so much for inviting me, Richard - an experience of a lifetime!

Three days ago, 4 June 2013, we had such a great day! I had been invited (and could bring a couple of friends) to go and see a family of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls (with 6 owlets) and a family of Barred Owls (2 owlets) on private land up near Edmonton. It's a three-hour drive from Calgary north to Edmonton, and then the owls were a further half-hour drive. (We had just a very short drive between the two owl familes). Worth every minute of it to see these two species of beautiful owls! Thanks so much, Rob, for driving Phil and I up there - I appreciate it SO much! Good to have the company of you guys - made the journey seem shorter : ) The owls were a little younger than they might have been, but still so precious to see! Richard's work (paid - his endless work with owls and other raptors is all voluntary) gets busier from now on, plus his summer weekends will be spent with his family (good for him!), so really this was the last chance he'd be able to do this. As usual, we felt so privileged to get this wonderful chance! Richard showed us two of the six Saw-whet babies (and banded one of these that he hadn't banded with the others the other day), and both the Barred Owlets. One of the Saw-whets was only about a week old and the other (seen in the photo I posted yesterday) was three weeks old. I think the Barred Owlets were about three weeks old and were very much bigger than the Saw-whets. The female adults of both families were high in fairly near, tall trees while this was going on, so we were very lucky to get photos of them, too. Trying to remember - I think I've only ever seen two Saw-whet owls in the wild, and this was the very first time I'd ever had the chance to see a Barred Owl in the wild : ))))))) At long, long last - and it felt so good! I also got the chance to meet several people from Flickr, including Don Delaney and part of his "gang". Lovely to meet you, Don, and the rest of you! Richard - we can't thank you enough for what you do (as a licenced Raptor Bander) and for sharing your love and knowledge of wildlife with others. Your young daughter (5 years old) is so lucky to be brought up with so many incredible opportunities and such a love of nature. What a keen eye she has, finding all sorts of interesting things for us to see, including a little Wood Frog (photo posted today, too). Wonderful to see such caring, gentleness and joy for all flora and fauna from such a young child, not to mention her knowledge about all these things! I was so impressed : )