Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Pam's hand

All three photos posted today were taken yesterday, 19 October 2017, when I joined birding friends for a walk in South Glenmore Park. The setting is beautiful, but usually the birds are out in the middle of the Glenmore Reservoir or near the far side. The main reasons I go for a walk there is just to enjoy the views over the water and to catch up with friends. If I'm lucky, I might come home with a couple of bird photos. Not the best lighting, but I thought this little Chickadee's pose was quite cute. It looks like it is checking, before flying off, that there is not a better seed in friend Pam's hand. They can be picky eaters. These birds are just 24 hours away from death, and need to collect enough fat in order to survive. Such busy little birds. "The Black-capped Chickadee is notable for its capacity to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights, its good spatial memory to relocate the caches where it stores food, and its boldness near humans (they can feed from the hand)." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_Chickadee www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black-capped_chickadee/id "The chickadee's unerring spatial memory is remarkable enough, says Colin Saldanha, assistant professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University and an anatomist who has studied songbirds for six years. But it is what happens inside the tiny songbird's brain that Saldanha finds amazing. In the fall, as the chickadee is gathering and storing seeds, Saldanha says, its hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for spatial organization and memory in many vertebrates, expands in volume by approximately 30 percent by adding new nerve cells. In songbirds, the hippocampus is located on the dorsal surface of the forebrain right beneath the skull. In mammals, the hippocampus is located beneath the cortex. In the spring, when its feats of memory are needed less, the chickadee's hippocampus shrinks back to its normal size, Saldanha says." From article on ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030912072156.htm

Happy Father's Day, everyone! Back to posting after missing yesterday. I was so absolutely tired the previous evening, that I just didn't manage to find and edit photos to post early yesterday morning. I know part of the reason is lack of sleep, but I have felt overwhelmingly tired since getting back from Trinidad & Tobago. I need to get more sleep and then see if that helps. If not, I guess it is always possible that I picked up something during our trip. This was such a tiny beetle, seen yesterday, 17 June 2017, when five of us went east of the city for the day, to visit our friend, Shirley, at her seasonal trailer. I'm pretty sure I have the correct ID. I just loved how tiny it was and its beautiful colour. Thanks, Pam, for literally lending a hand! "Polydrusus impressifrons, also known as the the leaf weevil or pale green weevil, is sometimes found in large numbers in nurseries in the late spring/early summer. This weevil is European in origin and first found in New York in 1906. They are reported to feed on leaves of trees such as apple, birch, black locust, blueberry, elm, linden, oak, peach, pear, plum, poplar, rose, strawberry and willow (Beers et al, 2003; Rosetta, personal observation). They are rarely considered a pest but shade tree growers might want to inspect for terminal feeding and loss. Their feeding can be more of a problem on smaller, liner-sized plant material. Their larvae feed on roots." From Oregon State University. oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/Polydrusus_weevil.htm Most of our birding was done at and near Shirley's trailer site, including seeing a wonderful owl family, two Killdeer and their nests, a Baltimore Oriole, and (finally!) a Brown Thrasher. I had hoped for several years to see one of these birds, so it was a real treat to see a 'lifer'. It was far away and so high up, but I managed to get a couple of shots just for the record. We were so happy to be able to see the Great Horned Owl family - three owlets and both adults. There had been a fourth owlet, but it died recently. When I was posting a photo of two of the owlets this morning, I realized that one youngster was clutching a small bird in its talons! As we were walking around the grounds, two ladies stopped us and showed us some baby birds that they had had to remove from the engine of their vehicle, as they needed to drive. They wondered if we knew what kind of birds they were, but we were unable to help. I posted a photo of them this morning, just in case someone can ID them. The ladies had a bird house that they were going to put the babies into, hoping that the parents would hear them calling and be able to continue feeding them. Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you while you were there for the weekend! It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Such a great variety of species! Wow, what a lunch we had, sitting at a table under the Tree Swallow tree, with a very vocal American Robin just a few feet away and a pair of busy Tree Swallows flying back and forth with food for their babies. How DO birds manage to sing non-stop like this Robin?! Hot chili made by Shirley, and a whole array of delicious salads and desserts left me feeling full till the early evening. Many thanks, Anne B, for picking up three of us and for driving us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated!