Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: wingspan between 1.8 to 2.3 m (5.9 to 7.5 ft)

The last two weeks, since the car accident I was involved in (but not my fault, thank goodness), I have been on no drives and just two city walks. My car has been repaired, so now there is no excuse (other than that I have various urgent things to see to) for not getting out, but I'm finding it really difficult to get motivated. Thank goodness Christmas Bird Counts are coming up and I'll be getting out and, hopefully, seeing things to photograph. One of the walks I did go on was at Carburn Park, on 8 December 2015. It was an overcast morning, 0C to 4C. Not much in the way of photos - I took maybe a dozen shots and only kept a couple, one of which shows these Bald Eagles by their old nest. The nesting tree is way across on the far side of the river, so all I could get was this very distant photo (fully zoomed). It was so good, though, to see this pair together and I would imagine they are thinking about getting ready to repair and use the nest. This is the final list of the 25 bird species seen (though, as usual, I didn't see all of them): 1. Canada Goose-4385 2. CACKLING GOOSE-4 3. American Wigeon-1 f. 4. Mallard-1500 5. Bufflehead-100 6. Common Goldeneye-600 7. BARROW’S GOLDENEYE-3 m. 8. HOODED MERGANSER-1 f. . 9. Common Merganser-12 10. PIED-BILLED GREBE-1 11. Bald Eagle-5+ (2 ad on nest /3 juv.) 12. Merlin-1 13. KILLDEER-12+ (8 seen in one group). 14. WILSON’S SNIPE-1 15. Belted Kingfisher-1 16. Downy Woodpecker-8 17. Hairy Woodpecker-1 18. Northern Flicker-9 19. Black-billed Magpie-12 20.AMERICAN CROW-13+ 21. Common Raven-7+ 22.Black-capped Chickadee-37 23.White-breasted Nuthatch-4 24.European Starlin-1 25.House Sparrow-12

Unfortunately, poor quality - 48x zoom plus cropped - but we were happy to see this majestic Bald Eagle pretty much out in the open in a distant tree. Taken yesterday, 11 October 2015, during a morning walk in very high winds, at Lafarge Meadows, Fish Creek Park, with friends. The hope that the juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron might still be at a small pond or perched high up in a nearby tree was enough to make me get up early and push me out the front door. Also, I wondered if the rare (in Alberta) Hooded Warbler might still be around in that area. No sign of the Night Heron, but we did see the little Warbler again. It is such a difficult bird to spot and photograph, though I did end up with a single shot - I think even worse than the photo I posted the other day, lol! I'm supposed to be doing a lot more walking, so I felt virtuous by the time I got back home. I will add our leader, Howard Heffler's report of the outing: Even though it was Thanksgiving, six people showed up for a walk from the boat ramp to Lafarge Meadows. Of course the Hooded Warbler that had been reported by several observers all week was a good reason to be a bit late to get the turkey in the oven. And good fortune prevailed as we had excellent, albeit fleeting, views of this little cutie! Other highlights included a Northern Shrike perched near the top of snag beside the trail and a Rough-legged Hawk riding the riding the wind on the other side of the Bow River. We recorded 26 species: Canada Goose 9 Gadwall 4 American Wigeon 207 Mallard 40 Lesser Scaup 65 Bufflehead 12 Common Goldeneye 3 Common Merganser 1 Pied-billed Grebe 2 Great Blue Heron 1 Bald Eagle 2 Rough-legged Hawk 1 American Coot 400 Greater Yellowlegs 5 Ring-billed Gull 50 Rock Pigeon 3 Downy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 2 Northern Shrike 1 Black-billed Magpie 6 American Crow 30 Common Raven 4 Black-capped Chickadee 4 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 European Starling 40 Hooded Warbler 1 Howard Heffler

A photo of this Bald Eagle from deep down in my archives, taken on 16 May 2009, at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre (near Lethbridge). I came across it while juggling and deleting more photos last night, in readiness for all my data being transferred to a new computer tomorrow (all being well). Guessing it will be about three days before it will be ready to set up at home. Just in time before I have very minor surgery (local anaesthetic and nothing to do with the pain I always have, unfortunately)) on my back, which means I wouldn't be able to carry two heavy hard drives or crawl under my computer desk trying to work out what cord plugs into what, lol. Rather close timing for my liking, but it should all work out OK.