Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: on top of electrical pole

We had such a successful and enjoyable day yesterday, 20 February 2016, taking part in our annual Snowy Owl Prowl east of the city. I will add the report of the day, compiled by our leader, Terry Korolyk. Terry, you did such a great job yesterday, finding so many birds for us to see! Thank you! This is the closest photo I was able to get of any of the Snowy Owls. WIth that many cars and people, we needed to keep way down the road in order to not stress out the bird. Most of the Snowies were nicely perched on fence posts, but way off in the distance. "Twenty-four extremely enthusiastic birders showed up for this year's version of the Snowy Owl Prowl. Conditions were almost ideal helped by a snowfall Thursday night and Friday morning. Temperature about 8:00 A.M. in south Calgary was -7 degrees. I had a good feeling as we headed out to our meeting place at Deerfoot Mall with no wind and a thin layer of fog hanging over much of the southwest part of the City. We saw at least 11, possibly as many as 13 Snowy Owls for the day. It appeared as though it was a chance happening that the day picked would have these ideal conditions which resulted in all these birds being around on this day. There were many other highlights of which most noteworthy was a NORTHERN HARRIER. Three adult Bald Eagles were seen and we came in with a total of 11 Rough-legged Hawks, of which the numbers were divided up between 1st. year birds and adult females. We found the first Great Horned Owl of the year on a nest which was south of Langdon. Perhaps, one of the highlights of the day was a lone SNOW BUNTING north of the Cattleland Feedlots slough north of Strathmore which caught everybody's heart as it called repeatedly that plaintive poignant one note it is known for from a fencepost; would fly to the fallow snowy ground, then, return to the fencepost and call some more. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. Other birds seen were a few small flocks of Redpolls and 2 pairs and a covey of 8 Gray Partridge. We also stopped at the houses at the west end of Railway Avenue in Cheadle so participants could see some of the local colony of Eurasian Collared Doves of which we saw 5. Large numbers of Canada Geese, probably a couple of thousand or so were in stubble fields southwest of Chestermere Lake and north of Glenmore Trail. Included in these flocks were some CACKLING GEESE. Given the EARLY late Winter departure of waterfowl from the Bow River in Calgary this year and by their behaviour with lots of resting birds and some feeding, I think these birds were probably migratory birds. We must also consider that the 3 Ring-necked Ducks at Elliston Park are probably overeager Spring migrants as probably are the 2 male Green-winged Teal at Fish Creek PP Burnsmead this past week. Many participants on the trip today were seeing some of these species for the first time. Last year, we had a young student from Australia on the trip; this year, we had a young couple from Massachusetts who have lived in Calgary only a year and had never seen a Snowy Owl."

This was the only even remotely usable photo I took yesterday, 21 February 2015, when I went on the annual Snowy Owl Prowl, east of the city. It was cold and windy and the owls were so far away. I always enjoy this trip, that covers backroads that I don't drive myself. The weather forecast had been for snow and so the first thing I had to do was clear the snow off my car. The meeting place is across the city, a drive that I really don't like one bit and only do for this annual outing. I swear every traffic light was red, making me wonder if I would get there in time. When I arrived, right on time, I parked in the usual area of the mall that we use each year. For some reason, everyone had gathered in a different spot, out of my sight, and I only saw them when a long convoy of cars slowly appeared and I was told to join the line. Thankfully, a friend flagged me down, and I was able to get a ride for the day, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go - including because I was almost out of gas after my long drive with my daughter two days earlier. I will add the report for the day, by our leader, Terry Korolyk. (Hope you don't mind, Terry). He always does such an excellent job of finding the owls and recording every find - for most of the drive, I had no idea where we were. "Today's Nature Calgary Snowy Owl Prowl brought out 30 eager Snowy Owl seekers. This missed by only 3 the 33 who came out for the "Prowl" 2 years ago. Snowy Owls are still out there in good numbers. We headed east on Country Hills Boulevard at 9:42 A.M. as it took extra minutes to have people sign the Waiver form as 9: 30 A.M. is the usual start time. There was a fair bit of snow out there with the overnight snowfall. We found our first bird at 10:21 A.M. on Country Hills Boulevard just west of Highway 9; a 1st. year bird. This turned out to be the best bird we had a chance to look at all day being not too far off the road. We continued eastward on Highway 564 turning north on Range Road 253; then westward on to Twp. Road 262 where we found our 2nd. bird; another 1st. year bird on the first southward-bound Range Road. We pushed on eastward on Twp.Rd. 262 finding our 3rd. bird, yet another 1st. year bird along the fence row just south of the Range Road 261 junction. From there, we turned northward on to Twp. Rd. 261, then proceeding through the Irricana Sloughs, we emerged southward on Range Road 255; turning eastward at Twp. Rd. 262. We then turned south on the Range Road going south past the Doppler Radar Station where our 4th. bird of the morning, yet another 1st. bird, was perched on a telephone pole. We then took a break in Strathmore, after which we drove more roads northwest of Strathmore. We then went south to Cheadle; then north of Highway 1 again, then, made our way westward finding our final Snowy Owl of the day; yet another 1st. year bird on the north side of Twp. Rd. 250 just west of the Lyalta turnoff. Normal birds found out there during Winters are still scarce this year. We found only flocks of 2 and 22 Horned Larks and 2 Gray Partridge, but, an additional plus was 3 Great Horned Owls, 2 of which were sitting close together in trees at a farmyard along the roadside. In all, it seemed that people thoroughly enjoyed seeing the birds they saw and were practically overjoyed at their looks at them. A young student from Western Australia researched finding Snowy Owls on the internet, and came across Nature Calgary's Snowy Owl Prowl as a recommendation, and attended the trip today. Terry Korolyk."