Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Loon

On 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. "The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. This influx of moisture works with the lake's low elevation to produce a unique selection of flora. Trees found here are more typical of B.C.'s wet interior forests, such as western red cedar, western yew, western hemlock and western white pine. The alluvial fan on the northeast shore produces wildflowers in abundance during late June and early July. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains. The first European to set sight on Emerald Lake was guide Tom Wilson, who stumbled upon it by accident in 1882. A string of his horses had gotten away, and it was while tracking them that he first entered the valley. The lake had an impression on even the most seasoned of explorers: "For a few moments I sat [on] my horse and enjoyed the rare, peaceful beauty of the scene." It was Wilson who gave the lake its name because of its remarkable colour, caused by fine particles of glacial sediment, also referred to as rock flour, suspended in the water. However, this was not the first time Wilson had dubbed a lake 'Emerald'. Earlier that same year he had discovered another lake which he had given the same moniker, and the name even appeared briefly on the official map. This first lake however, was shortly renamed Lake Louise." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_ (British_Columbia) Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, far in the distance we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, all creating a lot of splashing. This photo also shows why this lake is named Emerald Lake. Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "a Violet-green!" The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see one of these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual!

My thoughts are with all those affected by yesterday's horrific killings in Paris. A sad, sad day, indeed. This is the fourth, and I think it will be the last, photo of one of two Common Loons seen at Emerald Lake, British Columbia, on 11 July 2015. Rather a distant shot, but I didn't dare crop it any closer than I did. That day, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. "The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. This influx of moisture works with the lake's low elevation to produce a unique selection of flora. Trees found here are more typical of B.C.'s wet interior forests, such as western red cedar, western yew, western hemlock and western white pine. The alluvial fan on the northeast shore produces wildflowers in abundance during late June and early July. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains. The first European to set sight on Emerald Lake was guide Tom Wilson, who stumbled upon it by accident in 1882. A string of his horses had gotten away, and it was while tracking them that he first entered the valley. The lake had an impression on even the most seasoned of explorers: "For a few moments I sat [on] my horse and enjoyed the rare, peaceful beauty of the scene." It was Wilson who gave the lake its name because of its remarkable colour, caused by fine particles of glacial sediment, also referred to as rock flour, suspended in the water. However, this was not the first time Wilson had dubbed a lake 'Emerald'. Earlier that same year he had discovered another lake which he had given the same moniker, and the name even appeared briefly on the official map. This first lake however, was shortly renamed Lake Louise." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_ (British_Columbia) Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. It was raining again this morning. I was kind of hoping for a few rainy days, as I suddenly have a build-up of quite a few very major, very urgent things to deal with and I didn't want to be tempted to go out with my camera. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, creating a lot of splashing. This distant photo of one of the Loons was taken at the end of our walk. It was in the smaller section of the lake at Emerald Lake and we noticed it when we were walking along the boardwalk/bridge. It was swimming towards us and I managed to get one quick shot. Then it swam under the boardwalk and was disappearing into the distance by the time I took this shot. This photo also shows why this lake is named Emerald Lake : ) Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "Violet-green!" The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see one of these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual!

GOODBYE SNOW!! I was just searching Google for a short video of yesterday's SNOW in Calgary, and ended up getting the Blue Screen of Death on my computer. Alberta got hit hard by a surprise fall of snow yesterday, 21 August 2015! In my area of the city, there was a short period of snow mixed in with the rain that fell all day, and nothing settled. Other parts of the city looked like a winter wonderland, as did places in the mountains. There seems to be a connection between having snow and having a daughter in hospital. When my oldest daughter was on life-support for a day and a half back in early January, we had the worst blizzard of the winter. Yesterday, my other daughter ended up in hospital - and it snowed... in August! Fortunately, much of it has already melted and we are back to temperatures in the mid-20's for this coming week. It got down to 3C yesterday - only a few days before that, it got up to 33C/34C! We really do have crazy weather. On 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. "The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. This influx of moisture works with the lake's low elevation to produce a unique selection of flora. Trees found here are more typical of B.C.'s wet interior forests, such as western red cedar, western yew, western hemlock and western white pine. The alluvial fan on the northeast shore produces wildflowers in abundance during late June and early July. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains. The first European to set sight on Emerald Lake was guide Tom Wilson, who stumbled upon it by accident in 1882. A string of his horses had gotten away, and it was while tracking them that he first entered the valley. The lake had an impression on even the most seasoned of explorers: "For a few moments I sat [on] my horse and enjoyed the rare, peaceful beauty of the scene." It was Wilson who gave the lake its name because of its remarkable colour, caused by fine particles of glacial sediment, also referred to as rock flour, suspended in the water. However, this was not the first time Wilson had dubbed a lake 'Emerald'. Earlier that same year he had discovered another lake which he had given the same moniker, and the name even appeared briefly on the official map. This first lake however, was shortly renamed Lake Louise." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_ (British_Columbia) Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, far in the distance we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, all creating a lot of splashing. This distant photo of the Loons was taken a bit later - just managed a quick shot when one of them spread its beautiful wings. This photo also shows why this lake is named Emerald Lake. Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "a Violet-green!" The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see one of these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual!

I have to admit that I look at this photo and think to myself how lucky I was to get just this one rapid shot that turned out OK. This distant Common Loon was in the smaller section of the lake at Emerald Lake and we noticed it when we were walking along the boardwalk/bridge. It was swimming towards us and there was no way I could get over the metal barrier that was the whole length of the long bridge. All I could do was try and snap the bird between two of the dark, vertical railings - which is why the photo is darker at either side from the blur of the railings. This beauty just fitted in for this one shot. You can see why the lake is called Emerald Lake : ) "The eerie calls of Common Loons echo across clear lakes of the northern wilderness. Summer adults are regally patterned in black and white. In winter, they are plain gray above and white below, and you’ll find them close to shore on most seacoasts and a good many inland reservoirs and lakes. Common Loons are powerful, agile divers that catch small fish in fast underwater chases. They are less suited to land, and typically come ashore only to nest." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/common_loon/id Four days ago, on 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. It was such a very hazy day - smoke from wild fires? - so some of my photos did need a little help later : ) "The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. This influx of moisture works with the lake's low elevation to produce a unique selection of flora. Trees found here are more typical of B.C.'s wet interior forests, such as western red cedar, western yew, western hemlock and western white pine. The alluvial fan on the northeast shore produces wildflowers in abundance during late June and early July. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains. The first European to set sight on Emerald Lake was guide Tom Wilson, who stumbled upon it by accident in 1882. A string of his horses had gotten away, and it was while tracking them that he first entered the valley. The lake had an impression on even the most seasoned of explorers: "For a few moments I sat [on] my horse and enjoyed the rare, peaceful beauty of the scene." It was Wilson who gave the lake its name because of its remarkable colour, caused by fine particles of glacial sediment, also referred to as rock flour, suspended in the water. However, this was not the first time Wilson had dubbed a lake 'Emerald'. Earlier that same year he had discovered another lake which he had given the same moniker, and the name even appeared briefly on the official map. This first lake however, was shortly renamed Lake Louise." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_ (British_Columbia) Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. It was raining again the next morning, too. I was kind of hoping for a few rainy days, as I suddenly have a build-up of quite a few very major, very urgent things to deal with and I didn't want to be tempted to go out with my camera. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, we could see two distant, beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, creating a lot of splashing. Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Tree Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "There's a Violet-green!" Thanks for such a great day, as usual, Sandy! Such a treat to get out into the mountains - and see some new things, too.

Yesterday, 11 July 2015, I had a wonderful day out with friend Sandy, driving westwards from Calgary and eventually reaching the next province, British Columbia (B.C.). Sandy had two destinations in mind - a stop at the Spiral Tunnels and then to explore the forest around Emerald Lake. I had only been to B.C. a handful of times in 37 years, so this was an absolute treat. "The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. This influx of moisture works with the lake's low elevation to produce a unique selection of flora. Trees found here are more typical of B.C.'s wet interior forests, such as western red cedar, western yew, western hemlock and western white pine. The alluvial fan on the northeast shore produces wildflowers in abundance during late June and early July. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains. The first European to set sight on Emerald Lake was guide Tom Wilson, who stumbled upon it by accident in 1882. A string of his horses had gotten away, and it was while tracking them that he first entered the valley. The lake had an impression on even the most seasoned of explorers: "For a few moments I sat [on] my horse and enjoyed the rare, peaceful beauty of the scene." It was Wilson who gave the lake its name because of its remarkable colour, caused by fine particles of glacial sediment, also referred to as rock flour, suspended in the water. However, this was not the first time Wilson had dubbed a lake 'Emerald'. Earlier that same year he had discovered another lake which he had given the same moniker, and the name even appeared briefly on the official map. This first lake however, was shortly renamed Lake Louise." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Lake_ (British_Columbia) Our trip started just after 7:00 am, to get a good, early start, especially before the temperature soared. The drive from Calgary to Emerald Lake takes about 2 and a half hours and is a 218.5 km drive via Trans-Canada Hwy/AB-1 W. We took a quieter route home at the end of the day. Rain arrived just in time for this drive home and, by the time I got back to my car in Calgary, the rain was really heavy and a few of the roads were beginning to flood very quickly. It was raining again this morning. I was kind of hoping for a few rainy days, as I suddenly have a build-up of quite a few very major, very urgent things to deal with and I didn't want to be tempted to go out with my camera. Shortly after we began our walk though the forest along the right hand side of the lake, we heard a commotion coming from the water. When we found a place to see through the trees, we could see two beautiful Common Loons and a female duck with several babies, possibly Common Mergansers. My guess would be that the Merganser mother kept chasing away the Loons, creating a lot of splashing. This distant photo of one of the Loons was taken a bit later - just managed a quick shot when it spread its beautiful wings. This photo also shows why this lake is named Emerald Lake : ) Also, at the beginning and the end of our "hike", we watched a family of Violet-green Swallows that were nesting. Not sure how many young ones there were, but I saw three. Though we do get these birds in Calgary, I've never seen one properly - just when a mass of Swallows swarms over the Bow River and someone calls out "Violet-green!" Though the adult in my next photo is very blurry, it does at least show the beautiful green colour on the back. The adults flew to feed their babies at top speed and barely stayed a second at the nest hole. I was just thrilled to see one of these birds - thanks, Sandy, for your patience, allowing me to try and get a few photos! Thanks, too, for such a great day, as usual!

I definitely should not have cropped this image as much as I did! If I have time and energy, I might just think about re-doing it - but most likely won't get round to doing it : ) Taken at 48x zoom and heavily cropped. Posting it just for the record and to add it to a couple of my Sets. Yesterday, 28 June 2013, seven of us spent the day at Bow Valley Provincial Park, recording all flora and fauna that we saw. Bow Valley Provincial Park lies at the foot of the very first mountains when one drives westwards from Calgary. In other words, the Park lies at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. It's a very popular place with botanists, birders and photographers of any kind. We weren't sure just what we would find when we arrived, especially how much or little the Park had been affected by the recent flooding in Alberta. Parts of the Park were closed, so we didn't walk at Many Springs, but instead walked the Flowing Waters Trail (which was quite wet in places) and around Middle Lake. The water level of the lake was high and the reeds around one part of the lake were lying on top of the water. I had seen two Common Loons out in the middle of the lake on 18 June 2013, when I spent the day in the rain walking around this lake and Many Springs. Wonderfully, these Loons were still there yesterday and we saw and heard them calling. Such an amazing sound. They tend to stay in the middle of the lake, which makes it difficult or impossible to photograph them. The weather was perfect yesterday and it felt so good to be out and to have no rain at all. I couldn't help but feel rather guilty, though, going out enjoying myself in such a beautiful place, knowing that there were so many people back in Calgary and so many other parts of southern Alberta, who were dealing with flooded basements and other damage. The person who was going to be leading this trip lives in nearby Exshaw and he was unable to come because of dealing with the bad flooding there. In fact, sadly, it's most likely that he has lost his house completely. It's so frustrating to me that a painful back, hips, etc. won't let me help with any clean-up. All I can do is donate to the Red Cross, and carry on with my usual volunteers shifts. I was expecting to hear from many flood victims, but only had a call from one family who had had to come to Calgary from High River, where everyone was so badly affected by the floods. We are expecing a lot more calls from flood victims in perhaps another couple of weeks. Lol, I'm not sure if I slept for 12 or 13 hours last night!!! Haven't done that for years - I usually get between 2 and maybe five hours of sleep a night. Only got about an hour and a half of sleep befere I went on this trip yesterday, partly because I was busy transferring more of my Flickr photos to ipernity, but mainly because of emotional tiredness from seeing all the devastation form the "Flood of the Century" in Calgary and the rest of the southern part of the province. I was so tired when I got home late afternoon and was falling asleep at my computer, so by 4:00 p.m. I had no choice but to lie down for maybe an hour, ha. ------------------------------------------------------

We were unbelievably lucky on our walk this morning - 48 different species of birds were seen, including this Common Loon, swimming in the icy cold waters of the Bow River! Most of the birds were too far away for photos. I love to see the gorgeous black-and-white patterns on this beautiful bird. It gave its eerie call, too, which was a treat. What a special way to spend part of Earth Day : ). Sad, too, though, as Bernard and his sister Therese, two of our long-time birding friends (and excellent birders!), leave on Saturday to move back to Eastern Canada. They will be greatly missed! Thank you, Bernard, for always carrying that heavy scope of yours so that the rest of us might see and marvel at so much distant beauty!! What will we do without you??? Have a safe journey! The word "loon" might come from "lom" the Scandinavian word for "clumsy", as this bird is awkward on land.

I could barely see this bird far down the Bow River at Bow Valley Provincial Park. When I got home and cropped and enlarged the image, I discovered that the Loon had a fish!