Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Glaucidium californicum

I came across this photo of a tiny, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl from my archives the other day and thought I'd post it. It was taken on 5 February 2011, in Fish Creek Park. Can't help wondering if this owl is the same owl as one of the ones that have been in Fish Creek Park during January and February of this year (2015). I think it has to be. On the day I took this photo, I had bumped into a group of friends when I arrived at the parking lot and they told me they had seen the owl. Well, it took a lot of looking, I can tell you! When I finally did spot it, it was towards the top of probably the tallest tree in the area, but it eventually flew to the other side of the path, to the top of the second tallest tree. Again it flew and disappeared. After looking and looking and looking, there it was, not too far away, but in a tree with a tangle of small branches, thankfully with none across the owl itself. These little fist-sized/popcan-sized owls are just about impossible to find : ) I think this was only about the third time I'd had any fresh air at all in the previous 5-6 weeks, which was so bad and, though sunshine would have been really nice, I'm sure the short walk did me some good. The owl certainly did : ) These little guys are just so beautiful - and fierce! They are rare to uncommon here in Alberta. "Northern Pygmy Owls are 'sit and wait' predators, that hunt mainly by vision, diving down onto prey on the ground and driving the talons into the prey's throat. They will also attack birds in shrubs, crashing into the hapless victims. Most prey is carried off in the feet to feeding sites. Birds are usually plucked before being consumed. They often eat only the brains of birds and the soft abdomen of insects. One of these little owls can carry prey weighing up to 3 times its own weight. The Northern Pygmy Owl feeds on a wide range of small prey including small mammals, birds, and reptiles and amphibians. Voles make up the bulk of their diet, with birds comprising most of the rest (mainly songbirds, but as large as a California Quail). Other small mammals include shrews, mice, chipmunks, bats, moles, young rabbits, and weasels. Insects may be very important when they are most abundant. Other prey taken are toads, frogs and small lizards and snakes. During winter, surplus prey is cached in a cavity, often in large quantities. Summer caches are usually much smaller. Pellets are very small, averaging about 3cm long. They are formed only occasionally as these owls don't consume large amounts of fur, feathers, or bone. The pellets tend to fall apart shortly after ejection." From OwlPages. www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Glaucidium&species=ca...

Thought this was quite a cute photo of the teeny Northern Pygmy-owl : ) Facing away from me on a distant tree, it suddenly heard a dog bark on a nearby path. Taken on February 21st in Fish Creek Park at Bebo Grove. Don't you just love that little, white speckled head? Major sorting and tidying needs to be done in my home as everyone's upstairs windows are supposed to be replaced this year. I don't know which building they will start at, but usually mine seems to be the first one when major repair work is done. No idea when they are likely to start on this, but I don't want to be "caught out" on this. Everyone's gas bill will go down, that's for sure, as our windows are basically sheets of loose glass that shift with all the traffic vibrations and leave gaps for icy blasts to come through - the plastic (?) strips that are supposed to be firmly attached to two sides of each pane have come off and make opening a window even just an inch or two very difficult or impossible. Everyone has been complaining about these windows for at least 12 years!! I have managed to avoid having anyone into my place the last few years, but now it has all caught up with me! I have no choice but to catch up on at least some of the things that I just haven't been able to cope with the last few years. Also, in very roughly two-three months' time, "several large boxes" of things that belonged to my parents and my brother will also be arriving from England. Hopefully by then, I will have been able to clear enough space in my basement to put these, but at the moment I can barely even set foot in it, literally, lol. I'm beginning to feel a very unpleasant sense of panic. Where is that magic wand when you need it??

This is what can happen when a tiny Northern Pygmy-owl gets harassed by a bunch of Black-capped Chickadees! It goes into into compressed mode, which is not the prettiest sight, lol. I saw this happen a couple of times three years ago. They were so persistant that they made the owl fly, with them in hot pursuit. "Despite their small size, Northern Pygmy Owls are quite fierce, and will attack prey or drive off intruders several times their own size. When one of these owls is threatened, it will puff up its feathers and spread its tail to make itself look larger. When hiding, it tries to look thin, faces the danger, and closes its eyes into slits." www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Glaucidium&species=ca... Just after 6:00 p.m. - it's SNOWING, again.

As usual, cropped to such a tiny size, but still just about OK to look at on-screen. This photo shows the popcan-sized owl larger than it actually is. Seen at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, on March 15th. You can all give a huge sigh of relief soon, as I have almost run out of photos of this tiny owl, lol - and they will be leaving the park any time now - or may have already gone. Really hope it/they return to Fish Creek next winter, too. They give so much pleasure to birders and photographers alike.

Came across this photo in my files that I decided to post after all, despite the really bad quality. Thought I'd add it to my Northern Pygmy-owl Set to remind me of that sighting in Fish Creek Park and of the overcast, lightless day : ) S/he does still look rather cute, though - sorry I didn't do you justice, little buddy. The ground is white, our trees are white, our sky is white - yes, we are in the middle of a spring snow storm and the WInter Storm Warning is still in effect. We should be used to this, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant, ha. So glad I went out for urgent groceries yesterday afternoon. So, here's a splash of colour for all of you who are once again living in a world of white. At least it's only -2C today, and not -22C or -32C, which is definitely something to be very thankful for. I think these are orchids, but I'm not sure. Photographed at the Calgary Zoo Conservatory on 8th July 2010. Drive carefully, everyone!

Haven't seen this tiny Northern Pygmy-owl for quite a while now, but thought I'd post this image that I took on February 5th in Fish Creek Park. When you look at the photo at this size, you are seeing this bird at very roughly life-size (i.e. fist-sized or popcan-sized). Unless it flies, you are extremely unlikely to ever find this tiny (rare to uncommon in Alberta) bird - unless you are very, very lucky : ) This is heavily cropped, as usual. googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-2229...

Another very distant, heavily cropped shot of one of the two (?) tiny Northern Pygmy-owls in Fish Creek Park, taken the day before yesterday. It was also very overcast - that is, until I was driving home, and the sun came out, ha. I was so desperate to get out for a walk, after being glued to my computer for the last two months. I checked two or three of the "usual" places that I had seen this owl previously, but no sign at all. Knew I needed to get back home to deal with urgent matters, so headed off in the direction of my car. Something stopped me dead in my tracks and when I turned to my right, there, in a distant tree, sat a familiar round shape, looking like nothing but a dark silhouette. Heavily cropped, grainy - who cares? Always such a thrill to see this beautiful little owl, with its piercing eyes. In case anyone who is not familiar with this tiny bird of prey happens to look at this image, this owl is the size of a person's fist or a popcan. Imagine trying to photograph a popcan in a distant tree, lol. Imagine trying to find this rare to uncommon (in Alberta) bird in the first place, ha. It sure kept a broad grin on my face for the rest of the day. Love its little, short tail : ) Then came yesterday, which was spent trying to get my printer/scanner to work! I bought this about a year ago, took maybe five months before I really had time to want to get it set up. I don't usually print or scan things, but have desperately needed it to work the past two months, to get important documents and photos in connection with my Brother's death, over to England. I hadn't realized that you needed to use the CD in order to change the resolution of a scan. Well, what a performance that was, trying to get that to work. I'd get a message telling me to install the software, but then that wouldn't work either. Tried to install it again, and it told me it was already installed, but then when I tried to use it, it told me to install it. After spending a few hours messing around with this, I finally went back to the store to ask what to do. The helpful young man told me to go to the HP website and download the latest driver plus the complete software package. A few hours later, it seemed to be working, thank goodness! Now I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed that nothing else "goes wrong" with my computer. That corrupt Inbox was already way more than I needed, to put it very mildly : ) A thousand new hairs turn grey every time I have to deal with something like this, ha, ha!!! Now I need to deal with a pile of legal papers that are way, way overdue. Some of you may have already seen this video, about our planet and what we are doing to it. I haven't yet watch all of it, but it is exceptionally beautifully filmed. HOME, a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (93 minutes). www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

I do have to laugh when I see my various photos of this tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. It looks as if I am standing just below it, when in fact this little guy was perched on a very distant branch! So far away that I couldn't usually see which way its head was pointing. Just took lots of photos, hoping that it would be pointing my way in at least a few of the shots. And of course, it really doesn't have a tinge of green and purple in its feathers - just nasty chromatic aberation from pointing my camera up towards a totally overcast sky, lol. However, isn't it cute? Seen down in Fish Creek Park at Bebo Grove on February 21st. It was the weirdest thing, because I was walking along the path heading for my car, when I just stopped suddenly in my tracks, and when I turned to my right, there in the far distance sat a familiar little "ball", looking very much like a small wasp's nest on a branch.

The tiny fist-sized or popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl has two distinctive, black nape spots outlined in white on the back of its head, which look like "false" eyes. In this photo, the bird is perched towards me, but its head is rotated to look away from me. Photographed in Fish Creek Park on February 21st.

This little guy/gal had his photo taken so many times yesterday, but almost all my photos will need to be deleted, ha. It was so overcast and my photos just didn't turn out. Many of the shots were very similar, of course, as the activity of these guys is very limited once they are sitting on a branch. Maybe you can picture this as being on the verge of a painting, with all the grain (a nicer name than "noise", I think) : ) This photo makes it look as if the owl is in the open and close, but in fact it was quite dark, looking up towards the top of this tree. And remember that he is only the size of a person's fist or a popcan. A miracle that I spotted him - not that he needs any more spots, lol! Took this shot when the owl flew from his original perch on the other side of the creek

Sorry, lol, I know I said that I was done with posting photos of the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl in Fish Creek Park, but - I saw it again yesterday : ) I had bumped into a group of friends when I arrived at the parking lot and they told me they had seen it. Well, it took a lot of looking, I can tell you! When I finally did spot it, it was towards the top of probably the tallest tree in the area, but it eventually flew to the other side of the path, to the top of the second tallest tree. Again it flew and disappeared. After looking and looking and looking, there it was, not too far away, but in a tree with a tangle of small branches, thankfully with none across the owl itself. These little fist-sized/popcan-sized owls are just about impossible to see : ) I think this was only about the third time I'd had any fresh air at all in the last 5-6 weeks, which is so bad and, though sunshine would have been really nice, I'm sure the short walk did me some good. The owl certainly did : ) These little guys are just so beautiful - and fierce! They are rare to uncommon here in Alberta. www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Glaucidium&species=ca...