Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: poor quality image

Oops, now that I've posted this photo, I see that it really is far too blurry to have uploaded! If you hold up your hand and cover the right-hand half of the image, it might just about be bearable : ) It was taken in such bad weather - a return to winter. On 5 April 2015, I woke up to a winter scene, as it had snowed overnight. I wasn't sure if the drive would be cancelled, but fortunately we went ahead as planned. Only five of us went on this trip to Frank Lake, SE of Calgary. The whole area at and around Frank Lake is one of my favourite places. It was snowing on and off during the day and visibility was not very good. Pretty well all the birds we saw were distant or very distant, as usual when I go on one of these outings. A very enjoyable day as always, though, in an interesting place and with good company. I will add the leader, Tony Timmons' list of our sightings, below, mainly for my own memory. Thanks for the great day, Tony! "Five participants for the Easter Sunday,Nature Calgary Trip to Frank Lake. We found 47 species. Best sighting for the group was an adult Golden Eagle perched on the ground close to the road, (along 184st.E and west of the intersection with 594 Ave.E. on route to Basin3) A Eurasian Wigeon was along the access road to Basin 2,and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers were spotted in Basin 1. Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan 15 Tundra Swan 2 Eurasian Wigeon 1 American Wigeon Mallard Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Barrow's Goldeneye 1m Common Merganser 5 Hooded Merganser 8 Red-breasted Merganser 2 Ruddy Duck 1 Bald Eagle 1 ad. Golden Eagle 1 ad. Northern Harrier 7 Red-tailed Hawk 2 American Kestrel 2 Gray Partridge 8 American Coot Killdeer 2 American Avocet 2 Franklin"s Gull 8 Ring-billed Gull 10 California Gull 100 Rock Pigeon Great Horned Owl 3 ad. Northern Shrike 1 Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Horned Lark 25 American Robin European Starling Dark-eyed Junco 1 Lapland Longspur (small flock overhead 5-6) Red-winged Blackbird 10 Yellow-headed Blackbird 5 Western Meadowlark 6 House Sparrow Tony Timmons"

A really pathetic image, but I'm posting it just for my own record. It was taken in the wild, in Weaselhead, not in someone's garden visiting their feeders. We are just within the limits of the breeding Calliope Hummingbirds' range. This photo was taken on 9 June 2014. Have posted a somewhat better photo in a comment box, to show the colours more clearly. "The smallest bird in North America north of Mexico, the Calliope Hummingbird inhabits mountain areas of the northwestern United States. It is the smallest long-distance avian migrant in the world, spending its winters in Mexico." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/calliope_hummingbird/id "An adult calliope hummingbird can measure 7–10 cm (2.8–3.9 in) in length, span 11 cm (4.3 in) across the wings and weigh 2 to 3 g (0.071 to 0.106 oz)." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope_hummingbird

A really, really BAD photo, I know, but this is the first (and very quick!) shot I've taken of a Tennessee Warbler, and I wanted to add it to my Birds of Alberta 9 album. Sunday, 25 May 2014, was the annual May Species Count, and it 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. This was when we saw this little Tennessee Warbler, not far from the parking lot. 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. Most species were seen from far away, but I did manage to get just a few photos of several of the species. A good day!