Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: babies

Wow, I believe I missed posting any photos the last three days! I was out on 7th, 8th and 11th July, and the trip on 11th was a long, 12-hour day that was totally exhausting! That day, I made myself drive south, almost to the US/Canada border, to visit the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre. This is one of the long drives I make myself do each year now, to make sure I don't lose the courage to do the drive. It took me almost 6 hours to get there, as I kept stopping to take photos : ) In fact, I wasn't sure I was going to make it as far as my destination, or if I did, I might end up driving the last part of my drive home in the dark, which I definitely had to avoid. It was such a great day, though my poor old body was in so much pain the next day or two. A very hot day, too, but beautiful weather. I haven't even started going through my photos from that trip. Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you yesterday, 13 July 2019, while you were out again at your summer trailer at Eagle Lake for the weekend! The five photos posted this morning were taken while sitting on your deck or walking around the edge of the campground. Last year, on our visit, we saw fewer birds than in June 2017. This year, there seemed to be fewer birds than in August last year, but still plenty to keep us happy. With all the rain that we have been having the last few weeks, we were so lucky with the weather yesterday - it was perfect. It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. We had an extra treat of seeing baby Northern Flickers in their cavity and watching a pair of House Sparrows busily feeding their babies right near the deck. Talk about cute! A few kinds of shorebirds were down along the edge of the lake, as usual, including an elegant Black-necked Stilt. I didn't notice any soapsud "icebergs" on the lake this year, but there were a few patches of soapsud foam at the water's edge. The small Hutterite food stand was in the trailer campground again this year. A delightfully friendly lady showed us what she was selling and some of us bought a jar of her strawberry/rhubarb jam. After chatting for quite a while, it was a huge surprise when she insisted on giving us one of her fruit pies to share back at the trailer - delicious, too, I should add. Great to see everyone who went, and we all enjoyed an array of salads and desserts, along with Shirley's Chili, that left me feeling full till the early evening. Many thanks, Anne B, for driving the four of us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated, as always!

Happy Father's Day, everyone! Back to posting after missing yesterday. I was so absolutely tired the previous evening, that I just didn't manage to find and edit photos to post early yesterday morning. I know part of the reason is lack of sleep, but I have felt overwhelmingly tired since getting back from Trinidad & Tobago. I need to get more sleep and then see if that helps. If not, I guess it is always possible that I picked up something during our trip. This little family of Coots was seen yesterday, 17 June 2017, when five of us went east of the city for the day, to visit our friend, Shirley, at her seasonal trailer. These birds were so far away, so I wasn't able to get a closer photo. The colourful babies showed up OK, though. Such funny little things - so ugly, that they are cute. "The waterborne American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks. But they’re closer relatives of the gangly Sandhill Crane and the nearly invisible rails than of Mallards or teal." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coot Most of our birding was done at and near Shirley's trailer site, including seeing a wonderful Great Horned Owl family, two Killdeer and their nests, a Baltimore Oriole, and (finally!) a Brown Thrasher. I had hoped for several years to see one of these birds, so it was a real treat to see a 'lifer'. It was far away and so high up, but I managed to get a couple of shots just for the record. We were so happy to be able to see the Great Horned Owl family - three owlets and both adults. There had been a fourth owlet, but it died recently. When I was posting a photo of two of the owlets this morning, I realized that one youngster was clutching a small bird in its talons! As we were walking around the grounds, two ladies stopped us and showed us some baby birds that they had had to remove from the engine of their vehicle, as they needed to drive. They wondered if we knew what kind of birds they were, but we were unable to help. I posted a photo of them this morning, just in case someone can ID them. The ladies had a bird house that they were going to put the babies into, hoping that the parents would hear them calling and be able to continue feeding them. Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you while you were there for the weekend! It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Such a great variety of species! Wow, what a lunch we had, sitting at a table under the Tree Swallow tree, with a very vocal American Robin just a few feet away and a pair of busy Tree Swallows flying back and forth with food for their babies. How DO birds manage to sing non-stop like this Robin?! Hot chili made by Shirley, and a whole array of delicious salads and desserts left me feeling full till the early evening. Many thanks, Anne B, for picking up three of us and for driving us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated!

Happy Father's Day, everyone! Back to posting after missing yesterday. I was so absolutely tired the previous evening, that I just didn't manage to find and edit photos to post early yesterday morning. I know part of the reason is lack of sleep, but I have felt overwhelmingly tired since getting back from Trinidad & Tobago. I need to get more sleep and then see if that helps. If not, I guess it is always possible that I picked up something during our trip. This photo was taken yesterday, 17 June 2017, when five of us went east of the city for the day, to visit our friend, Shirley, at her seasonal trailer. Most of our birding was done at and near Shirley's trailer site, including seeing a wonderful Great Horned Owl family, two Killdeer and their nests, a Baltimore Oriole, and (finally!) a Brown Thrasher. I had hoped for several years to see one of these birds, so it was a real treat to see a 'lifer'. It was far away and so high up, but I managed to get a couple of shots just for the record. We were so happy to be able to see the Great Horned Owl family - three owlets and both adults. There had been a fourth owlet, but it died recently. When I was posting a photo of two of the owlets this morning, I realized that one youngster was clutching a small bird in its talons! As we were walking around the grounds, two ladies stopped us and showed us some baby birds that they had had to remove from the engine of their vehicle, as they needed to drive. They wondered if we knew what kind of birds they were, but we were unable to help. I posted a photo of them this morning, just in case someone can ID them. I know some groups don't allow photos of nestlings, so I hope this photo is OK for the Bird Identification Help Group. If not, it can be removed. The ladies had an empty bird house that they were going to put the babies into, hoping that the parents would hear them calling and be able to continue feeding them. Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you while you were there for the weekend! It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Such a great variety of species! Wow, what a lunch we had, sitting at a table under the Tree Swallow tree, with a very vocal American Robin just a few feet away and a pair of busy Tree Swallows flying back and forth with food for their babies. How DO birds manage to sing non-stop like this Robin?! Hot chili made by Shirley, and a whole array of delicious salads and desserts left me feeling full till the early evening. Many thanks, Anne B, for picking up three of us and for driving us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated!

Yesterday afternoon, 11 June 2017, I decided to join a few friends for a walk in Weaselhead. No rain was forecast, so I thought I had better make the most of it. We were hoping to see the three species of Hummingbird, but the Rufous stayed hidden. We only had a very distant look at a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a very fleeting look at a tiny Calliope Hummingbird, when it flew past us like a huge bumblebee, and disappeared from sight. Still good to see them,, though. The Merganser family in this photo was such a delight to see. Mom had just these four babies and they were so cute. We also saw another Merganser family with eight ducklings. I have added our leaders' list of species seen, in a comment box below. We were pleased to see a pair of Eastern Phoebes in their usual place. One of the birds had a piece of fishing line in its beak - photo posted this morning. It is such a distant photo, so the quality is poor, making it impossible to enlarge and be able to tell if it was caught or just being carried to perhaps add to their nest. The bird kept flying around and the fishing line stayed in place. I do hope the the nylon line had not got tangled around the bird somehow. Fishermen need to be far more careful and not discard any unwanted line - wildlife pays the price! Simple enough - just take it home with you! As well as birds, we saw quite a few species of wildflower. There were so many beautiful wild Roses in bloom. "Common Mergansers are streamlined ducks that float gracefully down small rivers or shallow shorelines. The males are striking with clean white bodies, dark green heads, and a slender, serrated red bill. The elegant gray-bodied females have rich, cinnamon heads with a short crest. In summer, look for them leading ducklings from eddy to eddy along streams or standing on a flat rock in the middle of the current. These large ducks nest in hollow trees; in winter they form flocks on larger bodies of water." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/id

Four days ago, on 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. It was raining again the next morning. I was kind of hoping for a few rainy days, as I suddenly have a build-up of quite a few major, very urgent things to deal with and I didn't want to be tempted to go out with my camera. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, creating a lot of splashing. Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw two little heads most of the time and then, suddenly, a third appeared. They lay 4-6 (rarely, 7) eggs. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never really seen one - just when a mass of Tree Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "There's a Violet-green!" The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual! "A beautiful swallow of open woodlands, the Violet-green Swallow is found only in the American West." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Violet-green_Swallow/id

Yesterday, 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. It was raining again this morning. I was kind of hoping for a few rainy days, as I suddenly have a build-up of quite a few major, very urgent things to deal with and I didn't want to be tempted to go out with my camera. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, creating a lot of splashing. Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. They lay 4-6 (rarely, 7) eggs. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "Violet-green!" Though the adult in this photo is very blurry, it does at least show the beautiful green colour on the back. The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see one of these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual! "A beautiful swallow of open woodlands, the Violet-green Swallow is found only in the American West." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Violet-green_Swallow/id

Took this photo on 7 July 2014, whilst on one of Don Stiles' annual Bluebird outings to see the Mountain Bluebird nesting boxes along his route, SW of the city. Some of these wooden boxes have been taken over by Tree Swallows, which are also banded and counted. Unfortunately, this year, all the Bluebirds had already fledged, but we saw a few boxes that contained Tree Swallow eggs and some that contained several (around 6) Tree Swallow babies. Actually, the box seen in my photo had 12 baby Tree Swallows, all tightly snuggled together, so obviously two adult females were using the same box. I've never seen that before. Can't imagine how cramped it will be as the babies grow bigger and the adults need to get through the small hole of the box to feed them! Most of the birds we saw had already been banded, but we did see Don band a few others that were now old enough to be banded. He places some dried grasses at the bottom of a bucket and places each baby in there after he has fitted a teeny band around one of its legs (actually, it's foot, as that first big bend is the heel.) Then they are all carefully placed back into the nesting box, ready for Mom and Dad to return to them, which they do immediately. For anyone who might wonder if a baby bird is handled, will its parents pick up my scent and abandon it? The answer below is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: A. It's a myth that parent birds will abandon young that have been touched by humans—most birds have a poor sense of smell, and birds in general identify their young using the same cues we humans do—appearance and sound. It's perfectly safe to pick up a fallen nestling and put it back in the nest, or to carry a fledgling out of danger and place it in a tree or shrub." Same would apply to bird banding. NO BIRD OR WILD ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE KEPT AS A PET!

These were about half of the row of baby Swallows that were perched under a bridge, waiting for Mom to bring them food. I found them while I was in Fish Creek Park, on 26 August 2013. The lighting was really bad, so I used flash for this shot. Ran out of time and energy very late last night and so didn't see if I could get rid of the white eyes. These little creatures were so very cute to watch.

This Pied-billed Grebe and three little ones were so far out on a pond/slough, but I really wanted just some kind of shot of them, especially the babies with their stripes and colour. There was a second adult at the slough, too, with three youngsters, so I am assuming that Mom and Dad each took half the family. Taken on a slough SW of Calgary yesterday evening, 10 July 2013. "A small diving bird with a chicken-lke bill, the Pied-billed Grebe is common on lakes and ponds across North America. It is rarely seen flying and prefers to sink out of sight when danger threatens." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/pied-billed_grebe/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied-billed_Grebe

This Mallard and her mate have made a stretch of open water at the Calgary Zoo their home. These were the tiniest ducklings I think I have ever seen!

Finally got out of the city southwestwards just a short way yesterday evening, to go with Don Stiles again on his Bluebird Route. He has been a Bluebird Monitor for about 30 years! We pass a Buffalo and Elk farm in that area and several of these maginficent animals happened to be on a hill that was near to the fence. The light was not too good, so I'm surprised that any of the photos I took came out at all. In fact, we hadn't been sure whether to go or not, because of some rather black clouds. You'd never know there had been devastating floods the past week, that have affected the whole of southern Alberta. I was expecting to see flood water everywhere, so was hugely relieved to see none! It felt SO good to get out - anywhere - though I did drive a few minutes away from home just before this evening trip, as a friend had mentioned that there were mushrooms growing in a place where they had been last year. Again, you would never know that we have been experiencing the "flood of the century" for almost a week now. Thanks for a great Bluebird evening, Don - lovely to see various other birds, too, including a Snipe, House Wren, Tree Swallows, American Goldfinch, Swainson's Hawk, a yet-unidentified Hawk with what I think was an Eastern Kingbird "piggy-backing" on it, etc., etc.. I missed getting it actually riding on the back, but did get it just a few inches above the Hawk - see my second photo posted today. Most of Don's boxes have Tree Swallow nests in them now, but the one box had these six gorgeous baby Bluebirds all huddled together. It was such a relief to see so much wildlife - I had feared the worst! Of course, many parts of the city have now started on clean-up, and what a monumental task that is going to be!!! I saw yesterday that the first billion dollars have now been made available towards this clean-up! People just amaze me, how they get to work to clear all the mud from inside their homes and get rid of all their ruined possessions. I think everyone is so impressed by the way the city has, and still is, handling the whole situation. Our Mayor, Naheed Nenshi (36th mayor, sworn in on October 25, 2010), has proved that people made the right choice when they elected him Mayor! He is working tirelessly to protect his city and get it back to as normal as possible!!

Each year, a very experienced Mountain Bluebird monitor, Don Stiles, takes a few of us out on his Bluebird route, SW of the city. Population numbers for this beautiful species have continued to drop year after year, despite the dedicated monitors who have their own routes to check on. This outing gives me the chance to see something that I normally never see and to take a handful of photos that I would otherwise not be able to get. Thanks, Don!

This is my maternal Grandmother, Emma Neal (nee Billingsley) with two of her children. The tiny baby on the left is my mother (Vera Kathleen Neal) and that's her brother (C. Richard or Roger Neal) on her right. Needless to say, I shudder at the sight of all those furs! I know I have lots of information on my mother's family, but searching through it all will have to wait for a time when I am less busy - if that day ever comes, ha! Emma Billingsley married George Frederick Neal at St. James, Edmonton, Middlesex, U.K, on 27th December 1890. His father was Edward Neal (? - 1900, buried in Yardley Cemetery?). They had at least 8 children: 1. George Edward ("Ted"), born 24th November 1891 2. Rowland Arthur ("Arthur", born 21st July 1898 3. Gordon Ernest, born 17th October 1901, in Malaya 4. Edna Dorothy ("Dolly"), born 27th March 1904, in Malaya 5. Leslie (?) 6. Beatrice Adelaide ("Billie"), born 14th August 1908, in Malaya 7. Clement Roger ("Dick"), born April-September 1913, in Malaya 8. Vera Kathleen (my mother), born 8th May 1914 in Handsworth at 65, Thornbury Road (baptized on 20th November 1915 at St. Mary's, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya). Died December 1998 in Birmingham, UK. In the early 1920s, the family lived at 67, Bluff Road, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. George Frederick Neal was Master at Arms, Federated Malay States Police Force. There is a fascinating connection with William Somerset Maugham's short story, "The Letter", which was also made into a movie, starring Bette Davis. My maternal Grandfather was the person who examined the gun that was used in the real life shooting. This shooting incident caused a sensation in Malaya. viweb.freehosting.net/proudlock.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Proudlock_case

I don't know what kind of Spider this is, but it was seen on the rocks by the edge of the creek when we botanized Threepoint Creek Natural Area (Sheep River Natural Area) on 30th July.

The best shot of this Great Horned Owl family that I've been able to get so far, but really hope I'll see the young ones higher up on the nest or on a branch one of these days. Meanwhile, you can see Mom in the background with her little family. Most of the time I stood and watched them, the owlets were further down in the tree. When I looked at my photos after I got home, I was amazed at how much larger the older one (on the right) is, compared to the youngest one. Ever feel like you are being watched, LOL?

I was concentrating on photographing three Pelicans who were enjoying a small stream at the Zoo, when I suddenly heard rustling near me. The grass seemed to explode into a mass of the tiniest Mallard ducklings I think I have ever seen! And SO many of them - must have been about a dozen. The female took them out on to the water, which the male Pelican did not appreciate, and in fact he attacked her. Soon, Mom brought all her babies back to the bank, right near me, which surprised me. Babies preened themselves and eventually collapsed and fell asleep, after their exciting trip!

Let me introduce you to "my" two little owlets, along with their mother. This photo was taken two days ago when there was a fair bit of activity at the nest. Today, there was absolutely nothing happening, LOL! I wonder how old these babies are. Maybe around three weeks?? They are certainly full of curiosity : ). These little things will somehow have to get down from this tall nesting tree, cross the park road, enter the grove of trees and somehow get up on to a very high branch.

These baby Mountain Bluebirds are already showing some of the beautiful colours in their feathers. Saw these on Monday evening's drive to check one of the Mountain Bluebird nesting box routes south of Highway 22X. Mountain Bluebirds use grass for their nests, whereas the Tree Swallows, who take over some of the boxes, use a delightful selection of bird feathers to line their nest.