Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014July11

Posting so late today (around 12:30 p.m.), after sleeping in, much later than usual. Unless I have to, I'm trying not to set my alarm, in order to get more sleep than I normally get, hoping to give my shoulder rotator cuffs and my back the best chance to improve. Yesterday afternoon, I checked the weather forecast before dashing down to the Frank Lake area, SE of the city. Pretty much a spur of the moment thing. The temperature had gone down a few degrees from the unbearably hot day before, and the sun was shining. On the Weather Network, I discovered that there was a weather Alert in effect, possibly huge hailstones and also the possibility of a tornado. Thinking I might get a chance to see some interesting clouds, I decided that I would still go. My first destination was Frank Lake, where I bumped into friend, Greg Wagner, who is extremely knowledgeable about the area and its wildlife, and does an amazing job of recording all his sightings. I saw Eared Grebes with their young ones (quite big now), a few Ibis and Black-crowned Night Herons (no photos). Did manage to get a few shots of a Sora (thanks for telling me to watch out for them, Greg!). After I'd finished at the blind, Greg took me to various spots around the lake, pointing out places where he had seen interesting things, hoping that they might still be there for me to see. Thanks so much, Greg, I enjoyed this and really appreciated it! One of these was a Western Kingbird - our more common Kingbird is the Eastern, so I was very happy to see a Western. We also passed by this male Great Horned Owl, who was perched on one of the huge pylons. He and his family seem to be doing well. I used Picmonkey to "frost" the edges of the photo, to soften the harsh metal of the pylon. Photo was quickly taken from inside the car, using 48x zoom and then cropped. Of course, more natural surroundings would have been nicer, but this family of owls likes to use this pylon : ) The clouds were building up as the hours went by and it did rain just a little when I was driving home. Fortunately, no hail or tornado!

Took this photo on 7 July 2014, whilst on one of Don Stiles' annual Bluebird outings to see the Mountain Bluebird nesting boxes along his route, SW of the city. Some of these wooden boxes have been taken over by Tree Swallows, which are also banded and counted. Unfortunately, this year, all the Bluebirds had already fledged, but we saw a few boxes that contained Tree Swallow eggs and some that contained several (around 6) Tree Swallow babies. Actually, the box seen in my photo had 12 baby Tree Swallows, all tightly snuggled together, so obviously two adult females were using the same box. I've never seen that before. Can't imagine how cramped it will be as the babies grow bigger and the adults need to get through the small hole of the box to feed them! Most of the birds we saw had already been banded, but we did see Don band a few others that were now old enough to be banded. He places some dried grasses at the bottom of a bucket and places each baby in there after he has fitted a teeny band around one of its legs (actually, it's foot, as that first big bend is the heel.) Then they are all carefully placed back into the nesting box, ready for Mom and Dad to return to them, which they do immediately. For anyone who might wonder if a baby bird is handled, will its parents pick up my scent and abandon it? The answer below is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: A. It's a myth that parent birds will abandon young that have been touched by humans—most birds have a poor sense of smell, and birds in general identify their young using the same cues we humans do—appearance and sound. It's perfectly safe to pick up a fallen nestling and put it back in the nest, or to carry a fledgling out of danger and place it in a tree or shrub." Same would apply to bird banding. NO BIRD OR WILD ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE KEPT AS A PET!

Yesterday, 9 July 2014, was an unbearably hot day. When I was searching for photos to upload this morning, I happened to come across this old photo from my archives that I had never posted. It seemed to fit the bill (meaning: meet the requirements). Looking at this image late last night, I could almost feel the coldness of snow and ice. This morning, though, the temperature has gone down, thank goodness, and it's only 19C, going up to 23C this afternoon. More hot weather is on its way, though. Photo of this King Penguin was taken at Penguin Plunge at the Calgary Zoo, on 6 December 2012. The Zoo has four species of Penguin - Gentoo, King, Humboldt, and Rockhopper. They are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums penguin species survival plan. The 46 penguins came from zoos in Quebec, Texas, New York and Washington states and Scotland. When they first arrived, there were 8 King Penguins, 23 Gentoo Penguins, 10 Humboldt Penguins and 5 Rockhopper Penguins. The IUCN Red List states: King Penguins - Least Concern Humboldt Penguins - Vulnerable Gentoo Penguins - Near Threatened Rockhopper Penguins - Vulnerable "The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There are two subspecies—A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli elsewhere. King Penguins eat small fish, mainly lanternfish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (330 ft), often over 200 metres (660 ft). King Penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing." storage.canoe.ca/v1/suns-prod-images/file/1297237247336_C... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Penguin Link to article about fossilised giant penguin bones which lived 27-24 million years ago: www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1138465--giant-penguin.. .

Not my hand, by the way! Took this photo on 7 July 2014, whilst on one of Don Stiles' annual Bluebird outings to see the Mountain Bluebird nesting boxes along his route, SW of the city. Some of these wooden boxes have been taken over by Tree Swallows, which are also banded and counted. Unfortunately, this year, all the Bluebirds had already fledged, but we saw a few boxes that contained Tree Swallow eggs and some that contained several (around 6) Tree Swallow babies. Actually, one box had 12 baby Tree Swallows (12 days old?), all tightly snuggled together, so obviously two adult females were using the same box. I've never seen that before. Can't imagine how cramped it will be as the babies grow bigger and four adults need to get through the small hole of the box to feed them! Most of the birds we saw had already been banded, but we did see Don band a few others that were now old enough to be banded. He places some dried grasses at the bottom of a bucket and places each baby in there after he has fitted a teeny band around one of its legs (actually, it's foot, as that first big bend is the heel.) Then they are all carefully placed back into the nesting box, ready for Mom and Dad to return to them, which they do immediately. For anyone who might wonder if a baby bird is handled, will its parents pick up my scent and abandon it? The answer below is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: A. It's a myth that parent birds will abandon young that have been touched by humans—most birds have a poor sense of smell, and birds in general identify their young using the same cues we humans do—appearance and sound. It's perfectly safe to pick up a fallen nestling and put it back in the nest, or to carry a fledgling out of danger and place it in a tree or shrub." Same would apply to bird banding. NO BIRD OR WILD ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE KEPT AS A PET!