Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Erigeron

HAPPY 4th JULY to all Americans! This photo was taken yesterday, 3 July 2016, when I again went with friends, Dorothy and Stephen, to Bow Valley Provincial Park. On 28 June 2016, the three of us had been out there to do a dry run before yesterday's day trip, when 9 other people joined the three of us. The mountains in this park are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards on Highway 1 or 1A from Calgary. They form the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Mt. Yamnuska is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders. It is less than an hour's drive west from Calgary. Our main walk was following the Many Springs Trail, which is perhaps the most rewarding in the park. A great variety of plants can be found there. We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, Harebells, Fleabane, and lots of Gaillardia. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer. Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but we were not able to ID them all. On 28th June, our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher (Willow or Alder Flycatcher) near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour. On yesterday''s trip, we saw 20 bird species and I will add the list compiled by Janet Gill. I never find this park a good place for taking bird photos - widflowers are easier, though it was windy yesterday, which made it more difficult. 1. Great Blue Heron - 1 seen flying overhead 2. Green-winged Teal - 2 females, 6 ducklings 3. Scaup sp. (likely Lesser) 1 male, 1 female 4. Bufflehead - l female 5. Spotted Sandpiper - 6 including 1 at nest sight 6. Willow Flycatcher - 2 (1 seen, 1 heard) 7. American Crow - 1 8. Common Raven - 1 9. Tree Swallow - 1 10. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 1 11. Black-capped Chickadee - 2 12. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1 13. American Robin - 5 14. Swainson's Thrush - 1 15. Yellow Warbler - 6 16. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 Myrtles 17. Song Sparrow - 1 18. White-throated Sparrow - 2 19. Dark-eyed Junco - 1 20. Brown-headed Cowbird -2 Dorothy's list of some of the wildflowers we saw in bloom: Western Wood Lily Yellow Lady's Slipper Indian Paintbrush Western Canada Violet Blue Clematis Cut-leaved Anemone Camas Lily Showy Locoweed Honeysucke Gailardia Northern Bedstraw Common Yarrow Harebell Goldenrod Common Pink Wintergreen Elephanthead Fleabane On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - there was no sign of the beautiful reeds that used to really add something special to this view. We had seen the same thing with the water level at Many Springs, too. The weather forecast for this day mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive. Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go. www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/ The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing! x-powered.com/camping/maps/BowValleyPP_Map.gif

This photo was taken on 23 July 2015, when five of us spent the day botanizing the land belonging to Darryl Teskey, SW of Calgary and W of Millarville (maybe a 40-minute drive from Calgary). This was the first time I had been there and I'm so glad I was invited to go - I would have missed all sorts of things, including a family of Ruffed Grouse and several fungi. These Grouse were the rare rufous-morph, and we startled them when we were walking through the forest in their direction. Usually, you don't see Grouse because they are so well-hidden. When you get fairly close (sometimes very close) to them, they suddenly "explode" from the tangle of shrubs and plants of the forest floor, making ones heart beat fast! We were taken by surprise when we came across a nearby statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. A nice idea, I thought. Our walk took us over grassland and through forest, many places treacherous with so many fallen logs which were often barely visible. I have never, ever seen so many tiny Skipper butterflies - there must have been hundreds or even thousands of these bright orange beauties that were flying or perched on flowers of every colour. Fortunately, the rain stayed away until we started driving back to Calgary. Quite a lot of black clouds, reminding me of the tornado that passed through Calgary just the day before (22 July 2015). Our purpose, as always, was to find and list everything that we saw - wildflowers, trees, grasses, birds, insects, fungi, etc.. Our leader then compiles an extensive list of our finds and this is later sent to the landowner, along with any photos that we might take. Always a win/win situation, as the landowner then has a much better idea of just what is on his property, and we have a most enjoyable day.