Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: introduced species

The large Nodding or Musk Thistle is my favourite species of Thistle. Unfortunately, this quite spectacular and beautiful species is on the list of Restricted, Noxious, and Nuisance Weeds In Alberta. It is a biennial that spreads rapidly by seed forming extremely dense stands, though when I have seen this species growing in several places within the city, there are usually only a few of them. Yesterday, though, I saw how, if left, these Thistles can spread. I finally got out on a botany walk yesterday afternoon, 25 July 2017. The smoke from the British Columbia and Alberta wildfires has cleared, it was a lovely sunny day, and at last the destination was a place to which I could drive. Also, I knew that this would not be a very long walk and it was all on the level. I was hoping that there would at least be a few of these thistles growing. Most of the flowers had died, but I still love those spine-tipped, inner and outer bracts. The flower itself is a beautiful pink/purple. I have added a previously posted photo showing a flower in its prime, in a comment box below. www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/potd/2011/08/carduus-nutans.php en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carduus_nutans This photo was taken at the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area, not far from downtown Calgary. It is the richest botanical area, for its size, within the city. Over 385 species have been recorded in an area of about three hectares. (All of Fish Creek Provincial Park has only about 460 species). Eighty species, however, are aliens, now occupying 90+% of the area. It is such a shame to see how the area is being devastated by plants that include Baby's Breath, Creeping Thistle, Yellow Clematis and other invasive species.

The large Nodding or Musk Thistle is my favourite species of Thistle. When I saw this one, it was the only flower that was not well past its prime. Unfortunately, this quite spectacular and beautiful species is on the list of Restricted, Noxious, and Nuisance Weeds In Alberta. It is a biennial that spreads rapidly by seed forming extremely dense stands, though when I have seen this species growing in several places within the city, there are usually only a few of them. However, if they are left .... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carduus_nutans This photo was taken on 8 October 2015. Friend Sandy had asked if I wanted to go with her to join friends down at the Irrigation Canal in the city, for a birding walk. This was a long walk - three and a half hours - along both sides of the canal. It was a beautiful fall day with a lovely blue sky. Also, enough trees were still dressed in gold to give some colourful reflections in parts f the canal. The water level was very low, creating just a narrow strip of water with a wide mud bank on either side, that had attracted a number of Greater Yellowlegs and a single American Golden-plover juvenile. The latter was a new bird for me and, though I could only get a very distant, poor shot, I did post it on Flickr. To me, a juvenile American Golden Plover looks so similar to a juvenile Black-bellied Plover (from photos I've seen), but the ID for the bird we saw was given as American Golden-plover. Much of the time, there were pale, dead grasses in the background and this bird was almost invisible. Great camouflage. We also saw several Hooded Mergansers there. I don't often see Hooded Mergansers and, when I do see one, it's always a long way away. They are quite spectacular ducks, especially the males, who have a crest at the back of their head and can raise this black and white "hood" or lower it. The list of the 31 bird species seen (not all by me) from our leaders, Dan and David: 1. Canada Goose - 60+ 2. Mallard - 150+ 3. Northern Shoveler - 1 4. Green-winged Teal - 2 5. Hooded Merganser - 3 males 6. Common Merganser - 20+ 7. Double-crested Cormorant - 4 8. Bald Eagle - 1, immature 9. Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (Harlan’s subspecies) 10. Rough-legged Hawk - 5 (4 dark phase, 1 light phase) 11. AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER 12. Killdeer - 1 13. Greater Yellowlegs - 38+ 14. Long-billed Dowitcher - 11 15. Ring-billed Gull - 400+ 16. Herring Gull - 2 17. Rock Pigeon - 32+ 18. Downy Woodpecker - 1 19. Hairy Woodpecker - 2 20. Northern Flicker - 2 21. Merlin - 2 22. Black-billed Magpie - 15+ 23. American Crow - 6 24. Common Raven - 2 25. Black-capped Chickadee - 7 26. White-breasted Nuthatch - 1 27. American Robin - 8 28. European Starling - 18+ 29. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2 30. American Tree Sparrow - 1 31. House Finch - 1

Overslept by an hour and a half, so gotta post and run and see if there is any way to find the group of people I'm supposed to meet up with this morning! Later: the large Nodding or Musk Thistle is my favourite species of Thistle. When I saw this one, it was obviously well past its prime. Unfortunately, this quite spectacular and beautiful species is on the list of Restricted, Noxious, and Nuisance Weeds In Alberta. It is a biennial that spreads rapidly by seed forming extremely dense stands, though when I have seen this species growing in several places within the city, there are usually only a few of them. However, if they are left .... This photo was taken on 8 October 2015. Friend Sandy had asked if I wanted to go with her to join friends down at the Irrigation Canal in the city, for a birding walk. This was a long walk - three and a half hours - along both sides of the canal. It was a beautiful fall day with a lovely blue sky. Also, enough trees were still dressed in gold to give some colourful reflections in parts f the canal. The water level was very low, creating just a narrow strip of water with a wide mud bank on either side, that had attracted a number of Greater Yellowlegs and a single American Golden-plover juvenile. The latter was a new bird for me and, though I could only get a very distant, poor shot, I did post it on Flickr. To me, a juvenile American Golden Plover looks so similar to a juvenile Black-bellied Plover (from photos I've seen), but the ID for the bird we saw was given as American Golden-plover. Much of the time, there were pale, dead grasses in the background and this bird was almost invisible. Great camouflage. We also saw several Hooded Mergansers there. I don't often see Hooded Mergansers and, when I do see one, it's always a long way away. They are quite spectacular ducks, especially the males, who have a crest at the back of their head and can raise this black and white "hood" or lower it. The list of the 31 bird species seen (not all by me) from our leaders, Dan and David: 1. Canada Goose - 60+ 2. Mallard - 150+ 3. Northern Shoveler - 1 4. Green-winged Teal - 2 5. Hooded Merganser - 3 males 6. Common Merganser - 20+ 7. Double-crested Cormorant - 4 8. Bald Eagle - 1, immature 9. Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (Harlan’s subspecies) 10. Rough-legged Hawk - 5 (4 dark phase, 1 light phase) 11. AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER 12. Killdeer - 1 13. Greater Yellowlegs - 38+ 14. Long-billed Dowitcher - 11 15. Ring-billed Gull - 400+ 16. Herring Gull - 2 17. Rock Pigeon - 32+ 18. Downy Woodpecker - 1 19. Hairy Woodpecker - 2 20. Northern Flicker - 2 21. Merlin - 2 22. Black-billed Magpie - 15+ 23. American Crow - 6 24. Common Raven - 2 25. Black-capped Chickadee - 7 26. White-breasted Nuthatch - 1 27. American Robin - 8 28. European Starling - 18+ 29. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2 30. American Tree Sparrow - 1 31. House Finch - 1

The large Nodding or Musk Thistle is my favourite species of Thistle. When I saw this one, it was obviously well past its prime. Unfortunately, this quite spectacular and beautiful species is on the list of Restricted, Noxious, and Nuisance Weeds In Alberta. It is a biennial that spreads rapidly by seed forming extremely dense stands, though when I have seen this species growing in several places within the city, there are usually only a few of them. However, if they are left .... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carduus_nutans This photo was taken on 8 October 2015. Friend Sandy had asked if I wanted to go with her to join friends down at the Irrigation Canal in the city, for a birding walk. This was a long walk - three and a half hours - along both sides of the canal. It was a beautiful fall day with a lovely blue sky. Also, enough trees were still dressed in gold to give some colourful reflections in parts f the canal. The water level was very low, creating just a narrow strip of water with a wide mud bank on either side, that had attracted a number of Greater Yellowlegs and a single American Golden-plover juvenile. The latter was a new bird for me and, though I could only get a very distant, poor shot, I did post it on Flickr. To me, a juvenile American Golden Plover looks so similar to a juvenile Black-bellied Plover (from photos I've seen), but the ID for the bird we saw was given as American Golden-plover. Much of the time, there were pale, dead grasses in the background and this bird was almost invisible. Great camouflage. We also saw several Hooded Mergansers there. I don't often see Hooded Mergansers and, when I do see one, it's always a long way away. They are quite spectacular ducks, especially the males, who have a crest at the back of their head and can raise this black and white "hood" or lower it. The list of the 31 bird species seen (not all by me) from our leaders, Dan and David: 1. Canada Goose - 60+ 2. Mallard - 150+ 3. Northern Shoveler - 1 4. Green-winged Teal - 2 5. Hooded Merganser - 3 males 6. Common Merganser - 20+ 7. Double-crested Cormorant - 4 8. Bald Eagle - 1, immature 9. Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (Harlan’s subspecies) 10. Rough-legged Hawk - 5 (4 dark phase, 1 light phase) 11. AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER 12. Killdeer - 1 13. Greater Yellowlegs - 38+ 14. Long-billed Dowitcher - 11 15. Ring-billed Gull - 400+ 16. Herring Gull - 2 17. Rock Pigeon - 32+ 18. Downy Woodpecker - 1 19. Hairy Woodpecker - 2 20. Northern Flicker - 2 21. Merlin - 2 22. Black-billed Magpie - 15+ 23. American Crow - 6 24. Common Raven - 2 25. Black-capped Chickadee - 7 26. White-breasted Nuthatch - 1 27. American Robin - 8 28. European Starling - 18+ 29. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2 30. American Tree Sparrow - 1 31. House Finch - 1

After a volunteer shift on 23 July 2014, I wasn't too far away from the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area, where I was finally going to go on a botany walk. Having been to this location several times before, I knew it was a short, easy, flat trail, and that I could go as far as I wanted and then turn back early, which is what I did. I've missed pretty well all the botany and birding walks the last few months, which is quite depressing. The main thing I wanted to see were these Nodding / Musk Thistles, as they are my favourite species of Thistle. They are called a "weed", but I love to see them. The sun was unfortunately in the wrong direction, so I was only able to get a couple of OK shots, but better than nothing. Its name, Nodding Thistle, comes from the fact that the flower heads commonly droop to a 90° to 120° angle from the stem when mature. Here in Alberta, this species is a noxious weed - but a beautiful one. With a couple of hours to "kill", I had spent them at the Reader Rock Garden, which was just a few minutes' drive away from the evening botany walk location. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carduus_nutans

I'm posting too many Hound's-tongue photos but they are one of my favourite wildflowers, despite being an introduced species from Europe.