Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: needles

Yesterday, 20 May 2017, was a beautiful day, though the light was not always the greatest for photos. I was lucky enough to be invited to join four friends for a day out - lol, eventually, I will get time to get back to editing and posting more photos from Trinidad : ) Really, who needs Trinidad birds, though, when you can see such beautiful birds here in Alberta?! Part of the morning was spent at our friend, Barb's, acreage, SW of Calgary, enjoying the variety of birds that visit her garden. Thanks so much, Barb, as always, for letting us visit you. Such a joy to see birds like this handsome male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and the Evening Grosbeaks. I so rarely get to see either of these birds. Just found a video at the following YouTube link, of a Rose-breasted male singing. youtu.be/NixrHvecZ8c "Bursting with black, white, and rose-red, male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are like an exclamation mark at your bird feeder or in your binoculars. Females and immatures are streaked brown and white with a bold face pattern and enormous bill. Look for these birds in forest edges and woodlands. Listen, too, for their distinctive voices. They sound like American Robins, but listen for an extra sweetness, as if the bird had operatic training; they also make a sharp chink like the squeak of a sneaker. These chunky birds use their stout bills to eat seeds, fruit, and insects. They are also frequent visitors to backyard bird feeders, where they eat sunflower seeds with abandon." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak/id We then drove the various roads SW of the city, as far south as Turner Valley, hoping to see a few birds. Beautiful scenery in the whole area. In Turner Valley, we called in to see another mutual friend and watch the birds that visited her tiny, but beautifully and thoughtfully designed, back deck. Thanks so much for having us, Jackie, especially at such very short notice!

This is a reminder of the new snow that had fallen overnight, seen yesterday morning, 19 November 2015. Friends had seen a family of three Bobcats two days earlier, and, though I knew it was highly unlikely that they would be seen again, I didn't want to learn later that I had again missed seeing them. Needless to say, there was no sign of them yesterday. Also, I had missed the walk last week, so didn't feel guilty about going on two mornings this week. As it turned out, there wasn't much of anything to be seen during this three hour walk in Weaselhead, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, despite the temperature being -6°C to -2°C. There was a fair amount of new snow, but it had been packed down and so was reasonably safe for walking. This is the leaders' list of the 21 bird species seen: Canada Goose-300+ Mallard-8 Bald Eagle-2 (1 ad/1 juv.) Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-4+ PILEATED WOODPECKER-1 Northern Shrike-1 Blue Jay-3+ Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-40+ Boreal Chickadee-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Bohemian Waxwing-150+ Dark-eyed Junco-3 Pine Grosbeak-10 House Finch-6 White-winged Crossbill-100+ Common Redpoll-20

Just a shot of the tip of a branch of a Lodgepole Pine tree on the acreage at Janel Butler's (and family) farm on 16th May, where we spent a good part of the day botanizing. Looks like a spider had been playing Cat's Cradle with it's delicate web, LOL. Gotta dash (again!), as I am spending the whole day at the Zoo with my oldest daughter. She has been recovering from surgery and was desperate to get out for a few hours.

I like the needles of the Ponderosa Pine - this one was growing in Edworthy Park.