Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 20 July 2017

Back to local birds, but also back to the archives. It was a case of either post no photos this morning or quickly grab three from my archives. Still taking no new photos and still missing all the new bird arrivals back to the city and surroundings, which is so frustrating and disappointing. Soon, that will change, and I will be so thankful. Late afternoon on 20 July 2017, the smoke haze from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires seemed to have lifted somewhat. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. These included this handsome American Robin, who was busy collecting insects for his babies. He flew in just when I was looking for Mountain Bluebirds, landed on a fence post and then off he flew. Such beautiful, but often overlooked, birds. In between photographing Mountain Bluebirds, I drove part way along a road that I had only ever been on once before, and that was quite recently. Usually, I am home earlier than I was on this particular day. This later time meant that I was lucky enough to see two families of deer - White-tailed and Mule Deer. The first was a Mule Deer doe with her fawn standing at the edge of the road. I pulled over way down the road and waited till they had safely crossed. Managed to get a couple of distant shot through the windscreen, with the usual poor quality results. I knew that there would be a barbed-wire fence the far side of the road and I didn't want to spook them and risk them getting tangled in the sharp barbs. Several years ago, I had seen a huge Moose get spooked and then get briefly tangled in barbed wire - it spooked when it suddenly realized that some farm cows had quietly come up behind it!

Late afternoon on 20 July 2017, the smoke haze from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires seemed to have lifted somewhat. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. These included this busy Mountain Bluebird, collecting some interesting insects for his babies. Also, an American Robin flew in just when I was looking for the Mountain Bluebirds, landed on a fence post, gave me time for one quick shot, and then off he flew. He, too, was busily collecting food for his family. I always think Robins are such beautiful, but often overlooked, birds. In between photographing Bluebirds, I drove part way along a road that I had only ever been on once before, and that was quite recently. Usually, I am home earlier than I was on this particular day. This later time meant that I was lucky enough to see two families of deer - White-tailed and Mule Deer. The first was a Mule Deer doe with her fawn standing at the edge of the road. I pulled over way down the road and waited till they had safely crossed. Managed to get a couple of distant shot through the windscreen, with the usual poor quality results. I knew that there would be a barbed-wire fence the far side of the road and I didn't want to spook them and risk them getting tangled in the sharp barbs. Several years ago, I had seen a huge Moose get spooked and then get briefly tangled in barbed wire - it spooked when it suddenly realized that some cows had quietly come up behind it!

Late afternoon on 20 July 2017, the smoke haze from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires seemed to have lifted somewhat. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. These included this handsome American Robin, who was busy collecting small insects for his babies. He flew in just when I was looking for Mountain Bluebirds, landed on a fence post and then off he flew. Such beautiful, but often overlooked, birds. In between photographing Mountain Bluebirds, I drove part way along a road that I had only ever been on once before, and that was quite recently. Usually, I am home earlier than I was on this particular day. This later time meant that I was lucky enough to see two families of deer - White-tailed and Mule Deer. The first was a Mule Deer doe with her fawn standing at the edge of the road. I pulled over way down the road and waited till they had safely crossed. Managed to get a couple of distant shot through the windscreen, with the usual poor quality results. I knew that there would be a barbed-wire fence the far side of the road and I didn't want to spook them and risk them getting tangled in the sharp barbs. Several years ago, I had seen a huge Moose get spooked and then get briefly tangled in barbed wire - it spooked when it suddenly realized that some cows had quietly come up behind it!

This is one of the deer in the family of three that I posted two days ago. In the afternoon of 20 July 2017, the smoke haze from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires seemed to have lifted somewhat, so I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. Any cows and deer that I have been seeing recently have so many flies on them. It looks like she was near me, but she was way across a huge field. In between photographing Mountain Bluebirds, I drove part way along a road that I had only ever been on once before, and that was quite recently. Usually, I am home earlier than I was on this particular day. This later time meant that I was lucky enough to see two families of deer - White-tailed and Mule Deer. A short distance before seeing this deer, I had seen a Mule Deer doe with her fawn standing at the edge of the road. I pulled over way down the road and waited till they had safely crossed. Managed to get a couple of distant shot through the windscreen, with the usual poor quality results. I knew that there would be a barbed-wire fence the far side of the road and I didn't want to spook them and risk them getting tangled in the sharp barbs. Several years ago, I had seen a huge Moose get spooked and then get briefly tangled in barbed wire - it spooked when it suddenly realized that some cows had quietly come up behind it!

Another smoky day here in Calgary (21 July 2017), with a temperature of 20C this morning and cloudy. The air quality yesterday was expected to reach High Risk, but it seemed to be bearable late in the afternoon. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. I really hope that rain will arrive soon to help the firefighters in British Columbia and in Alberta, too! So much devastation. This photo is of one of my 'usual' Mountain Bluebird females. I'm not completely sure, as I haven't been able to get there much recently, but I suspect that they have had a second set of young ones. Dad appeared while I was there, carrying a huge caterpillar in his beak. I was so happy to see them, even more so as I haven't been seeing all that much in the way of birds recently. Sorry if you are tired of seeing Bluebird photos! In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

Another smoky day here in Calgary (21 July 2017), with a temperature of 20C this morning and cloudy. The air quality yesterday was expected to reach High Risk, but it seemed to be bearable late in the afternoon. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. I really hope that rain will arrive soon to help the firefighters in British Columbia and in Alberta, too! So much devastation. In between photographing Mountain Bluebirds, I drove part way along a road that I had only ever been on once before, and that was quite recently. Usually, I am home earlier than I was yesterday. This later time meant that I was lucky enough to see two families of deer - White-tailed and Mule Deer. The animals in this photo were the second family I saw. A short distance before, I had seen a Mule Deer doe with her fawn standing at the edge of the road. I pulled over way down the road and waited till they had safely crossed. Managed to get a couple of distant shot through the windscreen, with the usual poor quality results. I knew that there would be a barbed-wire fence the far side of the road and I didn't want to spook them and risk them getting tangled in the sharp barbs. Several years ago, I had seen a huge Moose get spooked and then get briefly tangled in barbed wire - it spooked when it suddenly realized that some cows had quietly come up behind it!

Another smoky day here in Calgary (21 July 2017), with a temperature of 20C this morning and cloudy. The air quality yesterday was expected to reach High Risk, but it seemed to be bearable late in the afternoon. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. I often can't stop at this location, as there is only enough room for two vehicles, and there is usually one car there, at least. I was happy to find that the spot was empty yesterday - then, half a minute later, three guys on noisy motor bikes pulled up next to me! I really hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon. The other day, about 145 wildfires were being reported in B.C., causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.