Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: hut

Friend, Gayle, made an appointment to go to the Cochrane Ecological Institute Centre tthree days ago, on 9 December 2017, and invited me to go along, too. I had longed to visit and, a few years ago, two friends and I were all set to go, but a major storm prevented us from going. It made an interesting morning, going on a tour of the grounds with our guide, Lisa Dahlseide. I know Lisa in connection with the Weaselhead Natural Area in Calgary and it was so nice to see that she was going to be our leader for this walk. She has such a wealth of knowledge and her personality is very much a "people person", including doing a lot of work with young children and nature. As well as being a busy mother of three young children, she is part time Naturalist with Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society and the Education Director for the Cochrane Ecological Institute. Unfortunately, I was too busy being distracted by taking photos of things, that I missed a lot of the explanations for the animals/birds that we saw. I always think that I will be able to find information once I get home and get on the Internet, but that doesn't always happen. "Wildlife" that we saw including several (4?) Bison that had originally been brought up from Waterton years ago; deer; several Wild Turkeys; two Great Horned Owls; and a pair of birds that I have never seen before - White Pheasants. I missed the explanation for these Pheasants, unfortunately. After our visit to the Centre, we drove to Cochrane for an enjoyable lunch. Took a while to drive round looking for somewhere to eat - I had no idea that Cochrane had grown so much. Thanks so much, Gayle, for a different kind of day! Much enjoyed and appreciated. vimeo.com/225317099 "The CEI (Cochrane Ecological Institute) is a family founded, charitable organization devoted to breeding endangered species for reintroduction, wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release, educating the public, monitoring habitat and species, and developing non intrusive wildlife survey methods. The CEI was founded (1971) by Miles and Beryl Smeeton and is now run by their daughter, Clio Smeeton. Miles and Beryl Smeeton were internationally known sailors, mountaineers, and explorers. The Smeetons initiated the swift fox reintroduction program in Canada in 1972, six years before the species was declared extirpated in Canada. All animals held at the CEI are destined for reintroduction. They are not maintained for public exhibit, trade, or sale. Over the 26 years of its existence the CEI has also been an integral part of the Canadian Wildlife Service's Trumpeter swan (Cygnus bucinnator) and wood bison (B.b.athabascae) reintroduction programs, as well as playing a key role in the Canadian swift fox reintroduction program. The CEI is unique in that it holds the world's longest established (1972), largest (20 pairs), and only captive breeding colony of swift fox. These animals are bred solely for reintroduction as part of the CEI's ecosystem restoration program. Internationally, as species and habitat vanish, the concept of ecosystem restoration through the reintroduction of indigenous flora and fauna, is gaining greater and greater prominence. The preservation of habitat without those species, which made that habitat a viable whole, is a sterile exercise." From the CEI's website. www.ceinst.org/about-us.html "Cochrane Ecological Institute's Swift Fox Reintroduction programs began in 1972 under the direction of Beryl and Miles Smeeton. Since that time 0ver 800 Swift fox were reintroduced to the Canadian Prairie. This has resulted in the Species being downlisted by the Canadian Government from Extirpated to Endangered. In 1998 the CEI was invited by the Blackfeet Tribal Fish and Wildlife Department, Browning, Montana to join in a partnership to start the first swift fox re-introduction in the USA on the Blackfeet Tribal Lands. Defenders of Wildlife also became partners in this project and the first swift foxes were released on Blackfeet land in the fall of 1998.This program continued until 2003. The CEI was requested to design and implement a Swift Fox reintroduction program on Blood reserve lands in Alberta Canada in 2003. This resulted in only a 2 year program because of complications resulting from permitting problems and the new Species at Risk Act in Canada." From the CEI website.

Sometimes, I just can't help myself, lol! When out on a birding trip with friends, my eye does tend to wander and find things that I just can't resist, while everyone else is concentrating hard on looking for birds! In this case, on 2 February 2014, a group of us were on an annual birding trip west of the city, that is normally to the Sibbald Creek area, Exshaw and Harvie Heights. This year, though, we drove around the Water Valley area (NW of Calgary) first and then went straight on to Harvie Heights. Very few birds to be seen in either area, but of course it was wonderful to get out to these places, in good company. At Harvie Heights, near Canmore (near Banff) ,there were no Grosbeaks, no Clark's Nutcrackers, etc.. The same has been true for so many walks and outings these days - where are all the birds? Yesterday, a group of people went to a local city park and, in just under three hours of walking, saw only five species of bird. The following is the report complied by trip leader, Andrew Hart. Thanks for a great day, as always, Andrew! "Twelve of us set out on a sunny but chilly day with temperatures ranging from -14 deg C to -8 deg C We started off by driving around in the area to the south of Water Valley as far as the Bates Ranch. We were hoping to find owls, but despite visiting several known previous sighting locations came up short. We did see several Ravens and Magpies, some Blue Jays (at the Winchell Lake Estates), Black Capped Chickadees, a Rough Legged Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker. We also saw a Coyote. After lunch we went further south and encountered a family of 6-8 Gray Jays near the Bates Ranch. We then headed to Harvie Heights. En route we passed a road killed deer swarming with 20 Ravens, and a Coyote angling to see them off. We also saw two Bald Eagles. At Harvie Heights we saw several Mountain and Black Capped Chickadees, a Brown Creeper, Pine Siskins, Dark Eyed Juncos, and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers (the Woodpeckers seen by Phil Quin at a feeder by the hamlet entrance that the rest of us drove past). No Pine Grosbeaks (not that much of a surprise this year) and no Clark's Nutcrackers (more of a surprise). The incredible sunlit snow blanketed scenery made up for the relative shortcomings in bird species."

On 26 January 2015, friends and I came across this scene and were left shaking our heads! There were several ice-fishermen out in the middle of the Spray Lakes reservoir, surrounded by melting ice. I have no idea how they managed to get out there, but I know that a much easier and safer way to get fish is to go to ones local supermarket! I think the temperature during the day varied from around 1C to a high of 8C. The Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail in Kananaskis Country (the closest area of the mountains west of the city) is a gravel road, south of Canmore. It travels through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, which is one of the of the wildest areas in Kananaskis. For years, I had read about this road and how not to drive along it when the weather was poor or if it had been raining. However, usually when I have been there with friends, Cathy and Terry, we have found the road to be in good condition, unlike much of this particular day. The three of us had a great day in this area, even though we had to deal with ice everywhere. Parts of the road were bare, other parts wet and muddy and the rest were a solid sheet of ice. Each time we stopped to take photos or watch wildlife, we were surrounded by ice. Consequently, I took most of my photos either from inside the car (which usually doesn't work!) or else standing and holding on to the car, which resulted in heat distortion/blur from the car. Most of my shots need to be deleted : ((! Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for yet another great day in the mountains - always so much fun! I really needed this wonderful day spent with the healing power of nature! Snow is in our forecast for this evening and tomorrow (Saturday). A few days of colder temperatures, but then it looks like we will be back to mild.