Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: equipment

Last night, I discovered that I had these five photos on a third camera (my Panasonic FZ1000). Of course, that is the downfall of using more than one camera - more complicated when dealing with the photos afterwards. The two barn photos were drive-by shots taken on the long drive from Toronto airport to our hotel, Best Western, in Leamington, Ontario. The other three photos were taken on the evening when we first arrived in Leamington, on 6 May 2018. Our hotel, Best Western, was just a short drive from Pt Pelee, and we explored a few roads outside the park before it was time to fall into bed after a long day of flying and driving. We had such a beautiful sunset that evening, 6 May 2018 and we also found a little Yellow Warbler in the trees edging Lake Erie. I'm posting these five photos all in one go, to keep them together, as they should have been the very first photos I uploaded from this trip. Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Leamington, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as cameras are enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them. We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants). The Friends of Point Pelee have food available at lunch time that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks with a guide each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary. At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Kodiak, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to Brandy Pot Island, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for me, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno, piloted by Greg) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos. It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time. Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early evening on 19 May. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )

Last night, I discovered that I had these five photos on a third camera (my Panasonic FZ1000). Of course, that is the downfall of having to use more than one camera - more complicated when dealing with the photos afterwards. The two barn photos were taken on the long drive from Toronto airport to our hotel, Best Western, in Leamington, Ontario. The other three photos were taken on the evening when we first arrived in Leamington, on 6 May 2018. Our hotel, Best Western, was just a short drive from Pt Pelee, and we explored a few roads outside the park before it was time to fall into bed after a long day of flying and driving. We had such a beautiful sunset that evening, 6 May 2018 and we also found a little Yellow Warbler in the trees edging Lake Erie. I'm posting these five photos all in one go, to keep them together, as they should have been the very first photos I uploaded from this trip. Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Leamington, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago. Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as cameras are enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them. We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!! We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants). The Friends of Point Pelee have food available at lunch time that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks with a guide each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary. At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking! We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Kodiak, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to Brandy Pot Island, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for me, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno, piloted by Greg) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos. It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time. Think I had better stop typing! As I add more photos, I can add bits of extra information. We only arrived home fairly early evening on 19 May. Still so tired, especially as I was up at any time from 4:45 am to 6:00 am each morning, many hours earlier than I usually get up, being such a dreadful night owl! Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )

This was Snowy Owl number 4 that we came across three days ago, on 13 January 2018, when a group of us went east of the city in search of owls and anything else. This was the last Snowy that friend Tony and I saw before it was time for us to get back to the city, as he had some final preparations to get done before heading off on a trip. After we had left the rest of the group, we came across a fifth Snowy, perched on a piece of machinery in a field. A nice treat before we headed back to civilization. I heard later that the rest of the group saw a total of seven Snowy Owls, as they stayed out for the whole afternoon. Despite seeing a total of 8 Snowies on this day, this winter doesn't seem to be a good year for these owls. Some years, the Internet is full of photos of these spectacular visitors, but this year I'm not seeing many. Thanks so much for the ride, Tony - so much appreciated, as always. After all the frigid weather we have had so far this winter, this day felt balmy. Actually, I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it must have been above 0C. There was no cold wind and it just felt pleasant. The sun was shining and the sky was full of 'good' clouds. Not sure why almost all my photos were too blurry to keep - maybe the light wasn't as good as I thought it was. However, I did get a shot of each of the owls, so I'm happy. A few other bird species were also seen, including Common Redpolls and Horned Larks, Gray Partridge, Magpies, etc.. Tony also spotted a Prairie Falcon on our way back to the city. Many thanks, Terry, as usual, for taking us on this owl prowl. It was a great trip and, especially for those who had never seen a Snowy Owl before, a most amazing experience. As with any kind of owl, it doesn't matter how many one sees, I always find each time is as awesome as the very first time.

This was the fifth Snowy Owl that friend Tony and I saw E of the city two days ago, on 13 January 2018, after leaving the rest of the group, as we needed to get back to the city. A nice treat before we headed back to civilization. I can't tell the difference between the females and juveniles, as both have dark streaking. Adult males are easy to ID, as they are pure white. When we were with the group, we saw the first four owls. After we left, we saw just this one new owl, while the rest of the group saw three other Snowies. A total of 8 different individuals that were seen. This winter doesn't seem to be a good year for these owls. Some years, the Internet is full of photos of these spectacular visitors, but this year I'm not seeing many. Thanks so much for the ride, Tony - so much appreciated, as always. After all the frigid weather we have had so far this winter, yesterday felt balmy. Actually, I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it must have been above 0C. There was no cold wind and it just felt pleasant. The sun was shining and the sky was full of 'good' clouds. Not sure why almost all my photos were too blurry to keep - maybe the light wasn't as good as I thought it was. However, I did get a shot of each of the owls, so I'm happy. A few other bird species were also seen, including Common Redpolls and Horned Larks, Gray Partridge, Magpies, etc.. Tony also spotted a Prairie Falcon on our way back to the city. I will add Terry's list of birds seen by the end of the day in a comment box below. Many thanks, Terry, as usual, for taking us on this owl prowl. It was a great trip and, especially for those who had never seen a Snowy Owl before, a most amazing experience. As with any kind of owl, it doesn't matter how many one sees, I always find each time is as awesome as the very first time.

"Sugar was the key crop in Tobago from the time that Gedney Clarke, a British landowner, exported the first shipment in 1770. The cultivation, reaping and processing of sugar canes dominated all aspects of island life and culture into the early 1900s. Although very little sugar cane is now grown (and that only for consumption by the planters), the island is dotted with rusting machinery and crumbled stone walls – silent reminders of the sugar days." From The Guardian. Now, tourism has become the main source of income on the island. www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/01/top-10-attractions... This outing was on Day 2 of our 8 days on Trinidad and Tobago, 14 March 2017, on the island of Tobago and we were taken to the Main Ridge Forest Reserve via the Roxborough-Parlatuvier Rd. This is the oldest rainforest reserve in the western hemisphere, set up in 1776 under British rule. Our guide was Gladwyn James, whose father, Adolphus James, is a renowned ornithologist on the island. Sadly, he is now retired. One of the roads we drove along was named "James Path" in honour of his father - I do have a photo of Gladwyn standing by the road sign, that I will post another day. Actually, I sent the photo to our main naturalist here, as he had done a similar outing with Gladwyn's father, back on 2nd March 1978! I hope to add an extra bit of information about each photo to the very simple, basic description. Right now, I'm still trying to work out where I was and when, lol! We left Calgary on 12 March 2017 and arrived back home in the evening of 21 March 2017. I was totally dead beat after such a busy time away, dealing with extremely early mornings and hot, humid weather. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a dreadful night-owl, so getting up around 5:15 am was an absolute killer. Also, heat and humidity don't agree with my body, so each trip out was quite exhausting. In the morning of 21 March, we had to get up around 2:00 am, as we had such an early flight (5 and a half hours) from Trinidad to Toronto - followed by a four-hour flight back to Calgary, with lots of waiting in between. On our very first day, we had three flights in a row, as we flew from Calgary to Toronto, then Toronto to Port of Spain on Trinidad, from where we had a short flight to the island of Tobago. This adventure was only the second holiday (or was it actually my third?) of any kind, anywhere, that I have had in something like 30 or 35 years! The other holiday was a wonderful, one-week holiday with my great friends from England, Linda and Tony, when we went down south to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons in September 2012. I have had maybe half a dozen weekends away, including to Waterton National Park, which have helped keep me going. Six birding/photographer friends and I decided that we would take this exciting trip together, spending the first two or three days on the island of Tobago and then the rest of the time at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the nearby, larger island of Trinidad. We decided to take a complete package, so everything was included - flights (we were so very lucky to get Black Friday prices, which were 50% off!), accommodation at both places, all our food, and the various walks and day trips that we could chose from. Two of my friends, Anne B. and Brenda, saw to all the planning of flights and accommodations, which was so very much appreciated by the rest of us. I could never have done all this myself! What a time we had, seeing so many beautiful things - and, of course, everything was a lifer for me. Some of these friends had visited Costa Rica before, so were familiar with quite a few of the birds. There was a lot more to see on Trinidad, so we were glad that we chose Tobago to visit first and then spend a longer time at Asa Wright. It was wonderful to be right by the sea, though, at the Blue Waters Inn on the island of Tobago. The Asa Wright Nature Centre on the much larger island of Trinidad is such an amazing place! We stayed in cabins up or down hill from the main building. Really, one doesn't need to travel away from the Centre for birding, as so many different species visit the Hummingbird feeders that are right by the huge, open veranda, and the trees of the rain forest high up a mountainous road. The drive up and down this narrow, twisting, pot-holed road was an adventure in itself! Never would I ever do this drive myself - we had a guide who drove us everywhere in a van/small bus. I had read many accounts of this road, lol! There was just enough room for two vehicles to squeeze past each other, and the honking of horns was almost continuous - either to warn any vehicle that might be coming around the next bend or as a sign that drivers knew each other. The drive along this road took just over an hour each way. I still miss the great food that was provided every single day at Asa Wright and the Rum Punch that appeared each evening. I never drink at all, so I wasn't sure if I would even try the Punch - glad I did, though, as it was delicious and refreshing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served buffet-style, with a huge variety of dishes from which to choose. To me, pure luxury. So very, very grateful to have been invited to be part of this amazing adventure.