Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: decorated

HELP is needed to find the two amazing men who stopped (in brutal, -30C weather) to help save the life of one of our birder/photographer friends, who was in a very serious vehicle accident east of the city. Mike (Mike Kelly on Flickr), who is in hospital with a broken jaw, broken wrist, and two broken legs, really, really wants to meet his two rescuers so that he can thank them in person for saving his life. Everyone is using the social media on Facebook in an attempt to find these two good Samaritans, and I thought I would add it here, too, in the hope that someone out there might just know the hoped-for information. It would mean so much to Mike! His many friends would be so happy, too. I will add the link to today's Global TV News article. Of course, it is possible that the two rescuers might have seen the News and hopefully come forward. Mike thinks that one of them might live in British Columbia, the province to the west of us. globalnews.ca/news/3949198/calgarian-who-barely-survived-... ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* I happened to come across this photo last night while searching for certain other shots. Kind of late for Christmas, but I thought it was such a cute scene. On 2 February 2014, a group of us went on an annual birding trip west of the city, that is normally to the Sibbald Creek area, Exshaw and Harvie Heights. This year, though, we drove around the Water Valley area (NW of Calgary) first and then went straight on to Harvie Heights. Very few birds to be seen in either area, but of course it was wonderful to get out to these places, in good company. At Harvie Heights, near Canmore (near Banff), there were no Grosbeaks, no Clark's Nutcrackers, etc.. The same has been true for so many walks and outings these days - where are all the birds? The day before this trip, a group of people went to a local city park and, in just under three hours of walking, saw only five species of bird. The following is the report complied by trip leader, Andrew Hart. Thanks for a great day, as always, Andrew! "Twelve of us set out on a sunny but chilly day with temperatures ranging from -14 deg C to -8 deg C. We started off by driving around in the area to the south of Water Valley as far as the Bates Ranch. We were hoping to find owls, but despite visiting several known previous sighting locations, came up short. We did see several Ravens and Magpies, some Blue Jays (at the Winchell Lake Estates), Black Capped Chickadees, a Rough Legged Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker. We also saw a Coyote. After lunch we went further south and encountered a family of 6-8 Gray Jays near the Bates Ranch. We then headed to Harvie Heights. En route we passed a road-killed deer swarming with 20 Ravens, and a Coyote angling to see them off. We also saw two Bald Eagles. At Harvie Heights we saw several Mountain and Black Capped Chickadees, a Brown Creeper, Pine Siskins, Dark Eyed Juncos, and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers (the Woodpeckers seen by Phil Quin at a feeder by the hamlet entrance that the rest of us drove past). No Pine Grosbeaks (not that much of a surprise this year) and no Clark's Nutcrackers (more of a surprise). The incredible sunlit snow blanketed scenery made up for the relative shortcomings in bird species."

I think this must be showing as my MAIN photo, instead of what it's supposed to be - the third/last one posted this morning. Yesterday, 16 January 2017, I decided to make myself drive east of the city again. This is not a drive I enjoy at all and not one that I do very often. Two days earlier, I had gone out there to hopefully find a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl but without success. In fact, I saw very few birds of any kind. On the day in between, 14 January, I had been out for the day with a group of birders, covering some of the same area. That day, we did see two Snowy Owls and two Short-eared Owls, but all of them were far, far away, basically no use for photos. Yesterday's trip was a repeat of my first drive - nothing, absolutely nothing. Any birders I came across were saying the same thing - no owls. I came home with a photo or two of this modern barn, a row of artistic silos, and a Chinook arch.

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 18 July 2016, on a wonderful day out NE of the city. The last time I actually drove eastwards was about six months ago, when I was shooting Short-eared Owls near the end of January. The last time (also the first time) I had ever driven out as far as Drumheller was on 29 September 2014. A few times, I had been fairly close when I went on several botany trips out that way, but when you are carpooling, you can't just go wherever you want. So, my daughter and I had a great time exploring the roads between Calgary and Drumheller. There were a handful of things or places we wanted to check out, but many things were total surprises. We knew we wanted to see fields, yellow fields full of canola as far as the eye could see. No disappointment there as we took in the gorgeous colour and the perhaps not so pleasant smell of this crop. When we were driving through regular, green landscapes, it all seemed so 'ordinary' after being treated to vibrant gold. As well as canola fields, we also knew of a particular grain elevator and nearby old barn that we were keen to see. There was also an old, two-storey house in a hilly setting that we knew would have to be photographed from a great distance, but we were curious about it. There was also a small wetland that I wanted to drive by, just in case there was something to see. How glad we were that we went, as the Black-crowned Night-heron in my third photo this morning was posing nicely on a post out in the open. This was the first time I had ever seen one close, so it made my day. The bird in my second photo was with another similar bird perched just a few fence posts away from it. Both had their backs to us (of course!) but I did get a better view of the other bird, which I will post in the next few days. I think they were both Upland Sandpipers, uncommon in Alberta, and a bird that I had only ever seen once, way out east of the city years ago and too far away for photos. As well as birds and beautiful scenery, we saw several old barns, including this old house/barn. Each year, the farmer allows the graduating class from the local high school to decorate this old building in any way they wish. A fun idea and it certainly adds a splash of colour. I was absolutely fascinated to read a little bit of history from someone who was a contact of mine on Flickr two or three years ago. Her Grandmother was apparently born in this house/barn. It was later converted to a granary and now, of course, has become the canvas for local students. Will finish my description later ....

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 16 January 2016. The weather was dull, cold and most unpleasant, yet three of us turned up at a meeting place, ready to go on a day trip west of the city. Apparently, 8 other people got the message that this trip had been cancelled at the last minute, lol. I, however, was already outside, clearing the snow off my car, to drive across the city. After waiting for just over an hour, we decided that instead of going home, we would go for a walk at nearby Baker Park. I had heard of this park, mainly because there used to be Great Horned Owls there, but I had never been. The park was much larger than I was expecting, and a very pleasant place to walk. A beautiful mix of trees make a wonderful habitat for birds, most of whom seemed to have more sense than we had, keeping hidden from the cold, miserable weather. We did see a few Black-capped Chickadees, though, and Bohemian Waxwings and White-winged Crossbills. I may have a fourth photo from yesterday morning to post sometime, but that's it! Still, it was fun spending the morning with friends and enjoying a very late breakfast at the Angel's Cafe, which really hit the spot.. Thanks so much for driving us to Baker Park, Darlene. I really appreciated the chance to finally visit this area. I didn't think the forecast looked particularly good for today, either, so had decided that I would probably join a group of friends for a birding walk this afternoon. However, the sun is actually out at the moment and it is supposed to be a mix of sun and cloud for this afternoon, so I might just make myself do a drive east of the city, if I'm ready in time. Not a drive I look forward to, but maybe I will be rewarded by finding an owl?

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 10 October 2015, during a day birding trip east of Calgary. As usually happens when we search sloughs/ponds, the birds were all too far away to take photos of them. Instead of a list of the bird species seen, I will add our leader, Terry Korolyk's, detailed account of where we saw what. Thanks so much for this, Terry, and for taking us on another great day of birding! "A small, but, very experienced troop of 5 birders turned up for today's Field Trip going east of Calgary. The only bird of note at Glenmore Reservoir when we met was a Common Loon. From there, we left eastward stopping firstly by the City of Calgary Landfill. Good numbers of Gulls, but, amongst all the Ring-billed Gulls were only a few California Gulls. There may have been 1 juvenile Herring Gull. From there, we headed eastward ending up at the Walmart Parking Lot at 17 Avenue and Stoney Trail, where there was a flock of possibly a couple of thousand Gulls. We checked them out. All were Ring-billed Gulls except for 2 FRANKLIN'S GULLS. At October 10, it's getting a bit late for this species. It looks like the good weather has had most of them leave already. From there, we moved on to Chestermere Lake. A regular staging area for Common Mergansers in the Fall, probably 350 were in the north end of the Lake. Also of note were about 50 Bonaparte's Gulls There was nothing much off Sunset Park on the east side of the Lake. From the Dam, we found 2 Common Loons on the far west side; these were probably the same birds that were there a week or so ago. Also, there were 2 adult HERRING GULLS. We also heard here one of our only 2 Red-tailed Hawks of the day. Between the north end of Chestermere and Sunset Park, we went over to McElroy Slough on the other side of Highway One. Upon arrival, we were rewarded with a superb view of an adult NORTHERN SHRIKE. Piles of waterfowl on the slough, but the only birds really of note were 5 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE which included 3 adult males. Other than those, there were extremely large numbers of American Wigeons there today. This seems to be a favorite Fall staging area for this species. Ring-necked Ducks also were still in good numbers there; this species has been hanging on there this Fall. A WESTERN MEADOWLARK was also heard there. From the Dam at Chestermere, we headed over to Highway One and 791. Gadwall dominated here with 450 birds. We continued north on Highway 791 turning east on Inverlake Road. Along here, we had the best bird of the day, a PRAIRIE FALCON moving westward--we had great looks at it flying.The slough south of the road at Range Road 275 was so congested with American Coots, we couldn't estimate the numbers. We didn't see much else of note until we were approaching Langdon on Highway 560, when we watched an adult light-phase Eastern Red-tailed Hawk soar over the intersection. Weed Lake had our only shorebirds of the day with 6 tossed about as a number for Greater Yellowlegs; probably 500-600 Dowitchers, and 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS; October 10 around these parts is getting on for this species. From Weed Lake, we returned to Langdon, driving south, then west on Twp. Rd. 232. A male Ring-necked Pheasant was a surprise find along the road going westward. The large slough east of Shepard didn't hold much, except for possibly 3 BLACKBIRDS, so we moved on to Ralph Klein Park. Large numbers of waterfowl again, almost all resting, particularly Northern Pintail (mind-boggling numbers), and Canada Geese. There were 6 SWANS there today, but because of the distance and wind, we could only identify one of them -- an adult TRUMPETER. At the south end of the Park, a Merlin added to our day's total." By Terry Korolyk.

Just a very quick shot to remind myself of an enjoyable evening with my youngest daughter yesterday, 15 November 2013. We took the Red Arrow Shuttlebus from south Calgary out to Spruce Meadows for their Christmas Market. I used to love going to Christmas fairs and markets many years ago, when the kids were young, but ever since they became adults and said they would prefer money or gift cards instead of "things", I no longer go to them. Spruce Meadows is the only one I go to, and that's only because I go with my daughter. Anyway, the Christmas lights were very pretty and I liked seeing this statue among the colourful trees. One of the highlights is the chance to see Santa's Reindeer - such beautiful animals. No sign of Santa, of course - he'll be busy preparing for Christmas Eve.

On 10 August 2013, I went with friend Sandy to Bow Lake, in Banff National Park. It is located along Highway 93, the Icefields Parkway, said to be the most beautiful, scenic road in the world. When we returned to the parking lot at the end of our hike, we noticed this brightly coloured van. I was taking a shot or two when I heard a voice say "Take your time ..." A couple was just getting back to this vehicle. This campervan company has the wildest designs on their for-rent vehicles - bright and so much fun.

Taken on 11 July 2013, when I spent a little time down at the Stampede Grounds with my youngest daughter. "Indian Village is a park featuring the colourful heritage of the five First Nations tribes of Treaty 7: the Siksika, Piikani, Kainai, Tsuu T’ina, and Stoney Nakoda Nations. There are 26 tipis in Indian Village, some of which are open for viewing every July. Indian Village has been an integral part of Stampede Park since the first Calgary Stampede in 1912. In 1974, it moved to its current location at the south end of the park, along the Elbow River. Events include performances by First Nations dancers, games and tipi-raising. First Nations interpreters are always available to provide information and commentary about their culture to visitors. Indian Village also hosts a Stampede Pow Wow where native dancers compete in colourful and intricate regalia for cash prizes. Guided tours of the Village are also available." www.canadiangeographic.ca/calgarystampede/english/indian-village/index.htm