Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: listening

Yesterday morning, 13 October 2016, I joined a group of friends for a birding walk in South Glenmore Park. When I walk in this area, it's usually for the fresh air and exercise. As far as the birds are concerned, everything tends to be over on the far side of the Glenmore Reservoir. It's no fun at all trying to photograph birds that are barely visible with the naked eye! Yesterday, some of those very distant specks turned out to be Surf Scoters and Western Grebes. The first part of our walk was along the rough trail near the edge of the water, and on our return walk, we used the main, paved path. It was during the latter half of the walk that we spotted something moving in the tall grasses. Really, all you could see at first was a pair of ears. It could easily have been someone's dog, but when a little more of it showed through the grass, we could see it was a beautiful Coyote. Lovely colouring and looking very healthy. I had to zoom right in and the light was awful, but I managed to get a shot or two. Though the quality of this photo is really poor, there is something about it that I like. "The coyote appears often in the tales and traditions of Native Americans—usually as a very savvy and clever beast. Modern coyotes have displayed their cleverness by adapting to the changing American landscape. These members of the dog family once lived primarily in open prairies and deserts, but now roam the continent's forests and mountains. They have even colonized cities like Los Angeles, and are now found over most of North America. Coyote populations are likely at an all-time high. These adaptable animals will eat almost anything. They hunt rabbits, rodents, fish, frogs, and even deer. They also happily dine on insects, snakes, fruit, grass, and carrion. Because they sometimes kill lambs, calves, or other livestock, as well as pets, many ranchers and farmers regard them as destructive pests." From National Geographic. animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/coyote/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote I will add our leader's list of species seen: S. Glenmore Reservoir, SW Calgary, 0915-1200, Thu13Oct2016. Completely overcast, calm -1 to 1°C 1. American Wigeon-1+ 2. Mallard-25 3. Ring-necked Duck-6+ 4. Scaup sp.-10+ 5. Surf Scoter-9+ 6. Bufflehead-20 7. Common Goldeneye-15 8. Common Merganser-3 9. Horned Grebe-50+ 10. Red-necked Grebe-1 11. Eared Grebe-2 12. Western Grebe-15 13. Sharp-shinned Hawk-1 14. American Coot-50+ 15. Bonaparte’s Gull-7 16. Herring Gull?-3 17. Downy Woodpecker-21 18. Northern Flicker-2 19. Blue Jay-2 20. Black-billed Magpie-10 21. American Crow-4 22. Common Raven-3 23. Black-capped Chickadee-30 24. Red-breasted Nuthatch-3 25. Brown Creeper-2 26. Hermit Thrush?-2 Red Squirrel 4 Coyote 1 After the walk, friend Sandy invited a couple of us back to her place for lunch. Very enjoyable and much-appreciated - thanks, Sandy!

On 10 January 2014, I had to remove my vehicle from the parking lot for the whole day, so that snow removal people could remove the snow and ice (poorly done for my parking stall, which didn't impress me!). I decided that if I drove over to the west of the city and went for a walk, that would kill a few hours. A Great Gray Owl had recently been reported, so I knew I needed to keep my eyes open. Shortly after I started, I passed someone who had just seen the owl about 20 minutes earlier, so I felt hopeful that it was still there. Further into the park, several other people gradually appeared, and it's always useful to have extra pairs of eyes. Eventually, it was finally spotted, hidden within the trees - well hidden! While I was there, it flew along the outer edge of the trees and then in among the trees, giving us some good views each time. It's always fascinating to watch how focused these owls are when hunting - it did catch a Meadow Vole (?) and flew up to a broken tree stump deep within the trees to feed on it. A few other attempts were made, but when it landed, it was out of sight, so I don't know if it caught some other prey or not. I was exhausted by the time I got home, mainly from walking through the deep snow. So glad I was "forced" out of my home, otherwise I wouldn't have made the effort to drive across the city. 8:45 a.m. today - wow, strong winds have just arrived, along with more snow. For once, I think I am going to do something I never do - go back to bed, lol. I was up early today, planning on going on a bird walk.

Another shot of the huge, female Pileated Woodpecker that we saw a few days ago in a local park. She and her mate flew from tree to log to tree to tree, giving us a few different locations for our images. Amazingly, we were able to get a few shots with no annoying branches in the way : ). It's never a good idea to stand below a tree with a Pileated Wioodpecker in it - they can make those huge chunks of tree bark FLY! This shot was taken in one of those exceedingly rare split seconds where the bird is actually still. The rest of the time they are hammering away, resulting in too many shots with a blurry head : )