Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: High River Bird Count

On 17 December 2013, it was a long day of Christmas Bird Count south of the city. A group of nine of us, travelling in two vehicles, covered part of the huge circle around High River. A few others from Calgary, plus quite a few people from the town, covered the rest. We were so lucky with the weather - the temperature actually got up to 9C! (Ha, as I'm typing today, 5 January 2014, it's -25C with a windchill of -31C). We left Calgary at 7:15 a.m., but by the time we arrived at Frank Lake, our first destination (seen in the photo above), the sunrise was just beginning. On this count last year, every plant and blade of dry grass was covered in wonderful hoar frost - not so lucky this time. Snow depth was from bare ground to 15 cm, with drifts to 100cm, and there was no open water at the lake. From the report: 6 kms on foot; 75kms by car; 3 hrs on foot, 5 hours by car. The day was spent driving the backroads, and calling in at various homesteads and farms. We had three species of owl, which, as you can imagine, delighted everyone in my group. We had hoped to see a Snowy Owl, but no luck this year. My group had 19 species of bird by the end of the day - we finished driving around 3:00 p.m..Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so I had to make do with owls, lol! The final list for our group, covering two areas, was: Mallard-12/ 0= 12 Northern Pintail-1 f./ 0= 1 Common Goldeneye-4/0= 4 Gray Partridge-17/30= 47 Ring-necked Pheasant-3/0= 3 Bald Eagle-1ad/1ad= 2 Northern Harrier-1/ 0= 1 Great Horned Owl-4/1= 5 Long-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Short-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Rock Pigeon-47/7= 54 Downy Woodpecker-1/ 0= 1 Northern Flicker-1/0= 1 Black-billed Magpie-7/24= 31 Common Raven-2/1= 3 Horned Lark-2/0= 2 Black-capped Chickadee-0/1= 1 American Tree Sparrow-6/0= 6 House Sparrow-35/140= 175 At the end of the day, some of the people involved in this count stayed for a pot-luck supper. Thanks so much to everyone who organized this annual Count and worked so hard with preparing for the meal. We always enjoy this time at the end of a long day, chatting about what we'd all been seeing in the various segments of the huge circle. Special thanks to Greg Wagner, who organized the whole event - well done, as usual, Greg : ) Thanks so much, Lorrie and John, for driving some of us the whole day and for picking me up and bringing me home - really appreciate your coming well out of your way to do this! Today, it's going to be a long, brutally cold day of birding on the Nanton Christmas Bird Count, roughly an hour's drive S of Calgary. Had to set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. (after getting to sleep around 2:15 a.m.). Be back later.

On 17 December 2013, it was a long day of Christmas Bird Count south of the city. A group of nine of us, travelling in two vehicles, covered part of the huge circle around High River. A few others from Calgary, plus quite a few people from the town, covered the rest. We were so lucky with the weather - the temperature actually got up to 9C! (Ha, as I'm typing, it's -22C with a windchill of -30C!) We left Calgary at 7:15 a.m., but by the time we arrived at Frank Lake, our first destination (seen in the photo above), the sunrise was just beginning. On this count last year, every plant and blade of dry grass was covered in wonderful hoar frost - not so lucky this time. Snow depth was from bare ground to 15 cm, with drifts to 100cm, and there was no or little open water at the lake. From the report: 6 kms on foot; 75kms by car; 3 hrs on foot, 5 hours by car. The day was spent driving the side roads, and calling in at various homesteads and farms. We had three species of owl, which, as you can imagine, delighted everyone in my group. We had hoped to see a Snowy Owl, but no luck this year. My group had 19 species of bird by the end of the day - we finished driving around 3:00 p.m..Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so I had to make do with owls, lol! The total species count for the whole of the circle was 40. The final list for our small group, covering two areas, was: Mallard-12/ 0= 12 Northern Pintail-1 f./ 0= 1 Common Goldeneye-4/0= 4 Gray Partridge-17/30= 47 Ring-necked Pheasant-3/0= 3 Bald Eagle-1ad/1ad= 2 Northern Harrier-1/ 0= 1 Great Horned Owl-4/1= 5 Long-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Short-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Rock Pigeon-47/7= 54 Downy Woodpecker-1/ 0= 1 Northern Flicker-1/0= 1 Black-billed Magpie-7/24= 31 Common Raven-2/1= 3 Horned Lark-2/0= 2 Black-capped Chickadee-0/1= 1 American Tree Sparrow-6/0= 6 House Sparrow-35/140= 175 At the end of the day, some of the people involved in this count stayed for a pot-luck supper. Thanks so much to everyone who organized this annual Count and worked so hard with preparing for the meal. We always enjoy this time at the end of a long day, chatting about what we'd all been seeing in the various segments of the huge circle. Special thanks to Greg Wagner, who organized the whole event - well done, as usual, Greg : )

A group of nine of us took part in the town of High River's Christmas Bird Count, half an hour's drive south of Calgary, two days ago, 17 December 2013. As far as owls go, we were so lucky to find 5 Great Horned Owls, 2 Long-eared Owls and 2 Short-eared Owls. We had been hoping to find a Snowy Owl, too, like on last year's Count, but we were out of luck this time. The two Short-eared Owls were sitting facing each other in the long, dry grasses not far from the edge of the road. I could just grab a couple of shots of each Owl from my seat in the back of the second car - not good photos, but at least you can get an idea of what we saw. An article that discusses the importance of Bird Preservation and why Bird Counts are important: birding.about.com/od/birdconservation/a/importconserve.htm

A group of nine of us took part in the town of High River's Christmas Bird Count, half an hour's drive south of Calgary, two days ago, 17 December 2013. As far as owls go, we were so lucky to find 5 Great Horned Owls, 2 Long-eared Owls and 2 Short-eared Owls. We had been hoping to find a Snowy Owl, too, like on last year's Count, but we were out of luck this time. The two Short-eared Owls were sitting facing each other in the long, dry grasses not far from the edge of the road. I could just grab a couple of shots of each Owl from my seat in the back of the second car - not good photos, but at least you can get an idea of what we saw. An article that discusses the importance of Bird Preservation: birding.about.com/od/birdconservation/a/importconserve.htm

Two days ago, 17 December 2013, it was a long day of Christmas Bird Count south of the city. A group of nine of us, travelling in two vehicles, covered part of the huge circle around High River. A few others from Calgary, plus quite a few people from the town, covered the rest. We were so lucky with the weather - the temperature actually got up to 9C! (Ha, as I'm typing, it's -22C with a windchill of -30C!) We left Calgary at 7:15 a.m., but by the time we arrived at Frank Lake, our first destination (seen in the photo above), the sunrise was just beginning. On this count last year, every plant and blade of dry grass was covered in wonderful hoar frost - not so lucky this time. Snow depth was from bare ground to 15 cm, with drifts to 100cm, and there was no open water at the lake. From the report: 6 kms on foot; 75kms by car; 3 hrs on foot, 5 hours by car. The day was spent driving the side roads, and calling in at various homesteads and farms. We had three species of owl, which, as you can imagine, delighted everyone in my group. We had hoped to see a Snowy Owl, but no luck this year. My group had 19 species of bird by the end of the day - we finished driving around 3:00 p.m..Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so I had to make do with owls, lol! The total species count for the whole of the circle was 40. The final list for our group, covering two areas, was: Mallard-12/ 0= 12 Northern Pintail-1 f./ 0= 1 Common Goldeneye-4/0= 4 Gray Partridge-17/30= 47 Ring-necked Pheasant-3/0= 3 Bald Eagle-1ad/1ad= 2 Northern Harrier-1/ 0= 1 Great Horned Owl-4/1= 5 Long-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Short-eared Owl-2/0= 2 Rock Pigeon-47/7= 54 Downy Woodpecker-1/ 0= 1 Northern Flicker-1/0= 1 Black-billed Magpie-7/24= 31 Common Raven-2/1= 3 Horned Lark-2/0= 2 Black-capped Chickadee-0/1= 1 American Tree Sparrow-6/0= 6 House Sparrow-35/140= 175 At the end of the day, some of the people involved in this count stayed for a pot-luck supper. Thanks so much to everyone who organized this annual Count and worked so hard with preparing for the meal. We always enjoy this time at the end of a long day, chatting about what we'd all been seeing in the various segments of the huge circle. Special thanks to Greg Wagner, who organized the whole event - well done, as usual, Greg : )

A group of eight of us drove south of Calgary on 18 December 2012, to take part in the annual High River Christmas Bird Count. We covered all the backroads in the SE quadrant of the huge circle around the town. One of the places we stopped at was Frank Lake, a very popular place for birders. This photo was taken, looking towards the sun, giving what I thought was quite a nice effect. Have to admit that while the others were scanning the lake for any sign of wildlife, I was enjoying myself taking scenic shots and ice-crystals : ) I've marked this shot on my map, but placed it in the middle of Frank lake, as I'm not sure just where we were. We started our search at around 8:30 a.m. and returned to the meeting place around 5:00 p.m., when we handed in our results and stayed for a delicious potluck supper. Thanks so much to the local birders who organized this most enjoyable ending to a long day! Our small group's sightings for the day: Mallard 9 in am at Frank Lake; 7 seen flying there in late pm. Common Goldeneye-4 Bald Eagle-4 ad. Northern Goshawk-2 ad. Rough-legged Hawk-1 Merlin-2 Gray Partridge-12 Sharp-tailed Grouse-5 Rock Pigeon-26 Great Horned Owl-5 Snowy Owl-1 (seen 3 times). Downy Woodpecker-1 m. Black-billed Magpie-34 Common Raven-8 Northern Shrike-1 American Tree Sparrow-3 Snow Bunting-807 Common Redpoll-925 Hoary Redpoll-1 House Sparrow-245

Another cold, wintry shot of six of us at Frank Lake. A group of eight of us had travelled south of Calgary to High River, to take part in the annual High River Christmas Bird Count, on 18 December 2012.

Another cold image from 18 December 2012, when a group of eight of us drove south of the city to High River, to take part in the annual Audubon High River Christmas Bird Count. My group, travelling in two cars, covered the SE quadrant of the huge circle centred on the town of High River, driving along all the backroads and calling in at several farms. This photo was taken when we stopped at Frank Lake and walked along the inlet. As you can imagine, after a long day of birding, the delicious Pot Luck supper that was held at the meeting place was so much enjoyed and appreciated. Actually, it wasn't as bitterly cold as it might look from my photo. Started off at -10C and ended up soaring to -3C. I think it was about five years ago, that our Bird Counts were done in -30C weather! Now that was brutal!! With the holiday season upon us, here is a reminder from YouTube, that I saw on Dan's Facebook page. Please Don't Drink and Drive! Warning - very graphic - but that is what is needed! And yet people continue to do so ... youtu.be/45oV6PssNu4

This was taken on 18 December 2012, when a group of eight of us drove south of the city to High River, to take part in the annual Audubon High River Christmas Bird Count. My group, travelling in two cars, covered the SE quadrant of the huge circle centred on the town of High River, driving along all the backroads and calling in at several farms. This photo was taken when we stopped at Frank Lake and walked along the inlet. I think I'm right when I say these are Thistles of some kind, but of course I could be wrong. They just looked so beautiful covered in ice crystals. As you can imagine, after a long day of birding, the delicious Pot Luck supper that was held at the meeting place was so much enjoyed and appreciated. Actually, it wasn't as bitterly cold as it might look from my photo. Started off at -10C and ended up soaring to -3C. I think it was about five years ago (no, four years ago), that our annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts were done in -30C weather! Now that was brutal!!