Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Boat Launch

Yesterday, 14 January 2017, this was the sight to greet me when I drove to Fish Creek Park to meet with others to go east of the city, looking for birds. There was far more dense mist rising from the river than appears in this photo. Everywhere looked so pretty, and this frost-covered bush was a delight to see. I think there were about 8 cars in convoy, as we headed eastward, out of the city. For much of the day, birding was extremely slow, especially as we were not seeing any owls : ) As the day wore on, several cars returned to the city. The first owl to be seen was a Great Horned Owl, perched in a row of trees alongside the road. It was so well hidden by a tangle of thin twigs and branches, making it impossible to photograph. Eventually, we saw our first Snowy Owl at 2:30 pm, perched on a very distant fencepost. A second Snowy was seen 15 to 20 minutes later, again very, very distant. Then, shortly before the trip ended, the friends in the car in which I was travelling, decided to go back to a certain area to see if we could see any Short-eared Owls. On the way there, we spotted another Snowy Owl, on a power pole way, way down the road. Managed to get a quick couple of very distant shots before it flew off to hunt. I had found no Snowy Owls or Short-eared Owls the previous afternoon, when I had gone there on my own. This time, we spotted two Short-eared Owls, perched far, far away along a fence line. Useless for photos, though. Thanks so much for driving the whole day, Carolyn - greatly appreciated by all of us! So glad you wanted to stay a bit longer than the actual trip, as we had a few lucky sightings, even if they were all very distant. A beautiful, sunny day to be out, too, and thankfully the deep-freeze had just ended. Thanks so much, Terry, for organizing this trip! It always makes for a very enjoyable day out.

Yesterday, 5 September 2016, was one of those days that I wasn't really feeling like bothering to get myself ready and go for a walk, but something kept 'telling' me to go. So, I drove over to Fish Creek Park, hoping that I would be able to find one of the Black-crowned Night-herons that people have been seeing recently. Last year, I was lucky enough to see a juvenile on a couple of occasions at this location. However, I was out of luck with the herons and everything else, till just before I got back to my car. I spotted a patch of tan colour way off in the distance, through the bushes. Stopping to take a better look, I saw that it was a beautiful doe and her twins. They walked up a slight hill and I was able to get a clear look at them. Yes, the photo is blurry, but I so rarely see White-tailed Deer fawns, so I wanted to post the image for the record. Love it when the young ones still have their white spots. Definitely worth getting lightly rained on : ) The black clouds and drizzle had rolled in, just in time for my walk and for the drive home.

Happened to notice this Muskrat in the creek leading into the Bow River yesterday, when I called in to check on the Great Horned Owls. I was fascinated by the patterns the Muskrat created as it swam through the reflections in the water. People are sometimes unsure if they have seen a Beaver or a Muskrat when they see something swimming - as you can see in this photo, the Muskrat's tail is long and thin, not like the Beaver's large tail, flattened like a paddle. The Beaver is also a much larger animal.

This is one of two Great Horned Owl owlets (or is it Great Horned Owlets?) down at the east end of Fish Creek Park in the SIkome area. Occasionally, when you are lucky, either one or both will pop their little white head up above the front edge of the nest cavity. More often than not, though, Mom will be sitting in the cavity, blocking the owlets. Here, you can see part of her tail feathers on the right of the nest. Before too long, though, things will change, as these little guys grow so fast. Each year, it's interesting to see which of two broken tree trunks they will decide to nest in. This is the best one, as it is not as tall and has no branches at the top that block the view when the leaves start to come out, and so one gets a much better view. Still taken from a good distance, using full zoom.

This is the dreaded Goat's-beard, a highly invasive, non-native plant that has spread (and keeps spreading, despite attempts to control it) in our natural areas in the city. Too bad, because both the beautiful flower and huge Dandelion-like seedhead are most attractive. Taken on June 18th, in the Boat Launch area of Fish Creek Park. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_dubius

The dreaded Goat's-beard, a highly invasive, non-native plant that has spread (and keeps spreading, despite attempts to control it) in our natural areas in the city. Too bad, because both the beautiful flower and huge Dandelion-like seedhead are most attractive. Taken on June 18th, in the Boat Launch area of Fish Creek Park.

Taken on a really dull day, weatherwise, while on a bird walk. I seem to remember that we saw quite a few species, but everything was so far away - way out of reach for my zoom. A close (and rather "noisy") photo of this ordinary little Damselfly made my day, though : )

This is a very heavily cropped image and therefore very grainy, but I rarely get Bald Eagle photos in the wild because they are too far away or in flight. Actually, there was a second Bald Eagle perched just a few branches below this one. Seen at the Boat Launch in Fish Creek Park early yesterday morning, while waiting for a few more friends to arrive.

A couple of evenings ago, when I was watching the Great Horned Owl family in Fish Creek Park, one of the owlets coughed up a pellet. However, instead of spitting it out, it swallowed it again, then coughed it up again, swallow, and so on, over and over again, LOL. I don't think I've ever captured a pellet being coughed up before. I also captured some funny expressions while it was doing this, with its face all screwed up, but it makes the face take on an almost human look, which was a little creepy. After a long morning walk at Carburn Park today, I called in to see "my" owls and then took just a short walk and found another pair of Great Horned Owls that I had been told about. Saw two adults but no sign of any young ones. Warning: this is a VERY heavily cropped image, so don't bother looking at large size, LOL. "A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth .... Hawk and owl pellets are grey or brown, and range in shape from spherical to oblong or plug-shaped. In large birds, they are one to two inches long .... The hair, bones and other body parts (such as limbs, skin fragments, and even faeces) of rodents found in owl pellets may carry viable rodent viruses and bacteria. It is therefore advisable to sterilize pellets in a microwave oven before study. This is particularly important when using pellets at school." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_(ornithology)