Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: patched

I came across this old barn on 5 July 2016, when I finally drove down SE of the city to the Frank Lake area. I have missed almost all the shore birds this year and knew that if I didn't go very soon, they would all have left. As it was, I saw very few birds of any kind. I drove straight to the blind/hide at Frank Lake, where everything was quiet, other than a few Coots with their teenage kids, several Ruddy Ducks including a female lying on her nest, a Marsh Wren that I could hear but not see, a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds, maybe three White-faced Ibis flying by, a few Tree Swallows and a rather handsome Barn Swallow. No Soras, no Eared Grebes. As soon as I had left the blind and taken a few steps down the boardwalk, I was totally taken by surprise by a Black-crowned Night Heron that flew overhead, being chased by a small shorebird. The Heron was letting out a very loud 'hoarse scream' that sounded almost human-like. Just managed to get a rapid shot of the Heron before it flew out of camera view. I so rarely see a Night Heron, though I did see and photograph a beautiful juvenile that was hanging out at Lafarge Meadows in Fish Creek Park last year (2015) and the amazingly close one east of Calgary on 18 July 2016. From the blind area, I drove eastwards and eventually came to Mossleigh, where I stopped at the three grain elevators to take photos. Can't remember if I have been there just once or maybe twice before. On the way, I stopped to photograph an old homestead which I have usually seen and photographed in winter, not summer. The weather forecast was for a risk of thunderstorms, though fortunately there was just a tiny bit of short-lived rain. The past week, there have been tornadoes north and south of Calgary, but there was no Tornado Warning in effect on this day. A great kind of sky when a few of the fields were turning bright yellow from the Canola crops. However, a real challenge for my camera, which recently developed another problem - when I am trying to focus on something, it goes in and out of focus rapidly and 'shudders', making it most unpleasant to view as well as making it very difficult to see what I'm taking. This is not the usual difficulty of getting the camera to focus. Also, when I very slightly tipped the camera upwards, once I had focused on say a field of Canola, the lower half of the viewfinder suddenly went so dark I couldn't really see anything. Such a pain, especially as I absolutely had to have a working camera for the whole of the coming weekend! As it is, I always take almost all my photos on the sunset setting, because the regular settings give me totally washed out images that have little detail - just not usable. Amazes me that any of my photos turn out, ha. A few hours later, it was time to return home after several very enjoyable hours out. More of a cloud, scenery and old barn trip than a birding trip, but those of you who know me, know I love photographing all of the above.

Yesterday, 3 April 2016, I was on a birding day trip with a group of friends, going SE of Calgary, E of High River. The weather was beautifully mild and, as always, it was a most enjoyable day. As always, my camera lens was turned to various other things, too, as usually happens when birds are little more than tiny silhouettes in the far, far distance. This was a rather plain, pale barn, but I still liked it. I saw it while we were driving along the gravel backroad and was wishing that if only we could stop, then I could get a photo. That is exactly what happened. The leader decided that we would stop and take a good look over a lake (was it Brant Lake?) and I was able to take a couple of shots. I will add the report from our leader, Tony Timmons. With all the birds so far away, it was really difficult, if not impossible, to even begin to count the numbers. Many thanks for a great day, Tony, and thanks so much for the ride! "Twelve people were on the trip Sunday, enjoying warm weather and lots of birds (mostly waterfowl). We birded Frank Lake, Brant Lake, and a brief stop at Third Lake; finding 40 species for the day. Greater White-fronted Goose -10 Brant Lake Snow Goose -7 Frank Lake Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan Tundra Swan Gadwall American Wigeon Mallard Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Greater Scaup - 3 Brant Lake Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Ruddy Duck Northern Harrier -2 Third Lake Gray Partridge Ring-necked Pheasant American Coot - 300 Brant Lake Greater Yellowlegs - 1 Frank Lake Killdeer Ring-billed Gull California Gull Rock Pigeon Great Horned Owl - 2 on nest Northern Shrike -2 One close to Frank Lake gate, one N. of Third Lake Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven American Robin European Starling Red-winged Blackbird -12 males, Frank Lake Area Yellow-headed Blackbird - 2 Frank Lake blind Western Meadowlark House Finch House Sparrow Two Red-tailed Hawks were overhead as We entered the city limits."