Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: W of Priddis

Each year, a small group off us call in at this particular property, SW of Calgary, when we are taking part in the annual May Species Count. The owner wasn't home, unfortunately, though someone further down the road had told us that he was home. We stood near the front of his home and noted any birds that were around, but didn't see any of the Evening Grosbeaks that we had seen a previous year(s). This gentleman has this wonderful old English phone box in his garden, and a bright red English mailbox set into a stone wall. There is also a bright red fire hydrant on his lawn (and he does have dogs, lol) - wonder if that was from England, too. Visiting this property always makes me feel like I'm back in England, where I was born and spent my first 22 years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_telephone_box On this day, 31 May 2015, eight of us covered a large area SW of Calgary, checking out the backroads, ponds, wetlands, sloughs. The highlight each May is calling in at a wonderful property (Barb's) where we are able to see some great species, including Evening Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, and this year, a tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird male. A little House Wren was also flitting about in the trees. We had a great day, stopping en route at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park to eat our lunch. This year, we didn't go into the park to look for Calypso Orchids, partly because a week ago, we did call in and found several of the small, pink Orchids. The temperature was 12C - 23C, with blue sky. Total distance travelled was 93 km and our total number of bird species was 63. After the Count, we called in at a little tea place and enjoyed relaxing with welcome cups of coffee. Thanks so much, Monica, for treating us all to this and for driving your daughter and myself around all day - greatly appreciated! The list, compiled by our leader, Gus Yaki, is long, but I will add it here, for my own memory. I'll add that, as usual, there were a lot of the birds that I didn't see - I don't use binoculars and also so many of the birds seemed to be the seen from the opposite side of the car, lol.

25 May 2014 was the annual May Species Count, which went really well. There were seven people in my group and we travelled in two vehicles, covering a large area SW of Calgary and W of Priddis. The Count lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the weather was mostly clear but clouded up by noon, with a short shower while we were having lunch at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. Heavy clouds for the rest of the day, calm, 9-18°C, with 88km travelled by car. 69 bird species were found, plus 15 White-tailed Deer and two Moose. A good day : ) Thanks for the ride, Phil! Much appreciated! Each year on this Count, a highlight is calling in to see the much sought-after Evening Grosbeaks at Barb Castell's acreage. They didn't let us down, and even gave us some chances to get a few photos. Feeder photos are not my favourite, but when it comes to Evening Grosbeaks, I'll take anything I can get : ) After the Count ended, it was pointed out that we could return to the city by one of two different routes. If we had chosen the other route, we would have missed the other highlight of the day - a Great Gray Owl! It didn't stay around for long, as it was busy hunting, but we did manage to get a handful of quick shots. We also saw a Ring-necked Pheasant in a field, just within camera range. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/evening_grosbeak/id

Each year, we call in at this particular property SW of Calgary when we are taking part in the annual May Species Count. The owner wasn't home, unfortunately, so we just stood near the entrance to his place and noted any birds that were around, including some beautiful Evening Grosbeaks : ) This gentleman has this wonderful old English phone box and a bright red, English mailbox set into a stone wall in his garden. There is also a bright red fire hydrant on his lawn (and he does have dogs, lol) - wonder if that was from England, too. Visiting this property always makes me feel like I'm back in England, where I was born and spent my first 22 years. This year, there was also a little Dark-eyed Junco that sat for a while, giving a chance for photos. Probably the best chance I've ever had, to photograph a Junco.

Horsetails always fascinate me and I love to take macro photos of them. This time I photographed a group of them, as I thought it was quite a nice cluster. This is Equisetum arvense, commonly known as Field Horsetail or Common Horsetail - the spores are contained in the beautiful cone-like strobilus. Seen on the May Species Count on 25 May 2014, when seven of us spent the day covering a large area SW of Calgary and W of Priddis. It was a most enjoyable day, as well as very successful - a total of 69 bird species. "Equisetum (/ˌɛkwɨˈsiːtəm/; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Equisetum is a "living fossil" as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum