Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Wild

Yay, Day 5 of our 13-day birding trip to South Texas is finally finished! Now I can begin to sort and edit photos from Day 6. Having to combine images from two cameras doesn't make things any easier. Day 6 will have lots of colourful, closer bird shots, thank goodness : ) At the end of Day 5, it was nice to see a few Wild Turkeys around the King Ranch Visitor Centre, which had been our meeting place. This was a really special full day, from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, on 23 March 2019, Day 5 of our 13-day birding holiday in South Texas. Before we left Calgary, we had booked a tour at the 825,000 acre King Ranch and we were greatly looking forward to it. The area we explored was way south on the ranch land, called the Norias Division. The driver of the van/mini-bus was Barb, who did a great job of finding 47 bird species for us, and also trying to find a tiny Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. We also bumped into Barb's boss a couple of times and he went off in search of an owl. Almost at the end of our great day, he managed to find a pair of them! A man, originally from Holland, but now living in Houston, had travelled all the way to the King Ranch, hoping most of all to see one of these beautiful owls. The rest of us had actually seen one of these owls on our Trinidad & Tobago trip in 2017. He joined us for the day and, needless to say, he was delighted that his sought-after species was successful. The owls were far away, so photos (to be posted later) are very distant, but what a gorgeous pair of little owls they were. Everyone was thrilled to bits. Many thanks to Tom (?) for searching and searching! "In 1853, Captain Richard King purchased a creek-fed oasis in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas, sparking generations of integrity, preservation, and innovation. King Ranch now covers 825,000 acres—more land than the state of Rhode Island. Over the course of over 160 years, King Ranch led some of the first cattle drives, developed the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle, bred the finest Quarter Horses, and produced champion Thoroughbreds—all under its iconic Running W® brand. Today’s King Ranch is a major agribusiness with interests in cattle ranching, farming (citrus, cotton, grain, sugar cane, and turfgrass), luxury retail goods, and recreational hunting." king-ranch.com/ Some of the species we were already familiar with, but new birds included the amazing Scissor-tailed flycatcher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and Bronzed Cowbird. I was really hoping that we might see a Green Jay, and I was in luck. A variety of wildflowers, a mushroom (Ink-cap or similar), a beautiful moth, and several deer added to our enjoyment. We were also very lucky to see a Javelina/Collared Peccary travelling fast through the bushes. Another sighting that was as fleeting as could possibly be were half a dozen Nilgai Antelope. "Texas is home to more free-range nilgai antelope than their native country of India. Originally stocked on the King Ranch in the 1930’s, these sporty game animals quickly took hold and are currently free- ranging on a handful of large private properties in lower South Texas." From link below. www.wildlifesystems.com/nilgai-antelope.html For me, I think the highlight of the day was when I happened to spot a tiny Texan Horned Lizard / Phrynosoma cornutum. A few years ago, I had been so disappointed to miss a trip to SE Alberta to see a Horned Lizard. At the King Ranch, we were standing still for some reason, when something caught my eye near my shoes. I thought a small piece of dead, faded plant had blown in. Then it moved again, still not far from my feet. Couldn't believe my eyes!! What an interesting creature - it actually can shoot blood from small protuberances by its eyes when it feels very threatened! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_horned_lizard We had lunch outside and were visited by a beautiful, curious White-tailed Deer. Several others were also seen while we were driving around the ranch land. A good day, for sure, and we appreciated the effort that Barb and her boss put into searching for various species.

Just added another 14 extra photos tonight, taken on Day 4 of our trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I did not take many photos on this last day at Point Pelee. Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them! The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends. For a more detailed account of our two-week trip east, see www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...

Just added another 14 extra photos tonight, taken on Day 4 of our trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I did not take many photos on this last day at Point Pelee. Day 4 of our holiday was 10 May 2018. We had a ridiiculously early start to the day, as we had been told that American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) tend to gather in and around the hotel parking lot. That information was just too good to ignore, so I think it was sometime after 4:00 am that we were out there, searching. As it turned out, in vain, though we did hear two individuals vocalizing in the dark bushes across the road. The American Woodcock is "a small chunky shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcocks spend most of their time on the ground in brushy, young-forest habitats, where the birds' brown, black, and gray plumage provides excellent camouflage." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_woodcock This last day was spent at Pt Pelee, walking a few trails including at The Tip again. We also drove to The Onion Fields, just north of Pt Pelee, between Hillman Marsh and Pt Pelee, where we had a great sighting - a very, very distant male Snowy Owl, sitting way out in a field, next to a white post!! Awful photos, but will eventually post one of them, just for the record. As always, I did not manage to see every species, but was happy to see at least some of them! The next morning, 11 May, we had to do the very long drive from Pelee to Toronto, where we caught a plane to Quebec City, arriving there at 2:45 pm. From there, we had a long drive east to reach the small village of Tadoussac on the St. Lawrence Seaway. There, we would be staying for a week at the summer 'cabin' of one of our group of friends. For a more detailed account of our trip east, see www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/45038233955/in/datepost...

There were lots of these Wild Chives growing in the meadows of Plateau Mountain yesterday, when a group of us spent a few hours botanizing the area.