Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: take-off

I am falling behind with editing and posting photos from several outings, not to mention still having almost two weeks' worth of photos to go through from our trip to Ontario and Quebec. Tonight, I decided to post a few shots from our annual Bluebird route evening outing with Don Stiles. Yesterday evening, 28 June 2018, a group of us met at 6:30 pm and went SW of the city with Don, who has been a dedicated Mountain Bluebird Monitor for somewhere around 40 years! It was getting on for 10:00 pm when I finally arrived home. I'm adding a link to a CTV News article from 12 August 2015, about Don and his son, Andrew. Also a link to Andrew's birdhouse-building blog. Two great guys : ) calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-birdman-proves-conservation-is... calgarybirdman.blogspot.ca/ andychurch.org/bird-men-stiles-helping-save-mountain-blue... andrewstilescalgary.blogspot.ca/ This drive is an annual trip along Don’s Bluebird Route. We get the chance to see Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows and Wrens nesting in various wooden nesting boxes along the country roads. Some boxes have eggs in the nest, others have tiny babies all packed tightly together. I have seen them before on several other trips with Don and have photos in my Mountain Bluebird album. Along the route, we saw a few other bird species, including this beautiful Swainson's Hawk. It took off just as I clicked, and I didn't think I caught it in time. However, I did get this slightly blown-out capture. Many thanks, as always, Don, for letting us come along with you. It is an evening I look forward to every year, and I could tell how much everyone enjoyed themselves. We appreciate how much time over the many years that you have spent taking care of these wonderful little blue birds. They bring such joy to people each spring. Added next morning - a few of us took part in a bio-blitz yesterday, 29 June 2018, at the Rusty Bucket ranch, near Bragg Creek, west of the city.. My next few photos will be from this outing,

Awful quality, but couldn't bring myself to delete it : ) This Snowy Owl, seen way off down the road, decided to take off just when I clicked. I like my owls to be sitting still - I know most people want in-flight shots of birds, especially owls. Taken at Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and then cropped. I love those mighty wings. Yesterday, 14 January 2017, I drove to Fish Creek Park to meet with others to go east of the city, looking for birds. Everywhere looked so pretty down by the river when I arrived, with everything covered in frost and a thick layer of mist rising from the water. I think there were about 8 cars in convoy, as we headed eastward, out of the city. For much of the day, birding was extremely slow, especially as we were not seeing any owls : ) As the day wore on, several cars returned to the city. The first owl to be seen was a Great Horned Owl, perched in a row of trees alongside the road. It was so well hidden by a tangle of thin twigs and branches, making it impossible to photograph, but still a treat to see. Eventually, we saw our first Snowy Owl at 2:30 pm, perched on a very distant fence post. A second Snowy was seen 15 to 20 minutes later, again very, very distant. Then, shortly before the trip ended, the friends in the car in which I was travelling, decided to go back to a certain area to see if we could see any Short-eared Owls. On the way there, we spotted another Snowy Owl (seen in this photo), on a power pole way, way down the road. Managed to get a quick couple of very distant shots before it flew off to hunt. I had found no Snowy Owls or Short-eared Owls the previous afternoon, when I had gone there on my own. This time, we spotted two Short-eared Owls, perched far, far away along a fence line. Useless for photos, though. Thanks so much for driving the whole day, Carolyn - greatly appreciated by all of us! So glad you wanted to stay a bit longer than the actual trip, as we had a few lucky sightings, even if they were all very distant. A beautiful, sunny day to be out, too, and thankfully the deep-freeze had just ended. Thanks so much, Terry, for organizing this trip! It always makes for a very enjoyable day out. Nice to see a few other birds, too, including Horned Larks and Snow Buntings.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 March 2015, I went on a very enjoyable two and a half hour walk at Carburn Park, with birding friends. The weather was good and the company was perfect. These magnificent Bald Eagles are usually seen in the trees on the far side of the Bow River or flying overhead, so my photos tend to be very distant. I was just pressing the shutter when this adult unexpectedly took flight. I love seeing them when their legs are extended like this, so, even though this is a very grainy image, I thought I'd still post it. Until maybe 10 or so years ago, when I bought my very first digital camera and eventually got into "birding", I had no idea that we have Bald Eagles in Calgary - lots of people are still very surprised when they learn this. How lucky we are! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Eagle www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/id I'll add the list of sightings we had, put together by the leaders of the group: 1. Canada Goose-60 2. American Wigeon-1 m. 3. Mallard-55 4. Bufflehead-60 5. Common Goldeneye-60 6. Common Merganser-7 7. Bald Eagle-2 8. Ring-bill Gull-30 9. Calfornia Gull-30 10.Herring Gull-1 11. Rock Pigeon-3 12. Great Horned Owl-2 13. Downy Woodpecker-8 14. Hairy Woodpecker-1 15. Northern Flicker-5 16. Black-billed Magpie-14 17. American Crow-2 18. Common Raven-8 19. Black-capped Chickadee-5 20. Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 21. White-breasted Nuthatch-1 22. American Robin -4 23. House Finch-3 24. House Sparrow-10+ 25. Great Blue Heron-flew over, and noticed by Shirley, even though it was little more than a large speck in the sky After the walk, four of us went for coffee at Tim Hortons - always as enjoyable as the walk itself, if not more so : )

A little Black-capped Chickadee doing what (some) Chickadees do! Someimes, all you need to do in certain locations is put your arm out to point something out to a friend, and before you know it, a little bird has landed on your hand : ) LOL, I've had them on my head, my shoulders, arms, hands, clinging to the leg of my jeans, and even perched on top of my camera. Such cute and friendly little guys. There is always a Chickadee around when nothing else seems to be. Thank you, Chickadees, especially in deep mid-winter, when it's -25C outside, and you come and see me in the park and give me something to photograph : ) So much appreciated!

Couldn't resist posting this Black-capped Chickadee take-off photo, despite the beak being missing. I think they look so cute when you can see their little bodies all stretched out.

Three Trumpeter Swans just starting to take off from one of the sloughs (ponds) outside the city. I prefer seeing them in flight, but thought I'd still post this one.