Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: © Anne Elliott 2013

From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This photo was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own? It was taken shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too. That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, they didn't seem to be seen for a long time but, more recently, people have been seeing them, fortunately. Hope to eventually get out looking, though I'm not sure when. Depends on winter road conditions and also on when the light-headedness I'm getting (like before Christmas) clears up.

Just posting one photo again today - I'm just not getting time to get out and take many new photos, and my motivation level keeps dropping! Thank goodness for archives! This morning, 19 January 2017, the temperature is +2C and it's supposed to reach +5C this afternoon. Totally overcast, though. No snow to clear off my car, which will feel great when I go to meet a friend for coffee this afternoon. I used to love photographing Eared Grebes, but the last couple of years have not been the best for them, in my own experience. Last summer, 2016, was so wet and I didn't get down to this area very much at all. On 18 May 2013, I had so much fun trying to photograph three or four of these gorgeous Eared Grebes at Frank Lake, SE of Calgary. They were moving fast, changing direction, and diving suddenly. Took me a while, but I got some photos that I was happy with - and a lot that I still need to delete, ha. They really are beautiful birds. I love the patch of golden head feathers, chestnut-brown flanks, and those wonderful red "button" eyes. Always good to see them when they fly north for the summer here. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eared_Grebe/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-necked_Grebe

Posting just the one photo today as I got up much too late and have a pile of things that I have to start seeing to. Looks beautiful outside, sunny and plus 7C!! Feels so good to be out of the deep-freeze, when windchills got down to as low as -34C. This is a fully zoomed image, Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and cropped very slightly. This is a photo from my archives, taken on 28 March 2013. This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit 'owl deprived', ha, ha, because I'm having no luck finding a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, except on the one day when they were so far away, you could barely even see them. So, last night, I took a look at one of my very old owl folders and picked this photo, to remind myself of just how lucky I have often been, when it comes to owls of any kind : ) The year 2013 was a great year for seeing these magnificent birds. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed out of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light is always different each time. I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too : ) All about luck and timing. "Although the Great Gray Owl is the tallest American owl with the largest wingspan, it is just a ball of feathers. It preys on small mammals and has relatively small feet. Both the Great Horned and Snowy owls weigh half again as much, and have larger feet and talons. The oldest recorded Great Gray Owl was at least 18 years, 9 months old and lived in Alberta." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl

Today, 23 December 2016, we are having a heavily overcast day and the snow is steadily falling. Just noticed that there is a Snowfall Warning in effect. The temperature is -6C (windchill -11C). I don't think I need to go out, though, unless to the mailbox. Wish the old days were still here, when the mailman actually put mail in the mailbox right by your front door, instead of everyone having to use community boxes. I had my Christmas yesterday, 22 December, with my daughter. We drove south of the city to the Saskatoon Farm and had a delicious breakfast. She is in so much pain that we can't go for a drive to look for Snowy Owls or old barns. She has an appointment next month and is more than ready to take the absolute earliest date for her surgery. On the way to drop her off at home, we called in at the Glamorgan Bakery - a well-known bakery that we have used for the last few decades. It always feels good to see their traditional cookies, Cheese Buns, cakes and pies. Thanks, Rachel, for a lovely few hours spent together - the best Christmas gift possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After two years, nearly 50,000 votes and thousands of public and expert comments, the Gray Jay is the bird that has finally been chosen as the National Bird of Canada. For all the reasons this bird was chosen, see the link below. www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/meet-our-national-bird-... www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/98hardy+intelligent+g... This photo was taken three years ago, on 15 December 2013, when friends and I drove out to Kananaskis and along the Smith-Dorrien-Spray Trail. They were really hoping to see Moose that day. For me, seeing anything from scenery to maybe a bird or two, is more than enough to keep me happy : ) The only birds we saw were a couple of Ravens and two (or was it three?) Gray Jays (seen in the photo above) and a beautiful male Spruce Grouse. The latter was down on the road when we first saw it in the distance, eating gravel to help its digestive system. Wouldn't you know it, just at that moment, a vehicle came from the opposite direction around a corner, and the bird flew up into a tree and "hid" behind a tangle of branches. You know how that goes - any birder / photographer will have had many similar experiences. I was able to take photos, but nothing too brilliant. Just thrilled to see the Grouse, though, especially a male. There was a lot of snow on the ground out there, though not on the trees. The road itself had been ploughed, which made driving easier. In one spot, the snow plough must have ploughed a little closer to the snowbank along the edge of the road and then drifting snow had been blown on top. Our front wheels started out in snow that was maybe an inch deep, but the deeper snow pulled the car closer and closer to the snowbank - and into the ditch we went!! We were only driving slowly, thank goodness. The snow came well up my side of the car and there was no way I could open the door and get out. Within just a matter of minutes, on this quiet mountain road where we had seen little traffic all day, several cars all came at once. Everyone stopped, discussed the situation, and within a very short time, one of them attached a rope and had us pulled out of the ditch. To say we were very thankful and grateful is an understatement! Can't thank all those people enough for rescuing us - it was later in the day and I knew that light would be fading, and I had visions of us having to spend a very cold night in the car! So, it felt wonderful to once again be on solid ground! For years, I have read about how dangerous this gravel road is, especially in bad weather, but I'd never pictured ending up in a snowbank and ditch, lol. This was just one moment of bad luck. One that thankfully ended safely, so we were able to laugh about it afterwards. Reported by CBC News on 21 December 2013: "December (2013) 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."

A rather blurry shot, but I just couldn't bring myself to delete this little fungus family : ) I'm always happy to come across a group of these beautiful mushrooms. Love the fringe of white on the cap of the younger ones. Found these and a few other species in Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of Calgary, on 17 August 2013. Apparently, 2013 was not a particularly good year for fungi, but I only got out maybe four or so times to look for them. So many places were closed due to devastation caused by Alberta's Flood of the Century in June. It was a strange and quite depressing summer for everyone, especially, of course, for all the many thousands who suffered damage to their homes or lost them completely. It started to rain when I was driving to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 17 August 2013. It had cleared up by the time I got there, but the light was not good within the forest. I'm so glad I didn't turn around and head for home when the rain came, though, as I ended up seeing a group of three rare American Three-toed Woodpeckers. One of the three was definitely a juvenile, as every once in a while, it made a louder sound and the adult that was usually nearby would feed it. I was also lucky enough to see a pair of Ruffed Grouse - oh, and these fungi and a few others : ) There were several cars parked in the parking lot when I arrived, so I felt brave enough to go just a little further into the park than I normally go. So glad I did!

Another photo from my archives. I'm always happy to come across a Puffball or a group of them in the forest. I love the texture on the caps. Found this one and a few other species in Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of Calgary, on 17 August 2013. Apparently, 2013 was not a particularly good year for fungi, but I also only got out maybe four or so times to look for them. So many places were closed due to devastation caused by Alberta's Flood of the Century in June. It was a strange and quite depressing summer for everyone, especially, of course, for all the many thousands of people who suffered damage to their homes or lost them completely.

After today, 5 December 2015, our weather forecast is for five consecutive days of temperatures between 7C and 9C!! Fantastic weather for December! Wish the sun would come out, though - it's another overcast, dreary day. Though this little Squirrel doesn't look very "red", it was seen down in Weaselhead, so it would be surprising if it was an Eastern Gray Squirrel and not a Red Squirrel. The photo was taken on 25 March 2013, too long ago for me to remember for sure. Very often, my photos of Red Squirrels come out very blurry because of the low light deep within the forest. This one actually came out sharp enough. They are such fun creatures, timid, but they do seem to like to perch and watch as we walk past. They defend their territory with a lot of loud, fierce "chattering". "The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is one of three species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus, known as the pine squirrels (the others are the Douglas squirrel, T. douglasii and Mearns's squirrel, T. mearnsi). American red squirrels are also referred to as pine squirrels, North American red squirrels, boomers, chickarees, and fairydiddles. They are medium-sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammals that defend a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coast, where they are replaced by Douglas squirrels. Recently, American red squirrels have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel

From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This shot was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own? Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too. That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, very few people seem to have been seeing them, unfortunately. Hope to get out looking soon. I have to check my car today to see if I can open the hood and then get it closed again. This was difficult to do on Saturday, after a woman suddenly cut right across my lane of moving traffic and there was no time for me to stop. When the other driver and I checked the hood of my car, we found that it was very difficult to get it closed again. I'm really hoping I don't have to take my vehicle in for some kind of repair.

Lol, according to Flickr's added tags, this is my pet cat. Will now delete those tags. Very often, my photos of Red Squirrels come out very blurry because of the low light deep within the forest. This one actually came out sharp enough. Taken in Weaselhead on 25 March 2013. They are such fun creatures, timid, but they do seem to like to perch and watch as we walk past. They defend their territory with a lot of fierce "chattering". "The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is one of three species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus, known as the pine squirrels (the others are the Douglas squirrel, T. douglasii and Mearns's squirrel, T. mearnsi). American red squirrels are also referred to as pine squirrels, North American red squirrels, boomers, chickarees, and fairydiddles. They are medium-sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammals that defend a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coast, where they are replaced by Douglas squirrels. Recently, American red squirrels have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel

I always enjoy seeing Cosmos flowers - these were growing at the Reader Rock Garden on 17 May 2015. I've just checked my photostream to see what I did that day and discovered that this is the very first photo I've posted from the whole file of flower photos taken on 17 May. Love it when that happens, as I then know that I will have some bright, colourful photos to post when winter really arrives, to break the monotony of white and blue images for months on end. "Cosmos is a genus, with the same common name of Cosmos, consisting of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico where most of the species occur, as well as the United States, as far north as the Olympic Pennsula in Washington, Central America, and to South America as far south as Paraguay. The genus includes several ornamental plants popular in gardens." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_ (plant)

This is a photo from my archives, taken on 10 September 2013, at the Reader Rock Garden. As the name states, these flowers bloom in the fall/autumn. This species is poisonous so even though it is a species of saffron, it can not be used as a spice because it is very toxic. "Colchicum autumnale, commonly known as autumn crocus, meadow saffron or naked lady, is a flower that resembles the true crocuses, but blooms in autumn. (This is not a reliable distinction, however, since many true crocuses flower in autumn.) The name "naked lady" comes from the fact that the flowers emerge from the ground long after the leaves have died back." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchicum_autumnale

This photo was taken on 24 July 2013, at the Reader Rock Garden. I enjoy photographing Dandelionswhen they are at this stage, but I can't remember what plant this "receptacle"(?) belonged to. It's only -4C (windchill -8C) this morning, 1 March 2015, so I might just go for a bird walk with friends. Looks like the forecast is for some snow tonight, so I know I should make the most of the sunshine today. So far, next week is looking pretty good weather-wise.

Just a delicate damselfly that happened to fly into my back yard and land on my fence. Came across this old photo last night when I was looking through a folder of images to maybe post to Flickr. I really need to go through my more recent photos and will do so after a quick break from Northern Pygmy-owl and old barn photos : ) It's only -4C (windchill -8C) this morning, 1 March 2015, so I might just go for a bird walk with friends. Looks like the forecast is for some snow tonight, so I know I should make the most of the sunshine today. So far, next week is looking pretty good weather-wise.

Lol, I know there's a much better title for this shot, but my brain is just too tired to function! Maybe something along the lines of "Hmmm, wonder if I can move this one?" or "Hmmm, I THINK it's just the common lichen species"? All I know is that it's a really crummy day out there, yet again. STILL snowing and as dreary as can be. I was supposed to go on a birding walk this morning, but can't face the thought of having to clear the snow off my car and then walk for three hours in -13C (windchill -20C) temperatrures. Been doing it for six months now, and enough is enough, ha. The rest of the week looks like it's expected to be much better, thank goodness. Stay warm, everyone! On 10 August 2013, I went with friend Sandy to Bow Lake, in Banff National Park. It is located along Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway, said to be the most beautiful, scenic road in the world. She had seen a tiny Liverwort (non-vascular plant) maybe a week earlier on a different trip and wanted to go back to check it at a later stage, and asked if I'd like to go with her. How lucky I am! She had hoped that it might be a particular rare species, but as it turned out, it wasn't. Still an interesting species to add to the list of flora and fauna for the area. We walked very slowly along the Bow Glacier Trail, which runs along the right hand edge of the lake, searching for anything of interest and beauty. We went as far as the second rock fall, but didn't hike up to the Bow Glacier Falls. At the first rock fall, we were entertained, while having lunch, by several of these small Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels. They look rather similar to a Chipmunk and are very fast-moving animals, ha. They love a rocky mountain slope for their habitat. I posted a second, previously posted photo in a comment box. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-mantled_ground_squirrel This photo is in the following SETS: WILD ANIMALS OF ALBERTA 2 www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157627108424381/ BOW LAKE & BOW GLACIER TRAIL www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157635021387503/ EXPLORE, FLICKR www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157594372373773

Sunday, 30 March 2014, and it's snowing - again, with more to come tomorrow. Temperature is -6C, windchill -12C. Only seven new photos from My Flickr Contacts this morning? 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! We left Calgary at 7:15 a.m., but by the time we arrived at Frank Lake, our first destination, 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 4:00 p.m.. Noticeably lacking were small birds, such as Snow Buntings - so we 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 The absolutely gorgeous, Crow-sized Long-eared Owl, seen in the photo above, was on someone's private land. We were given permission to wander around, searching the trees and open area. A few people had gone ahead of me just a matter of steps, when suddenly, to my amazement and total delight, I noticed this little owl hiding deep within a Spruce tree : ))) Couldn't believe my eyes! I've seen three of these Crow-sized owls before, but each time is as exciting as if it were the very first time. Actually, we had already seen another Long-eared Owl earlier in the day! You won't believe this, but two trees away from this Spruce tree - the trees were all squashed together and looked more like one huge tree - there was a beautiful Great Horned Owl! Of course, we were all hoping that the GHO wouldn't take the smaller owl for its supper! Oh, did I mention that two Short-eared Owls were spotted by someone in the first car, hidden amongst the dead grasses? They were sitting there, facing each other, and I managed to just get a couple of rather poor photos. Another thrill of the day : ) 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! This photo is in the following SETS: BIRDS OF ALBERTA 8 www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157633662858024/ OWLS 2 www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157625490621680/ LONG-EARED OWL www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157638800222153/ FRANK LAKE & AREA www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157629680856126/ EXPLORE, FLICKR www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/sets/72157594372373773/

This photo was taken at the Reader Rock Garden on 26 July 2013. Though the sun is shining this morning so far, we had more snow the last couple of days. Six months of so much white makes people desperate for colour. I'm not getting out with my camera, other than a walk a few days ago, when we saw the Long-tailed Weasel. I'm still not driving on those snow-covered backroads, though I'm really, really itching to get out there. It's -7C today, with a windchill of -14C. What a slow day on Flickr - gee, I wonder if the new format has anything to do with that, ha. Only half to a third of the more normal number of total views. I'd rather think that lots of people are out enjoying themselves today, rather than completely baffled by the new Flickr! Still sorting out my new computer and all the related mess, which is one of the main reasons I'm not getting out anywhere. The last thing to go "wrong" was when I bought yet another external hard drive a few days ago - a 3 TB Western Digital "My Book" . Before I went to the store, I had read a handful of forum comments on Google about Western Digital and most were positive. However, after I had bought the drive, and set it to do an automatic back-up, after two hours or so, it stopped working and I got the error code 0x8078002A. Googling it, I discovered that Windows 7 does not work with 3 TB external drives - need to do more research, as I'm not sure it works even with 2 TBs. Interesting that the sales guy encouraged me to buy the 3 TB one, as it was only a few dollars more expensive than the 2 TB. They have a no return policy on an opened box, which is really annoying. I've had so much trouble with external hard drives that I'm beginning to lose all confidence in them as a back-up!

It started to rain when I was driving to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 17 August 2013. It had cleared up by the time I got there, but the light was not good within the forest. I'm so glad I didn't turn around and head for home when the rain came, though, as I ended up seeing a group of three of these rare American Three-toed Woodpeckers. Not the best photos, but with some brightening, I think a few are fit to use. One of the three was definitely a juvenile, as every once in a while, it made a louder sound and the adult that was usually nearby would feed it. I was also lucky enough to see a pair of Ruffed Grouse - oh, and a few mushrooms : ) There were several cars parked in the parking lot when I arrived, so I felt brave enough to go just a little further into the park than I normally go. So glad I did! These are rare birds here, so I feel very lucky to have seen this one and any others in the past. "Woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks all possess zygodactyl feet. Zygodactyl feet consist of four toes, the first (hallux) and the fourth facing backward and the second and third facing forward. This foot arrangement is good for grasping the limbs and trunks of trees. Members of this family can walk vertically up a tree trunk, which is beneficial for activities such as foraging for food or nest excavation." From Wikipedia. This tells why the American Three-toed Woodpecker is different : ) The Black-backed Woodpecker, rare here, also only has three toes. "In North America, data suggest that its populations may be declining, while long-term data from northern Europe leave little doubt that populations in Finland and Sweden are indeed declining." From birdsofalberta.com.

On 3 August 2013, a group of us was lucky enough to spend the day hiking on the Nature Conservancy of Canada land at the Beynon Ecological Preserve, a long drive east of Calgary. This area is not far from Drumheller, in the Badlands of Alberta. This is one of the views from the highest point that we walked - such a beautiful landscape, especially different views that show the more eroded canyons that are typical of the Badlands. Ha, we WILL have summer this year, won't we??? "Beynon is primarily a private 500+ acre ecological preserve. Located within a deeply sculpted portion of the Rosebud River valley, the area is recognized as being regionally significant. Due to its unique topography, picturesque valley setting, and relative rarity in terms of biodiversity, Beynon protected its surrounding area by permanently protecting over 400 acres (1.6 km2) from development. This protection was achieved by way of an outright donation of land by Beynon's founding family, who still own most of the unincorporated area called Beynon. The Nature Conservancy of Canada were the recipients of the 400-acre (1.6 km2) land donation in 1999." From Wikipedia. By the way, the Beynon Canyon was featured in the cemetery scene from the 1978 film Superman: The Movie. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beynon,_Alberta