Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Finch

House Finches are fairly common birds here in the city, but I rarely get to see them myself. This little female gave me a chance to get one photo that was sharp enough, when she was visiting the garden of my friends, Dorothy and Stephen, on 27 July 2014. We had all been to someone's garden for a "tour" and Dorothy asked if I would like some fresh lettuce from her garden. Well, I was treated to not only a bag of lettuce to take home, but a most welcome cup of tea and yummy goodies. When I got home, I discovered under the bag of lettuce not only some extra treats to eat, but Dorothy had also picked all sorts of tiny flowers from her garden and carefully arranged them in two plastic containers. They looked so beautiful and were so much appreciated! You guys are two special people - thank you, as always, for your kindness!

I believe this is the first Purple Finch that I've ever seen, so despite the fact that this is a really bad photo, I wanted to add it to my Birds of Alberta 9 album. This colourful little bird was seen through a chain link fence at Barb Castell's property. It gave us just a couple of quick chances for a photo. Taken on 25 May 2014, when a small group of seven of us covered the roads SW of Calgary, and W of Priddis, for the annual May Species Count. Barb has such a great garden with feeders and we look forward each year to visiting her on our count. Evening Grosbeaks are almost a guarantee there, at certain times of the year, so we really appreciate Barb letting us come and see them. Total of 69 bird species were seen on this Count day. "The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” For many of us, they’re irregular winter visitors to our feeders, although these chunky, big-beaked finches do breed in northern North America and the West Coast. Separating them from House Finches requires a careful look, but the reward is a delicately colored, cleaner version of that red finch. Look for them in forests, too, where you’re likely to hear their warbling song from the highest parts of the trees." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/purple_finch/id?utm_source=Co... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_finch

I rarely get out any more for an actual walk, especially in the winter months. This winter has been brutally cold with so much snow, which has now turned to ice, thanks to the comparatively mild weather we've had recently. Today, the forecast is for snow again, sigh. Anyway, I managed to push myself out the front door yesterday (28 January 2014) to go for a walk in Weaselhead with friends. The morning started off unpleasantly cold, but gradually warmed up. The pathways were covered in ice and one person did fall, unfortunately, so I was relieved I had my ice grabbers on my winter boots. We had a few nice sightings, which gave reasonable photo opps, including several House Finches, a Downy Woodpecker, and a beautiful little Snowshoe Hare who was well camouflaged against the snow and was hiding in a tangle of branches. At the end of the walk, a Coyote was spotted, hunting in the field by the parking lot. A most enjoyable walk in good company : ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Finch

I managed a walk in Weaselhead this morning - seemed to be feeling not too bad, but maybe I should have stayed home all day instead : ). We were lucky to see some Pine Grosbeaks there and a couple were beautiful, red males, including this one.

A distant shot of this little American Goldlfinch. He was flitting from one stretch of barbed-wire to the next, near the row of 5 red sheds/granaries south of 22X three days ago. So, I had a real good dose of brilliant yellow, as I was standing next to a field of bright yellow Canola while watching this bright yellow bird.

Not a very good shot, but it's the only one I have of a female Evening Grosbeak. Didn't manage to get it in the tree, so here it is, on a ledge outside a window. Seen on the property of the Castell family, south west of Calgary.

We were lucky to see this young Pine Grosbeak a little more out in the open on 3rd March, in Weaselhead. Pretty birds and a species that I don't usually get to see, especially close (though this is a cropped image!). I have an old T-Con 1.7 from when I had my very first digital camera (Olympus C750UZ). Finally I bought an adaptor tube so that I can now use it with my Panasonic point-and-shoot. I have to admit that I find it a nuisance, as I can't use it for most of my photos. However, the tube cost me just $39, so I thought I might as well give it a try.

Finally, a bird photo! Several of these colourful birds were down on the ground in the parking lot at West Bragg Creek, on 25 August 2012, when a group of us were getting ready to head out on one of the trails to look for mushrooms. Full zoom and lots of cropping as they were large specks half way across the parking lot, but I rarely get to see these Crossbills. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-winged_crossbill/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-barred_Crossbill

Not the sort of photo I like, but I so rarely see a House Finch that is within camera distance : ) This was taken along a residential street next to Carburn Park two days ago. This male was such a beautiful colour - and yes, we actually had blue sky, which felt so good! Very heavily cropped : )

Took this photo two days ago, but it didn't come out much at all. A little bit of work on it and it's just about fit to post. It was taken in Weaselhead on a frigid day, -27C. Much too cold to hold the camera steady, but, as I rarely get photos of these beautiful little Common Redpolls, I was glad to have any photo. "An abundant breeding bird of the boreal and taiga regions, the Common Redpoll is seen in North America primarily only in the winter. Even then, it generally occurs during irruptions, typically every other year." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/id/ac "Weaselhead Flats lay at the mouth of the Elbow River in the southwest part of the city. The park was created in the early 1980s and occupies about 237 hectares. The origin of the name is uncertain but it is likely named after the Tsuu T'ina Chief Weaselhead who was in power at the time of European contact." www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/Locations/SW-parks/Weasel...

Managed to get a photo or two of the Common Redpolls when I was at Carburn Park yesterday. There are plenty of these pretty little birds in the city this year. Out for the day today .... Does anyone know that this is a female Common Redpoll for sure and not a Hoary Redpoll? Guess I should have thought of asking this sooner, not when everyone had already commented! www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Redpoll/lifehistory/ac I uploaded today's photos really early this morning, before meeting Flickr friends Ron and Trish at Carburn Park. Trish had never seen a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl, so that was the most important thing to do today! After that was very successfully accomplished, Ron drove us around the beautiful backroads NE and E of the city for a few hours, looking for Snowy Owls! I should mention that on two separate days, he had found a total on each day of 18 of these majestic, breathtaking birds of prey, so I was feeling really confident. Ron did what he does best - finding birds!! Even though I have seen him do this on several occasions, I still don't know how he does it. Anyway, he found a total of 12 Snowy Owls for us today! The forecast was for cloudy periods - well, all we had was cloud all the time, so I really wasn't at all hopeful that my photos would turn out. Amazingly, they seem to be OK, though I haven't looked at them properly. A bit of brightening will no doubt show up all the flaws - but, we'll see : ) I really do want to add something here - I have come across so many people (many of whom I have not met before) the last few days, while standing watching the Northern Saw-whet Owl, who have told me that they look at my photos on Flickr. I can't thank you all individually, but really want to say Thank You! for taking the time to do this. I greatly appreciate it - and it's very humbling. Later: totally unrelated, but I came across this link for a short video showing some baby Sloths being given a bath at the The Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica. The link was posted by gzebear on the HEGPS (Hornby Eagle Group Projects Society) forum website. Talk about cute!! www.slothsanctuary.com/sloth-rescue/

"Just" a little Pine Siskin - even though people seem to see them all the time, especially at their feeders, I rarely get a chance to see one properly, and almost never to get a photo. This one was seen on our recent May Species Count south west of the city at someone's feeder.

This was the only bird photo I managed to get on our Christmas Bird Count in the Cochrane Wildlife Preserve/Water Valley area on 29th December! The few birds we did see were far away, much too distant to get photos. I don't usually see Pine Grosbeaks, so wanted to add this to my Birds of Alberta Set, even though it's a distant and rather uninspiring capture, LOL.

Not the most brilliant photo of a young (or maybe a female?) Pine Grosbeak, but it sure beats my handful of old images, LOL. Most of the Pine Grosbeaks we were watching in a local park on Saturday morning were young ones or females - think we saw just two bright red males.

A really messy photo, but I thought the back view of this young Pine Grosbeak was rather beautiful. Would have loved a plain background, though : )

We saw quite a few of these little Common Redpolls yesterday on a rural homestead in the Drumheller area, while doing an annual Bird Count there. They were all puffed up thanks to the -30C temperatures. I was in agony (freezing hand) while taking half a dozen quick shots, but I had decided to try one of the small hand-warmer packs and this worked brilliantly. I have no idea how they work, but feeling that heat inside my glove was wonderful! Definitely recommend them!

Yesterday, 5th January 2008, I went on an outing to the Sibbald, Exshaw, Canmore and Harvie Heights areas in the mountains. We saw quite a few of these Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches at someone's feeder in Harvie Heights. I had never seen one of these birds before and was happy to get a distant photo or two. "These birds are locally common from mid-March to October; a few might overwinter.... They can be seen in mountain meadows, alpine tundra, avalanche slopes, roadsides and occasionally towns.... A few of these birds spend winter in Alberta on chinook-warmed slopes and at feeding stations in the foothills, but most leave the province for better climes to the south." From Birds of Alberta by Fisher and Acorn.