Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Boreal Chickadee

Boreal Chickadee

17 Mar 2018 205
By the afternoon on 3 February 2018, the snow had stopped and I decided to join five friends for an enjoyable walk at Shaw's Meadow in Fish Creek Park. With no wind and a temperature of -9C to -7C, it was comparatively pleasant. About 45 minutes into our walk, the snow returned, falling in light, fluffy clusters. We saw more bird species than we were expecting (list of 16 species added to a comment box below), including a Hairy Woodpecker, and this Boreal Chickadee. I so rarely get to take photos of these small birds so, despite the blurriness, I was happy to get it. A stop at Tim Horton's for coffee after the two-hour walk was just what was needed. Always so enjoyable to sit and chat and warm up after a cold walk. Thanks, Janet and Bernie!

Boreal Chickadee, caught just in time

05 Feb 2018 1 1 295
A huge leap from tropical rainforest images to winter photos taken yesterday afternoon, 3 February 2018. The day before yesterday brought such bad weather, very cold and snow falling all day long. By yesterday afternoon, the snow had stopped and I decided to join five friends for an enjoyable walk in Fish Creek Park. With no wind and a temperature of -9C to -7C, it was comparatively pleasant. About 45 minutes into our walk, the snow returned, falling in light, fluffy clusters. We saw more bird species than we were expecting (list of 16 species added to a comment box below), including the Hairy Woodpecker in the previous photo and this Boreal Chickadee. The Boreal photo was not cropped to look like this - I just almost missed getting it at all. I so rarely get to take photos of these small birds so, despite the strange composition, I was happy to get it. A stop at Tim Horton's for coffee after the two-hour walk was just what was needed. Always so enjoyable to sit and chat and warm up after a cold walk. Thanks, Janet and Bernie!

Boreal Chickadee

05 Mar 2017 266
This photo was taken on 27 December 2016, when nine of us (in the group I was in) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Sheep River/Priddis/Turner Valley area. Our time was spent travelling by car, driving the backroads SW of the city and calling in at several acreages/ farms. A Boreal Chickadee made a lovely change from the more common Black-capped Chickadee. I have very few photos of Boreal Chickadees, as I so rarely see them and, when I do, they are too quick and hidden. This particular day was actually a good day for seeing them and also Mountain Chickadees. I'm not a big fan of feeder photos, but better than nothing. "A brown-capped chickadee of the northern boreal forest, the Boreal Chickadee is one of the few birds living completely within that biome in Canada and bits of the United States." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Chickadee/id If you have or want feeders in your garden, Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an excellent Project Feederwatch site that tells of the best food and types of feeder for almost 100 of the more common birds, including the Boreal Chickadee. Very useful information. feederwatch.org/learn/common-feeder-birds/?__hstc=7510036... I took part in this Count for 2015 but had missed it for a few years before that. I believe I had only ever done it twice before that, a few years ago (December 2007 and December 30, 2008). This time, like last year, our area was in the centre of the count circle and I'm so glad I decided to go again. A great stop was at Rod Handfield's place. Some of us go there very occasionally on botany trips and he always has the best mushrooms and other fungi growing in his forest in the fall. Rod and his wife have such a beautiful cabin there. A Gray Jay gave us a few photo opportunities there, which was appreciated. Usually, I find Gray Jays difficult to photograph, so it was nice to see one close. Rod is always so delightfully hospitable!! Thanks so much, Donna, for driving half of us - so much appreciated! This also meant that we were lucky enough to see two tiny Northern Pygmy-owls after the Count, too, when we decided to drive a few extra roads on our way home. A beautiful sunny day really helped - not all that cold (for Alberta!). A lot of snow everywhere (almost 8"), but that was OK, as we did so little walking. A great day!

Boreal Chickadee

01 Dec 2015 265
A rather pathetic photo, but I so rarely get photos of a Boreal Chickadee. These little guys tend to hang out with the Black-capped Chickadees and are just as fast and constantly on the move. It was a cold morning when I met friends for a three hour walk at Griffith Woods on 26 November 2015. Temperature was -10 to -4°C. Eventually, the warmth of the sun could just be felt, which always makes such a welcome difference. Not a huge variety of birds - we saw so many Bohemian Waxwings (a total of 600+) flying overhead and sometimes landing near the tops of very tall Spruce trees. Also saw this little Boreal Chickadee, near the top of a tall Spruce tree. Canada Goose-110 Mallard-10 Bald Eagle-1 juv. Merlin-1 Downy Woodpecker-1 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-2 Northern Shrike-1, chasing a Blue Jay Blue Jay-4+ Black-billed Magpie-7 Common Raven-3+ Black-capped Chickadee-25 Boreal Chickadee-4+ Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Golden-crowned Kinglet-1 Bohemian Waxwing-600+. Pine Grosbeak-4 White-winged Crossbill-4+ Common Redpoll-2 House Sparrow-1

A distant Boreal Chickadee

02 Jan 2014 2 1 271
I don't like taking or posting photos like this one, lol, but it's so rare for me to get a photo of a Boreal Chickadee, that I wanted to keep this one. These little guys tend to hang out with the Black-capped Chickadees and are just as fast and constantly on the move. Yesterday, 1 January 2014, was the 21st annual Fish Creek Park New Year's Day Bird Count and, as you can see from the blue sky, it was a gorgeous day out there. Sunny, calm, -8 to -5C, with 5cm new snow that we had had overnight. We walked from 9:00 a.m. till about noon, and my group covered the area from Bebo Grove to bridge 6 and back. Twenty people turned up for the Count in this part of the park, so we split into two groups. Other small groups covered other parts of the park and just after noon, some participants met at Tim Horton's for coffee and lunch. Always tastes so good after being outdoors for a few hours : ) Always feels so good to meet up with friends and spend a few hours in this way! Results for my small group (the other half of the group had very similar results, also with a total of 11 species): Downy Woodpecker-8 Hairy Woodpecker-3 Northern Flicker-1 Black-billed Magpie-4 Common Raven-20 Black-capped Chickadee-37 Boreal Chickadee-1 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-5 Townsend's Solitaire-2 Bohemian Waxwing-300 Talking of snow, CBC News reported on 21 December 2013: "December SNOWFALL in Calgary has broken a 112-year record according to the city. The City made the announcement in a tweet Saturday morning after weeks of on-and-off heavy snowfall left many residents complaining about the lack of snow removal in parts of Calgary. "A total of 43.8 cm of snow has fallen in Calgary this month. We haven’t seen this much snow in 112 years!" tweeted the City."

Boreal Chickadee

25 Feb 2014 168
Very poor quality image, but it's not very often that I get photos of a Boreal Chickadee, so wanted to add it to my Birds of Alberta Set. These little guys tend to hang out with the more common Black-capped Chickadees. Taken at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, on 17 February 2014.

Boreal Chickadee

18 Feb 2012 191
Sure didn't compose this shot very well, but as I so rarely get photos of Boreal Chickadees, I'll still post it. Seen between Bebo Grove and Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park on February 16th. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Chickadee/id/ac

I'm a Boreal Chickadee, not a Black-capped Chickad…

15 Oct 2010 174
We did enjoy seeing a few little Boreal Chickadees on our Fish Creek Park walk from Bebo Grove to Shannon Terrace and back a few days ago. (Not my hand, by the way - I'm not left-handed, ha). The real highlight, though, was an American Three-toed Woodpecker - my first for this year. Looks like our next walk might be a bit different - it's SNOWING and very heavily!!!! Today, I was planning on going to the Carwash and vacuuming and washing my car, before the snow arrived, ha! Hopefully, the white stuff won't stick around. Late afternoon: phew, the snow has all melted already. www.borealbirds.org/birdguide/bd0644_species.shtml

Boreal Chickadee

26 Oct 2010 181
LOL, surprised even myself when I opened this image on Flickr - not bad feather detail for a dark forest photo! These little guys are so cute and it's such a treat when one or two of them visit us on our walks with their friends, the little Black-capped Chickadees : ) Seen on October 16th at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park.

Boreal Chickadee

06 Feb 2008 137
Such a beautiful blue sky for a background to this Boreal Chickadee, seen in Votier's Flats, Fish Creek Park, yesterday morning. This type of Chickadee is uncommon to common year-round in Alberta. We don't see many here in the city parks. They are found in mature and young Spruce and fir forests. We watched this Chickadee checking out a small cavity in a tree.

Boreal

28 Nov 2006 152
This Boreal Chickadee and its mate used to fly down to my hand. They don't seem to be in the usual frenzy that the regular Black-capped Chickadees live in.

Boreal Chickadee

07 Sep 2006 145
The Boreal Chickadees seem to "hang out" with the little Black-capped Chickadees. They will fly down to your hand but I find that they take a little longer than the Black-capped.