Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: wooden stump

Yesterday morning, 22 February 2016, I went on a birding walk at the Bow Valley Ranch, Sikome & Hull's Wood areas in Fish Creek Park. This little Downy Woodpecker was one of the birds we saw on this rather birdless day. We had split into two groups, and the list is a combined list from both. My group didn't see the Pheasant or Shrike (i.e the two best sightings!). "The active little Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots, where it joins flocks of chickadees and nuthatches, barely outsizing them. An often acrobatic forager, this black-and-white woodpecker is at home on tiny branches or balancing on slender plant galls, sycamore seed balls, and suet feeders. Downies and their larger lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker, are one of the first identification challenges that beginning bird watchers master." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id/ FFCPPSoc. Birding, FC Hq & Sikome, FCPP, Calgary, 0915-1200, Mon22Feb2016. Sunny, N. wind 15kph -2 to 6°C. Two groups; 1. Canada Goose- 500 2. Mallard-100 3. Common Goldeneye-30 4. Bufflehead-10 5. Ring-necked Pheasant-1 m 6. Bald Eagle-2 (1ad/1juv). 7. Great Horned Owl-2, pair nesting. 8. Downy Woodpecker-10 9. Hairy Woodpecker-1 10. Northern Flicker-15 11. Northern Shrike-1 12. Blue Jay-1+ 13. Black-billed Magpie-6 14. Common Raven-7Black-capped Chickadee-25 15. Black-capped Chickadee-15 16. Red-breasted Nuthatch-3 17. White-breasted Nuthatch-5 18. European Starling-5 19. House Finch-2 20. White-winged Crossbill-8 21. Pine Siskin-4 22. House Sparrow-3 Eastern Gray Squirrel-3 After going home for lunch, I then called in at Fish Creek Park again, but at a different location of the park. I was really hoping to see the Varied Thrush again and hopefully get a few much better photos. I passed a couple that I recognized and asked them if they had seen the Thrush and they told me that, yes,it was there. Well, do you think I could find it, lol?! Of course not! Also had a most interesting chat with another couple down there, whom I had never met before - Mike and Cheryl. So nice to meet you both. From Fish Creek Park, I finally went and washed my absolutely filthy car. A few months of driving through muddy slush in the city and on the gravel backroads out of the city, you couldn't tell what colour my vehicle was. Now it just sparkles, and I changed my mind about doing a drive out of the city today. I think I just want to enjoy seeing such a gleaming, clean car for at least one more day. Also, I have been out four days in a row, so I need to catch up on a few things at home.

Last night, when choosing three photos to post this morning, I happened to come across this old shot from my archives. It was taken at the Calgary Zoo on 2 May 2011, when a pair of Snowy Owls was in a small enclosure near the Tigers. SInce then, the only Snowies at the Zoo are over in the Aviary. It has been too long to remember for sure, but I think this was most likely the female rather than a juvenile bird. With so many people now going outside the city to look for, and photograph, these amazing birds of prey that have moved south in search of food, I thought this photo might be a good reminder of yet another reason to keep ones distance, lol. Those talons mean business! I sometimes think I must be the only person who isn't out to get photos of these owls in flight! Please don't deliberately flush them - they are already tired and stressed enough. Of course, they sometimes fly simply because they want to, in their search for yet another rodent. Actually, I was lucky enough to see two very, very distant Snowy Owls yesterday, when I went with a group of 7 friends to take part in the first annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count of the season. This is one of my favourite counts, mainly because our small group covers one of my favourite areas, SE of the city.

This photo was taken on 23 November 2014, when I went for part of a birding walk with friends in Fish Creek Park. There is always a Downy Woodpecker to be seen in the Sikome area, along with the usual Black-capped Chickadees. "The active little Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots, where it joins flocks of chickadees and nuthatches, barely outsizing them. An often acrobatic forager, this black-and-white woodpecker is at home on tiny branches or balancing on slender plant galls, sycamore seed balls, and suet feeders. Downies and their larger lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker, are one of the first identification challenges that beginning bird watchers master." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id/ I was lucky enough to get a quick sighting of the Long-tailed Weasel that day, too, when I called in after the walk. Only managed to take a handful of shots and most didn't come out well enough to post, but it was still nice to see this little animal in its beautiful white, winter coat. Update on 9 April 2015: it looks like the pair of Great Horned Owls that have nested in the Sikome area for years, have not had a successful nesting season this year. People had been seeing Dad sitting in one of the trees up till recently, keeping watch over the nest where Mom was out of sight in the cavity. Apparently, both adults are now being seen sitting in nearby trees, which presumably means that they have had no little ones this year. Or else it means that something happened to the tiny owlets after they were hatched. This is all so sad, for the owls themselves, and for all the people who have been following these owls for years. They gave us all so much pleasure, especially when the owlets were old enough to perch on top of the hollow snag.