Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Ralph Klein Park

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 10 October 2015, during a day birding trip east of Calgary. A usually happens when we search sloughs/ponds, the birds were all too far away to take photos of them. Instead of a list of the bird species seen, I will add our leader, Terry Korolyk's, detailed account of where we saw what. Thanks so much for this, Terry, and for taking us on another great day of birding! "Ralph Klein Park is a 30 hectares wetland park in the City of Calgary, Alberta. It is named after former premier of Alberta and mayor of Calgary Ralph Klein. Construction started in 2009, and the dedication ceremony was on July 19, 2010." From Wikipedia. calgaryplaygroundreview.com/ralph-klein-park-and-the-oise... "A small, but, very experienced troop of 5 birders turned up for today's Field Trip going east of Calgary. The only bird of note at Glenmore Reservoir when we met was a Common Loon. From there, we left eastward stopping firstly by the City of Calgary Landfill. Good numbers of Gulls, but, amongst all the Ring-billed Gulls were only a few California Gulls. There may have been 1 juvenile Herring Gull. From there, we headed eastward ending up at the Walmart Parking Lot at 17 Avenue and Stoney Trail, where there was a flock of possibly a couple of thousand Gulls. We checked them out. All were Ring-billed Gulls except for 2 FRANKLIN'S GULLS. At October 10, it's getting a bit late for this species. It looks like the good weather has had most of them leave already. From there, we moved on to Chestermere Lake. A regular staging area for Common Mergansers in the Fall, probably 350 were in the north end of the Lake. Also of note were about 50 Bonaparte's Gulls There was nothing much off Sunset Park on the east side of the Lake. From the Dam, we found 2 Common Loons on the far west side; these were probably the same birds that were there a week or so ago. Also, there were 2 adult HERRING GULLS. We also heard here one of our only 2 Red-tailed Hawks of the day. Between the north end of Chestermere and Sunset Park, we went over to McElroy Slough on the other side of Highway One. Upon arrival, we were rewarded with a superb view of an adult NORTHERN SHRIKE. Piles of waterfowl on the slough, but the only birds really of note were 5 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE which included 3 adult males. Other than those, there were extremely large numbers of American Wigeons there today. This seems to be a favorite Fall staging area for this species. Ring-necked Ducks also were still in good numbers there; this species has been hanging on there this Fall. A WESTERN MEADOWLARK was also heard there. From the Dam at Chestermere, we headed over to Highway One and 791. Gadwall dominated here with 450 birds. We continued north on Highway 791 turning east on Inverlake Road. Along here, we had the best bird of the day, a PRAIRIE FALCON moving westward--we had great looks at it flying.The slough south of the road at Range Road 275 was so congested with American Coots, we couldn't estimate the numbers. We didn't see much else of note until we were approaching Langdon on Highway 560, when we watched an adult light-phase Eastern Red-tailed Hawk soar over the intersection. Weed Lake had our only shorebirds of the day with 6 tossed about as a number for Greater Yellowlegs; probably 500-600 Dowitchers, and 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS; October 10 around these parts is getting on for this species. From Weed Lake, we returned to Langdon, driving south, then west on Twp. Rd. 232. A male Ring-necked Pheasant was a surprise find along the road going westward. The large slough east of Shepard didn't hold much, except for possibly 3 BLACKBIRDS, so we moved on to Ralph Klein Park. Large numbers of waterfowl again, almost all resting, particularly Northern Pintail (mind-boggling numbers), and Canada Geese. There were 6 SWANS there today, but because of the distance and wind, we could only identify one of them -- an adult TRUMPETER. At the south end of the Park, a Merlin added to our day's total."

This is part of a large-scale land art sculpture by world renowned artist Beverly Pepper, built at the Ralph Klein Park, on the eastern edge of the city. On 21st April 2013, I went on a trip with a group of friends to visit this fairly new Park, that has several huge ponds. Any body of water has been frozen until very recently, but the ponds were now pretty much open. You can just make out a small group of Swans flying in the distance. I did a quick removal of some very distracting electricity wires. The rest of the land sculpture includes a third, narrower pillar and two "pyramids". Must admit that when I was trying to photograph the display, before I read that these were part of the sculpture, I was wishing that "they" had removed the piles of dirt that were still lying there. There are better angles from which to take photos, but when you are with a group, you can't take off on your own. "The result is astonishing because it looks like it was born here." said Pepper from the Ralph Klein Park dedication ceremony. Her two-year project has two pyramids jutting out of rolling prairie with three steel ‘sentinels’ looming over. It is perched on a hillside looking over Ralph Klein Park’s Environmental Education Centre. "The monoliths at Ralph Klein Legacy Park are meant to herald the uniqueness of the wetlands,” said Pepper. “I believe my work offers a place for reflection and contemplative thought within the context of active urban environments.” www.calgarycitynews.com/2010/07/beverly-peppers-sentinals... Needless to say, I thought of Ralph Klein, who died very recently, when I was out there, mentally thanking him for all he did for Calgary and Alberta over many years.

On 21 April 2013, I went with birding friends on a half-day trip east of the city, to visit the Ralph Klein Park. Most of the time, we had dark clouds overhead, but it was interesting to see this place for the first time. We also drove around the Shepard area to look for birds on the sloughs (ponds). Not much out there, but we did see a very, very distant Ferruginous Hawk perched on a tall light pole along the road into the Park. There was also a single Red-breasted Merganser (much too far away for photos), and several beautiful Black-necked Stilts, that I did manage to capture. "Ralph Klein Park is Calgary's newest major park featuring a man-made wetland that uses natural vegetation to treat stormwater before it is discharged into the Bow River. This state of the art facility delivers innovative environmental education programs and services to Calgary citizens with an emphasis on promoting sustainability and stewardship for a healthy future for the city. The facility serves as the hub for the park and supports the outdoor setting through learning gardens, weather stations, wetland study stations and viewing areas, outdoor amphitheatre, and picnic areas. The Environmental Education Ethics Centre is a LEED® Gold certified building by meeting high performance standards in environmental responsibility and energy efficiency. Ralph Klein Park is the first park to be named for a former mayor during his lifetime. Ralph Klein, who died just recently, was a visionary and tireless advocate on behalf of Calgary and Alberta, and served as Calgary's 32nd Mayor and Alberta's 12th Premier." www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/Locations/SE-parks/Ralph-...