Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Genus: Tamiasciurus

This photo was taken one week ago, on 4 December 2014, when I went for a short walk in Fish Creek Park. I was trying to do several short walks to see if it made any difference at all to the level of pain in my back (had back X-Rays taken two days ago, for the umpteenth time). The weather has been beautiful this week, too – we all know that it is going to change back to “winter” before too long. Still 10 days till WInter officially begins. Also, a short time in the park can (if you are lucky!) be simply amazing. I happened to come across a female Pileated Woodpecker near the base of a tree. Almost impossible to get a sharp photo because she just didn’t stop banging her head against the tree. While I was trying to catch one split second when the action actually slowed down, a much smaller bird flew over my head and landed on the same tree, about 4’ higher. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that it was a male Black-backed Woodpecker (rare in Alberta, just like the two American Three-toed Woodpeckers that I saw in a different part of the park, on two different days this week). Talk about being lucky! Even this little Red Squirrel was most obliging, sitting in a spot of sunshine in the forest. The sun really brings out their beautiful colour.

Yesterday morning, 25 October 2014, I met up with friends to go birding. It was quite chilly first thing, only 3°C warming up to 6°C three hours later. We had 22 species of bird, though as usual, I don’t always see them all as I don’t have binoculars. To mention just a few of our sightings - a formation of 15 Trumpeter Swans flying high overhead; a female Pileated Woodpecker; a male American Three-toed Woodpecker; a huge flock of Bohemian Waxwings swarming in the distance, plus a few smaller flocks. We had a very brief sighting of a bird of prey that flew out of some distant trees and was nowhere to be found – it was reported as a Barred Owl. This was at a different part of the park from where I was lucky enough to see one a few days ago. The only bird photos worth keeping were a handful of the Three-toed Woodpecker. Always a treat to see one of these rare birds. This little Red Squirrel was a cute little guy, as they always are. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel After our walk, we drove to a small pub fairly close by for lunch. So enjoyable to just sit and chat and enjoy good company and good food – the Baked Lasagne was excellent! This afternoon, 25 October 2014, we are supposed to get a brief touch of winter. Temperature is 5°C this morning (windchill 2°C) and it is very overcast. Forecast is for mixed precipitation this afternoon and light snow this evening.