Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: winter Finch

A morning's walk in Fish Creek Park with a group of friends sounded appealing, especially as others had seen a Black-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker and even the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. As almost always happens, none of these birds were seen on the day I went. On this day, 18 January 2018, I almost came home with an empty memory card in my camera. Luckily, we were treated to a distant view of a Pileated Woodpecker at the furthest point of our walk, and then to a couple of these gorgeous Pine Grosbeak males feeding on berries. Usually, when I see Pine Grosbeaks, they are either flying high overhead or else perched at the top of a very tall tree in the distance. To see them this close up shows them in all their glory. In some ways, I think a back view is the most beautiful, showing the black and white wing pattern. "These plump finches dwarf every other finch in the trees and nearly every bird that lands on the feeder. The grayish bodies of Pine Grosbeaks are decked out in pinkish reds on males and yellows on females. They easily crush seeds and nip off tree buds and needles with their thick and stubby bill. They breed in open spruce, fir, and pine forests, but they drop in on feeders in winter, especially in the East when they sometimes irrupt outside of their normal range." From Wikipedia. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Grosbeak/id

This photo was taken on 29 December 2017, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area we covered (right on the east edge of the count circle) was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail. The first evidence of any wildlife for me, first thing in the morning, was a Jackrabbit that was nibbling on snow-covered plants right outside our leader's house. Of course, at 7:15 in the morning, it was still dark. One of my favourite things to photograph on this annual Count are the Llamas at one of the farms.. This farmer has several of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. I'm not sure how many Llamas they have - somewhere around 7? Most of these animals were given to them by other farmers who no longer wanted them. "Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia. One of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. This day, though, with a temperature of -23C all day (windchill probably at least -30 to 35C), cats stayed indoors. I caught a brief glimpse of only one cat outside. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, so we couldn't search the farmyard, but I did get the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of one of the barns, from a side view. Another farm we stopped at had beautiful Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls coming to a feeder. A joy to see these splashes of colour in a very cold, white, white world. So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Too cold and too much snow to spend much time searching various farmyards, and we had finished the Count by 2:30 pm. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below. Many thanks, Dave, for driving us. You did a great job of handling roads that were not in the greatest condition, and it was greatly appreciated. The light was awful all day, and it was so difficult to see where the ditch was and where one road turned off to another. There is no way I would ever try driving on our back roads in such weather! Also, a huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander round their farmyards. These visits make our day so much more interesting and rewarding!

Yesterday, 18 January 2018, I almost came home with an empty memory card in my camera. Luckily, we were treated to a distant view of a Pileated Woodpecker at the furthest point of our walk, and then to a couple of these gorgeous Pine Grosbeak males feeding on berries. Usually, when I see Pine Grosbeaks, they are either flying high overhead or else perched at the top of a very tall tree in the distance. To see them this close up shows them in all their glory. In some ways, I think a back view is the most beautiful, showing the black and white wing pattern. Much as I would love to jump in my car and go for a drive, I just haven't been able to do so the last 10 or so days, dealing with various services shutting down after my credit card was compromised by someone in eastern Canada, and consequently cancelled. So, a morning's walk in Fish Creek Park with a group of friends sounded appealing, especially as others had seen a Black-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker and even the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. As almost always happens, none of these birds were seen yesterday, ha. We are still having milder weather, often sunny and even a few degrees above 0°C on some days. Yesterday was 2C-7C, which felt wonderful. Perfect weather for getting out ... sigh. We know there is still plenty of snow that will come before spring arrives.

This is such an awful shot, but I am posting it as a record of almost the only photo taken of any birds on yesterday's Fish Creek Park's New Year's Day Bird Count. There were four of these Grosbeaks together and not too far away. The rest of this species were way off in the distance. "These plump finches dwarf every other finch in the trees and nearly every bird that lands on the feeder. The grayish bodies of Pine Grosbeaks are decked out in pinkish reds on males and yellows on females. They easily crush seeds and nip off tree buds and needles with their thick and stubby bill. They breed in open spruce, fir, and pine forests, but they drop in on feeders in winter, especially in the East when they sometimes irrupt outside of their normal range." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Grosbeak/id Finally, there is a break in the extreme cold weather here, after maybe 10 or 12 days of temperatures that plunged as low as windchills of -41C or -43C on some of the days. This cold spell coincided with all the Christmas Bird Counts and yesterday's annual New Year's Day Count in Fish Creek Park. They have been brutally cold days, with quite a few people dropping out. Yesterday, only 8 of the 13 people who had said they were going, showed up. Today, 2 January 2018, the temperature just after noon is only -1C (windchill -3C). Of course, the birds had far more sense than the humans - the birds were hiding in sheltered places and my group's sightings were few and far between. A total of 7 species was the final total for my group for three hours of walking in the park. I suspect that at least some of the birds were up the cliff, eating at the feeders of all the houses that edge the park. Winter boots that say they work for temperatures down to -40C were struggling to keep toes warm yesterday. Our cameras stopped working, in protest of being subjected to such cold. It was a different kind of cold yesterday, maybe a damp cold. Most of our walking was through the trees, but part way when we did emerge, we found blue sky and sunshine. I love seeing the snow that has fallen along the top of the bridge railings. Out of maybe a dozen photos my camera was able to take, only two or three actually turned out. Definitely not a photographer's ideal morning, lol. After the count, everyone usually gathers at Tim Horton's, but this year, our usual Tim's was closed for some reason. The closest alternative was the nearby McDonald's. Only a few people turned up, but it was so enjoyable to sit and chat with friends over hot coffee and French fries (or some other equally unhealthy food).

This morning's temperature is -29C (windchill -40C), with a lovely blue sky and sunshine. I have no intention of going out today, except to clear all the snow off my car ready for tomorrow's New Year's Day Bird Count for Fish Creek Park. This extreme cold is just brutal! Three COLD, day-long, out-of-the-city Christmas Bird Counts have been more than enough. A video from the Weather Network website, showing how cold it is in Calgary right now: www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/gallery/watch-this-ho... This photo was taken the day before yesterday, 29 December 2017, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area we covered (right on the east edge of the count circle) was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail. The first evidence of any wildlife for me, first thing in the morning, was a Jackrabbit that was nibbling on snow-covered plants right outside our leader's house. Of course, at 7:15 in the morning, it was still dark. One of my favourite things to photograph on this annual Count are the Llamas at one of the farms.. This farmer has several of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. I'm not sure how many Llamas they have - somewhere around 7? Most of these animals were given to them by other farmers who no longer wanted them. "Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia. Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. This day, though, with a temperature of -23C all day (windchill probably at least -30C), cats stayed indoors. I caught a brief glimpse of just one cat outside. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, but I did get the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of one of the barns, from a side view. Another farm we stopped at had beautiful Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls coming to a feeder. A joy to see these splashes of colour in a very cold, white, white world. So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Too cold and too much snow to spend much time searching various farmyards, and we had finished the Count by 2:30 pm. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below. Many thanks, Dave, for driving us. You did a great job of handling roads that were not in the greatest condition, and it was greatly appreciated. The light was awful all day, and it was so difficult to see where the ditch was and where one road turned off to another. There is no way I would ever try driving on our back roads in winter! Also, a huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander around their farmyards. These visits make our day so much more interesting!

All three photos quickly edited and posted this morning were taken the day before yesterday, 27 December 2017, during the Sheep River Christmas Bird Count. I wasn't going to post any images today, as I have another long count day, this time NW of the city. However, I woke up around 4:15 am, 45 mins before my alarm clocks went off, so decided to find some photos to post. Our temperature is -24C (windchill -31C). Supposed to be a very overcast day, unfortunately. More later! There were six of us (in the group I was in) taking part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Sheep River/Priddis/Turner Valley area. Our time was spent travelling in two cars, driving the back roads SW of the city and calling in at various acreages/ farms. Thanks so much, Joe and Dave, for being the two drivers. This was so much appreciated! With brutally cold temperatures for days, and wind chills plunging to as low as -37C if not more, and lots of snow, we were thankful that only part of the day was spent out of the car! Last night, we had more snow, so I needed to clear off my car before today's Bird Count way north of the city. Another three or four days of this bitter weather and things are forecast to warm up, thank goodness. I took part in this Count for 2015 and 2016, but had missed it for a few years before that. I believe I had only ever done it twice before that, a few years ago (December 2007 and December 30, 2008). This time, like last year, our area was in the centre of the count circle and I'm so glad I decided to go again. A great stop was at Rod Handfield's place. Some of us go there very occasionally on botany trips and he always has the best mushrooms and other fungi growing in his forest in the fall. Rod and his wife have such a beautiful cabin there. Rod is always so wonderfully hospitable, and he had driven out to the cabin and had delicious coffee and baked goods ready for us! This was so much appreciated and enjoyed, and I know that I, for one, felt re-energized after this treat and being able to warm up in his home. As always, many thanks, Rod! We met with nothing but pleasant landowners, so willing to allow us to wander their properties. One of them, Doug J, had the highlight of the day for us - a Steller's Jay! The status of the Steller's Jay in Alberta is "locally uncommon year-round". They are spotted most often in the Rocky Mountains. Waterton Lakes National Park seems to be the best area for these stunning birds. Another welcome sighting was a group of 10 Wild Turkeys at a location where we have previously seen them. Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls helped make the day enjoyable, too, along with the 'regulars', including Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Canada Geese, and three types of Chickadee. Everything seen in such spectacular scenery, too. I love this whole area and, thankfully, it is an area that I can drive to myself - but not in winter! Needless to say, I know I am very lucky. By the way, we briefly stopped and looked down a hill to see one of the 'sets' for the TV series, "Heartland". This is a real-life farm, including the big, red barn. This is a family drama on CBC TV about a family dealing with the highs and lows of life on a horse ranch in the stunning the foothills of Alberta. I don't watch it often, but when I do, I love it, seeing the countryside so close to home. They use the old, red barn for some of the scenes, plus a replica of the barn's inside in a studio. A short Blog article by one of the sons raised in real life on this farm that is used in Heartland: www.cbc.ca/heartland/blog/a-bit-of-real-history-of-the-he... youtu.be/7LEvpS4zd2E

The three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 27 December 2017, when six of us (in the group I was in) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Sheep River/Priddis/Turner Valley area. Our time was spent travelling in two cars, driving the back roads SW of the city and calling in at various acreages/ farms. Thanks so much, Joe, for being one of the two drivers. This was so much appreciated! With brutally cold temperatures for days, and wind chills plunging to as low as -37C, and lots of snow, we were thankful that only part of the day was spent out of the car! Unfortunately, the light was very poor all day for taking photos. Last night, we had more snow, so I will need to clear off my car before tomorrow's Bird Count way north of the city. Another three or four days of this bitter weather and things are forecast to warm up, thank goodness. I took part in this Count for 2015 and 2016, but had missed it for a few years before that. I believe I had only ever done it twice before that, a few years ago (December 2007 and December 30, 2008). This time, like last year, our area was in the centre of the count circle and I'm so glad I decided to go again. A great stop was at Rod Handfield's place. Some of us go there very occasionally on botany trips and he always has the best mushrooms and other fungi growing in his forest in the fall. Rod and his wife have such a beautiful cabin there. Rod is always so wonderfully hospitable, and yesterday, he had driven out to the cabin and had delicious coffee and baked goods ready for us! This was so much appreciated and enjoyed, and I know that I, for one, felt re-energized after this treat and being able to warm up in his home. As always, many thanks, Rod! We met with nothing but pleasant landowners, so willing to allow us to wander their properties. One of them, Doug J, had the highlight of the day for us - a Steller's Jay! The status of the Steller's Jay in Alberta is "locally uncommon year-round". They are spotted most often in the Rocky Mountains. Waterton Lakes National Park seems to be the best area for these stunning birds. Another welcome sighting was a group of 10 Wild Turkeys at a location where we have previously seen them. Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls helped make the day enjoyable, too, along with the 'regulars', including Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Canada Geese, and three types of Chickadee. Everything seen in such spectacular scenery, too. I love this whole area and, thankfully, it is an area that I can drive to myself. Needless to say, I know I am very lucky. By the way, we briefly stopped and looked down a hill to see one of the locations for the very popular TV series, "Heartland". This is a real-life farm, including the big, red barn. A short Blog article by one of the sons raised in real life on this farm that is used in Heartland: www.cbc.ca/heartland/blog/a-bit-of-real-history-of-the-he... youtu.be/7LEvpS4zd2E

Posting really late today, around noon, I think. Having missed so much sleep because of the various bird counts (happens every year, lol!), I absolutely had to sleep till I woke this morning, with no alarms set, thank goodness. Tomorrow will be the final Count I'm taking part in, my seventh Count this winter, I believe. Three days ago, on 30 December 2015, 7 of us took part in the annual Audubon Sheep River/Priddis/Turner Valley Christmas Bird Count. I know I also did this Count on 31 December 2007 and 30 December 2008, but I can't remember if those were the only times I had taken part previously. As you can see from this photo, we did see some birds that day, even some that were close enough for photos. This beautiful male Pine Grosbeak was at someone's feeder at one of the acreages that we called in at. In fact, it was a great day : ) Great, but COLD, starting off at -22C warming to a balmy -3C later in the day. "One of the larger members of its family, the Pine Grosbeak is a bird of the boreal forests, found across northern Eurasia and North America, and south into the mountains of western Canada and the United States. A large, unwary finch, it makes periodic winter irruptions into southern Canada and northern United States. It is the largest and rarest of the "winter finches." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Grosbeak/id Our time was spent travelling by car, driving the backroads SW of the city and calling in at several farms. I wasn't sure just where this count would cover. This time, our area was in the centre of the count circle and I'm so glad I decided to go again. I hadn't expected that many of the roads would be familiar to me and a few were new. Our day started and ended with a Moose, which was pretty amazing. Not the greatest views for photographs, but I did manage to get a couple of OK ones. Another find was a group of Wild Turkeys that were at a location where they had been seen before. This time, we drove down the hill to the farm buildings and were able to see these spectacular birds quite well. All were females, but the females are still stunning, with their iridescent plumage. A great stop was at Rod Handfield's place. Some of us used to go there on botany trips and he always had the best mushrooms and other fungi growing in his forest. We hadn't been back there the last two or three years and I really missed our old botany outings. Rod and his wife have such a beautiful cabin there, and he invited us in for coffee and pastries. This was so much appreciated on a day of birding! Rod is always so delightfully hospitable!! Thanks so much, Anne B, for driving two of us - without you, I would not have been able to go! Our time spent in a snow-filled ditch simply added to the adventurous feeling of the day, lol! Just shows how easy it is to get stuck when there is snow on the ground. The road had been snow-ploughed, but the edge looked like it was solid ground, not part of a ditch. Thankfully, a shovel was available and with the help of the rest of the group pushing from the front of the car, we made it back on to firm ground! I will add our leader's final species list for the day: SHEEP RIVER CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT, 0850-1500, Tue,30Dec2015. Centre of Circle, SW of Millarville,AB. Clear, sunny, calm, -22 to -03°C. 30 cm snow on ground. Most waterbodies frozen over. Total Party kms by Car - 80; Total Party kms by foot – 1km. Total Party hours by Car – 3; Total Party hours by foot -2 hrs Total Party hours feeder watching – 1:10 min. Wild Turkey-9, all f. Downy Woodpecker-6. Hairy Woodpecker-4 Gray Jay-3 Blue Jay-6 Black-billed Magpie-14 Common Raven-33 Black-capped Chickadee- 118 Mountain Chickadee-32 Boreal Chickadee-4 Red-breasted Nuthatch-14 White-breasted Nuthatch-5 Dark-eyed Junco-2 Pine Grosbeak-22 White-winged Crossbill-36 Common Redpoll-14 Pine Siskin-1 RedSquirrel-2 vole sp.-1 Mule Deer-3 White-tailed Deer-7 Deer sp.-2 Moose-2

Three days ago, on 16 November 2015, it would have been my older daughter’s birthday. Feeling that I needed to get out for a while, I met up with a group of friends for a three-hour walk in Weaselhead. It had snowed a bit overnight and, though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was around 1°C. This meant winter jacket and winter boots complete with ice-grabbers as the paths were very icy and slippery. 27 species of bird were seen. Only two or three people saw what they reckoned was an owl (Great Horned) in flight from the forest. A Snow-shoe Hare in its white, winter coat was barely visible, hiding in a tangle of bushes. We had quite good views of several White-winged Crossbills. These are such colourful birds - at least the males are. The females are a greenish yellow, but still beautiful. Their bills are crossed, to enable them to get the seeds out of the cones. They tend to land high up in tall trees, so are not easy to photograph. This colourful male Pine Grosbeak was seen on the return walk - wish I could have got a clearer background : ) Such a gorgeous colour. "One of the larger members of its family, the Pine Grosbeak is a bird of the boreal forests, found across northern Eurasia and North America, and south into the mountains of western Canada and the United States. A large, unwary finch, it makes periodic winter irruptions into southern Canada and northern United States. It is the largest and rarest of the "winter finches." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Grosbeak/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_grosbeak List of bird species seen: 1.Canada Goose-200+ 2.Swan sp.,-7 3.Mallard-4 4.Common Goldeneye-1 f. 5.Northern Goshawk-1 6.Rough-legged Hawk-1 7.Killdeer-1 8.Ring-billed Gull?-1 9.Great Horned Owl-1 10.Downy Woodpecker-4+ 11.Hairy Woodpecker-1 12.Northern Flicker-2 13.Blue Jay-4+ 14.Black-billed Magpie-20 15.Common Raven-2+ 16.Black-capped Chickadee-50+ 17.Boreal Chickadee-4 18.Red-breasted Chickadee-1 19.White-breasted Nuthatch-1 20.Bohemian Waxwing-100+ 21.Dark-eyed Junco-1+ 22.Pine Grosbeak-10+ 23.House Finch-1 24.Red Crossbill-1 f. 25.White-winged Crossbill-75+ 26.Common Redpoll-30+ 27.House Sparrow-6