Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Order: Falconiformes (or Accipitriformes)

Photo of a mixed pair (one light morph and the other dark) of Red-tailed Hawks, posted for the record, not for quality : ) This tree was almost as far as the eye could see. Five birding friends and I had a most enjoyable day trip east of Calgary on 16 April 2016. The weather was gorgeous, with perfect clouds that were reflected in every pond/slough/wetland that we came across before the breeze disturbed the water. I think the main highlights for me were a Western Meadowlark that flew to a tall post just about within camera reach; a mixed pair of Red-tailed Hawks (one light morph and the other dark) perched together in a far away tree; and a beautiful LEUCISTIC Merlin (i.e. paler than it should be) that three of us were lucky enough to see after the group split up to start our journey back to Calgary. It was enjoying a snack on top of a very tall utility pole. Also, a little Muskrat was fun to to watch along the shore at Chestermere Lake. "Leucism is an abnormal plumage condition caused by a genetic mutation that prevents pigment, particularly melanin, from being properly deposited on a bird’s feathers. As a result, the birds do not have the normal, classic plumage colors listed in field guides, and instead the plumage have several color changes, including white patches where the bird should not have any; paler overall plumage that looks faint, diluted or bleached; or overall white plumage with little or no color discernable." From birding.about.com. birding.about.com/od/identifyingbirds/a/leucism.htm Our leader, Terry Korolyk, always writes such a detailed account of each trip, so there is no point in my repeating some of the information. Many thanks for another great day (including the write-up), Terry, and many thanks, Tony, for the ride! “Today's Nature Calgary Field Trip had beautiful weather for its trip east of Calgary. We met just west of the Rowing Club around 9:30 A.M., checking the Reservoir there firstly, then, heading east on Glenmore Trail. The only bird of note on the Reservoir was a Common Loon in the bay at the Yacht Club. We then headed east on Glenmore Trail turning south on Stoney Trail going as far as 114 Avenue where we turned left driving to 84 Street, then, going south to Ralph Klein Park. Birds of particular interest at the Park included American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt and, Lesser Yellowlegs, the latter of which we had the pleasure of observing a couple of flocks of significant size one of at least 70 birds fly in. This was a particularly good sign for the day as we saw many Yellowlegs totalling 227 birds in the final analysis. From Ralph Klein Park, we kept south on 84 Street to 146 Avenue where we turned east driving to Range Road 284 where we turned north checking sloughs along the way to Township Road 232 where we turned we turned east, then north on to Range Road 283. We followed Range Road 283 to Chestermere Lake stopping at the Dam; then Sunset Park on the east side of the Lake; then, the north end of the Lake north of Highway 1A. From there, we drove under the Trans-Canada Highway through the subdivision on the east side of the Highway to McElroy Slough. From McElroy Slough, we kept eastward on Inverlake Road driving to Highway 9, then, from Highway 9 south to Highway 560, turning east at the 4-way junction there driving to Weed Lake. From Weed Lake, we headed westward towards Calgary checking a slough at the Highway 560-Range Road 284 junction, then, from there we stayed westward to Stoney Trail turning north on Stoney Trail turning off at Peigan Trail, then westward on Peigan past the City of Calgary Landfill. We had many highlights; the most important of which was a mixed pair of Red-tailed Hawks. Of the pair, one adult was a RUFOUS MORPH bird; the other was a light-phase EASTERN RED-TAIL. The pair were together, but, I cannot divulge the location as this a sensitive pairing (rare). You can contact me if you wish more details. The birds have nested at this site previously. I did not see them there in 2015, but, saw them there previously 2 out of 3 years. I believe young were probably raised in at least one year; the year when the JAEGERS were at Weed Lake (POMARINE and PARASITIC). I believe it was 2013. At that time while going out to the Lake I noticed at least 3 rather unusual-looking Red-tails on the west side of Weed Lake and west of Weed Lake. Other highlights were an ALBINISTIC American Wigeon at a slough on Range Road 280 just south of Inverlake Road. The bird had 2 large white clear patches on each side; an incredible LEUCISTIC MERLIN photographed by Tony Timmons at the 4- way stop in Langdon (it looked like a miniature white-morph Gyrfalcon with a banded tail); five hybrid TUNDRA-TRUMPETER SWANS at McElroy Slough, and 50 AMERICAN PIPITS at a shallow wetland on 146 Avenue just east of 104 Street. Northern Pintail was the most numerous Duck of the day with 1621; American Wigeon came in at 1017; and, Northern Shoveler came in at 962. BLACK-NECKED STILTS and AMERICAN AVOCETS were a particularly wonderful sight at the south end of Weed Lake and at Langdon Corner Slough, which is at the Highways 1 and 9 junction. Two SWALLOWS were seen briefly at the Dam at Chestermere Lake, but, we were unable to identify them. One other DARK MORPH Red-tailed Hawk was seen, and 4 American Kestrels were seen. The City of Calgary Landfill had excellent numbers of Gulls; I would estimate their numbers at 1500 for anyone interested in doing some Gullwatching this coming week.”

When I got up about an hour ago, the sky was blue and the sun was brightly shining. It seems to have clouded over now, but hopefully the smoky air that we've had the last few days has disappeared. If so, that means that the forecast rain for the northwest United States actually happened, which should help all those brave firefighters in their battle against the widespread flames. This photo is being posted just for the record, to add to one of my albums. It was fully zoomed and cropped and the quality looks even worse than it did late last night : ) This was taken before it flew to a nearby snag. Four days ago, on 25 August, 10 of us arrived at a friend's house, ready to go north of Calgary to near Sundre, for a few hours of botanizing, This was the second visit to Judy Osborne's for a few of us, me included. The previous trip was on 30 June 2015. By now, of course, a lot of the wildflowers are finished, but I found enough other things to photograph, including this distant, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, a Wood Frog, a Yellowjacket (wasp), and a mushroom or two, plus a few of the flowers in our friends' garden at the beginning and end of the day. Their garden is one beautiful sea of yellow at the moment. No scenery shots during the day, as the visibility was so bad due to the smoke coming from serious, widespread forest fires in the northwest United States. Thanks so much, Judy, for having us out on your beautiful property again. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the dreadful, smoke-filled air. We look forward to being out there again next year! Many thanks, too, to Barry, who drove a few of us out there and back to Calgary. A long, long drive and it was much appreciated!

"In the city of Calgary the air quality health index was off the charts through the overnight hours Tuesday (25 August 2015), peaking at 19 on a scale where 10 is considered "high." The smoke is being blown here from the northwestern United States. It affected the visibility the whole day, so there was no sign of the distant mountains and even the hills and fields closest to us. Most unpleasant, and I don't know how people who live much closer to the wildfires are managing! So many Firefighters bravely battling the flames! Added on 27 August - apparently, a spider had climbed inside the equipment used to track air quality and this had given the inaccurate ratings! Air quality was really bad, though. Yesterday morning, 25 August, 10 of us arrived at a friend's house, ready to go north of Calgary to near Sundre, for a few hours of botanizing, This was the second visit to Judy Osborne's for a few of us, me included. The previous trip was on 30 June 2015. By now, of course, a lot of the wildflowers are finished, but I found enough other things to photograph, including this distant, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, plus a few of the plants in my friends' garden at the beginning and end of the day. Thanks so much, Judy, for having us out on your beautiful property again. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the dreadful, smoke-filled air. We look forward to being out there again next year! Many thanks, too, to Barry, who drove a few of us out there and back to Calgary. A long, long drive and it was much appreciated! "This is probably the most common hawk in North America. If you’ve got sharp eyes you’ll see several individuals on almost any long car ride, anywhere. Red-tailed Hawks soar above open fields, slowly turning circles on their broad, rounded wings. Other times you’ll see them atop telephone poles, eyes fixed on the ground to catch the movements of a vole or a rabbit, or simply waiting out cold weather before climbing a thermal updraft into the sky." From AllAboutBirds. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_hawk www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-tailed_hawk/id

Not as sharp as I wish it had been, but I got the chance for just one rapid shot of this beautiful bird of prey before it flew off. Yesterday, 13 September 2014, I finally got out for a drive. I hadn't been out of the house for nearly a week and was beginning to get cabin fever : ) Driving down my street, I finally got a look at just how much tree damage the late summer snowstorm (actually two storms, on 9 and 10 September) had caused. My street is lined with huge piles of cut-down branches, waiting for the city's machines to come and remove them. My drive took me as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, SW of the city, as I just wanted to see how much snow was on the ground in the forest. From the muddy parking lot, I could see that the ground between the trees was covered with a lot of snow, hiding everything that might have been there, including wildflowers and mushrooms. It will take some time for all this sheltered snow cover to melt. I saw practically nothing during my drive, other than a Magpie, this Red-tailed Hawk, horses and cows. Looks like we may have to wait till spring arrives next year before getting the chance to photograph much, if anything, other than snow photos. Many parks and natural areas are now closed because of the damage caused by the snowstorms. It's feeling rather like the situation last summer, when everywhere was closed for months because of the damage caused by the Alberta Flood of the Century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_hawk www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-tailed_hawk/id