Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: sunny

This was one of the views seen from Marsland Basin, E of Calgary, taken from friend Lyn Gratz's acreage on 26 July 2015. On that day, 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 any time you visit, 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 few Thistles, 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 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). Where they were digging was off to the left of this photo. 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, 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 at Marsland Basin, look under the Badger family photo. flic.kr/p/wygV8B

I was out on a walk at Griffith Woods this morning and then decided that, as I was already part of the way to Cochrane (NW of the city), I would go a bit further and check to see if there were any Northern Hawk Owls still in the area. Yet again, no sign of them at all, so I suspect they have already moved away, further north. Before checking this location, I did a brand new drive which, because of my driving phobia, was pretty brave : ). Actually, I missed the turn to Grand Valley Road (I was concentrating more on the number of kilometers) and drove a long way along Highway 1A before realizing that I must have gone wrong somewhere. This is the kind of scenery I was driivng in, some highway and a lot of gravel roads, too. When I eventually found the right turn, I kept my eyes open for a Great Gray Owl - they are sometimes seen in this area. Not a thing today, though, other than five Bald Eagles. They seemed to be enjoying the tremendously strong wind that accompanied me for most of my drive - it was all I could do to keep the car on the road!