Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: roads

Yesterday, 23 January 2015, was an overcast, dreary day. Really one that I would probably normally stay home for. However, I just had to get out "somewhere" and hopefully bump into a friend along the way. First of all, I called in at Fish Creek Park to see if there was anyone who had seen any sign of the popular tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. Each person told the same story - no, the owl had not made an appearance at all. I don't know anyone who saw it the previous day, either. I wonder what today will bring. There is so much ice on the ground, people need to be really careful down there. From the park, I carried on to the backroads SW of the city, hoping that I might come across someone who had just found the Northern Hawk Owl that has been seen very recently. No sign of this owl, either, but I did pass friend, Rob, doing the same thing as me. He had had no luck. I continued on my usual loop in that area, taking a handful of scenic shots of our spectacular rolling hills and distant mountains, and a beautiful horse. This kind of day is not my favourite kind of day. Really hoping that at least the sun will shine today : )

Yesterday, 23 January 2015, was an overcast, dreary day. Really one that I would probably normally stay home for. However, I just had to get out "somewhere" and hopefully bump into a friend along the way. First of all, I called in at Fish Creek Park to see if there was anyone who had seen any sign of the popular tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. Each person told the same story - no, the owl had not made an appearance at all. I don't know anyone who saw it the previous day, either. I wonder what today will bring. There is so much ice on the ground, people need to be really careful down there. From the park, I carried on to the backroads SW of the city, hoping that I might come across someone who had just found the Northern Hawk Owl that has been seen very recently. No sign of this owl, either, but I did pass friend, Rob, doing the same thing as me. He had had no luck. I continued on my usual loop in that area, taking a handful of scenic shots of our spectacular rolling hills and distant mountains, and a beautiful (young?) horse. Not the best shot, but the animal really caught my eye. This kind of day is not my favourite kind of day : ) Really hoping that at least the sun will shine today.

THIS year's annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton (roughly 98 km / 61 miles S of Calgary) was so different from last year's Count, with more snow mainly seen only on the higher roads, making the roads so much easier to drive, and temperatures that were much milder (-7C). As usual, I got practically no birds photos other than a close shot of a beautiful Sharp-tailed Grouse, but I was very happy to get photos of other things, such as scenery. Needless to say, seeing five (or 6?) distant Golden Eagles was a real treat! I love the landscape in this area, in the SW quadrant of the Count circle for Nanton - rolling hills that are beautiful at any time of year. The LAST Nanton Count was originally supposed to have taken place on 28 December 2013, but the weather forecast warned of a Flash Freeze, and so it was postponed till 5 January 2014. The weather was bright and sunny for us that day. However, photos taken on that day did not show how brutally cold it was! On the hour-long drive south of Calgary, we hit -34C (-29.2F)!!!!! It did eventually warm up a few degrees and thankfully, there was no or very little wind, which makes all the difference. The only walking we had to do was when we called in at various farms and homesteads. One backroad in particular had too much snow on it, so we had to leave that one out. Also, there was just too much snow in many of the farmyards, so we weren't able to check out all the trees and bushes as thoroughly as we would like to have done. After the Count, we returned to the meeting place at the home of Leah and Bill, where they had prepared a delicious supper that they so generously provide each year for us (as well as a breakfast snack). You couldn't wish for a nicer family (includes their son, Mike, who puts in a lot of effort organizing this annual Count each year). I'm posting Andrew Hart's E-bird Summary of our small (just four of us in one car) group's day (leader Tony Timmons). Won't be of interest to most of you, but it helps me remember what we see from year to year! Andrew Hart BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Dec 14, 2014 Number of Checklists: 7 Number of Species: 14 Checklists included in this summary: (1): Williams Coulee Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:20 AM (2): CA-AB-Cayley - 50.3485x-114.0250 - Dec 21, 2014, 8:57 AM Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:55 AM (3): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 9:45 AM (4): CA-AB-Nanton - 50.3330x-113.8737 - Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM (5): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:52 AM (6): Williams Coulee Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:20 PM (7): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:30 PM 36 Sharp-tailed Grouse -- (2),(3) 6 Golden Eagle -- (1),(3),(5),(6) 3 Rough-legged Hawk -- (2),(3),(6) 102 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(4) 1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1) 1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (4) 1 Merlin -- (4) 1 Prairie Falcon -- (1) 27 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7) 42 Common Raven -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7) 11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3),(4) 4 European Starling -- (4) 21 Common Redpoll -- (4) 38 House Sparrow -- (2),(4),(7) Andrew Hart" I will also add leader Tony Timmons' account - simpler to read : ) A few of the numbers are slightly different in each summary, though I'm not quite sure why. We were so lucky to see so many Golden Eagles this Count. "Nanton Count-Area D Species 14 Rough-legged Hawk 3 Golden Eagle 5 Merlin 1 Sharp-tailed Grouse 46 Rock Pigeon 106 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Northern Shrike 1 Black-billed Magpie 36 Common Raven 44 Black-capped Chickadee 11 Common Redpoll 21 European Starling 4 House Sparrow 38 Prairie Falcon 1 Seen in Williams Coulee, included in Area B Tony Timmons" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...