Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: urban scene

On 20 December 2015, I had a really long day out, taking part in the annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count. We did SO much walking, starting at 8:00 am, getting home around 4:00 p.m., and then I was out in the evening at the potluck supper held for the many participants who covered various parts of the city. Our first stop was at the place seen in this photo, looking out over downtown Calgary. The sunrise colours were beautiful and the whole day gave us good weather. The Calgary Tower, which used to be the tallest building downtown, is now dwarfed by others. At the moment, it has Christmas coloured lights around the top section, though they don't show up too well in this photo. From this location, we then spent the day driving short distances and then walking round the various residential streets. There were so many White-winged Crossbills! The total overall number of species seen for the whole city this year was really good, though we haven't yet had the finalized number. The group of 4 of us that covered part of the NE had 24 species, which was also good. Will add our small group's list below. Species 24: Canada Goose 200+ Mallard 100+ Raven 11 American Crow 4 Magpie 86 Rock Pigeon 38 Starling 2 Bald Eagle 1 Merlin 3 Downy Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 21 Blue Jay 2 American Robin 3 White-winged Crossbill 340 Red Crossbill 24 House Finch 134 Black-capped Chickadee 26 Red-breasted Nuthatch 18 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Common Redpoll 21 Dark-eyed Junco 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 House Sparrow 750 Eurasian Collared Dove 63 Tony T. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...

It's very rare that I post my "daily three" very late at night or shortly after midnight. However, this is one of those times, and I will probably have to finish off descriptions, tags, etc. late tomorrow evening. I have to set my two alarm clocks and kitchen timer for about 4:15 am (and it's already just after 1:00 am!). Just hope I don't sleep right through my alarms, as does happen sometimes. Have to be at the meeting place by 6:30 am, ready to spend a very long day travelling to and from the Drumheller area in the Alberta Badlands, east of Calgary. Takes roughly two hours to get there. Think I'd better get off my computer and head for bed! It was a really long day out on 20 December 2015, taking part in the annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count. We did SO much walking, starting at 8:00 am, getting home around 4:00 p.m., and then I was out all evening at the potluck supper held for the many participants who covered various parts of the city. Our first stop was at the place seen in this photo, looking out over downtown Calgary. The sunrise colours were beautiful and the whole day gave us good weather. The Calgary Tower, which used to be the tallest building downtown, is now dwarfed by others. At the moment, it has Christmas coloured lights around the top section. From this location, we then spent the day driving short distances and then walking round the various residential streets. There were so many White-winged Crossbills! The total overall number of species seen for the whole city this year was really good, though we haven't yet had the finalized number. The group of 4 of us that covered part of the NE had 24 species, which was also good. Will add our small group's list below. Species 24: Canada Goose 200+ Mallard 100+ Raven 11 American Crow 4 Magpie 86 Rock Pigeon 38 Starling 2 Bald Eagle 1 Merlin 3 Downy Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 21 Blue Jay 2 American Robin 3 White-winged Crossbill 340 Red Crossbill 24 House Finch 134 Black-capped Chickadee 26 Red-breasted Nuthatch 18 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Common Redpoll 21 Dark-eyed Junco 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 House Sparrow 750 Eurasian Collared Dove 63 Tony T.

Yesterday, 20 December 2015, was a really long day out, taking part in the annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count. We did SO much walking, starting at 8:00 am, getting home around 4:00 p.m., and then I was out all evening at the potluck supper held for the many participants who covered various parts of the city. Our first stop was at the place seen in this photo, looking out over downtown Calgary. The sunrise colours were beautiful and the whole day gave us good weather. The Calgary Tower, which used to be the tallest building downtown, is now dwarfed by others. At the moment, it has Christmas coloured lights around the top section, though they don't show up too well in this photo. From this location, we then spent the day driving short distances and then walking round the various residential streets. There were so many White-winged Crossbills! The total overall number of species seen for the whole city this year was really good, though we haven't yet had the finalized number. The group of 4 of us that covered part of the NE had 24 species, which was also good. Will add our small group's list below. Species 24: Canada Goose 200+ Mallard 100+ Raven 11 American Crow 4 Magpie 86 Rock Pigeon 38 Starling 2 Bald Eagle 1 Merlin 3 Downy Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 21 Blue Jay 2 American Robin 3 White-winged Crossbill 340 Red Crossbill 24 House Finch 134 Black-capped Chickadee 26 Red-breasted Nuthatch 18 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Common Redpoll 21 Dark-eyed Junco 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 House Sparrow 750 Eurasian Collared Dove 63 Tony T. My daughter and I are having a day out together today, which consists of driving out of the city with our cameras to see what we can find, first having breakfast at a really nice place IF there are any tables left!. The best way possible to spend a day : )

Around 1992, i lay dying in this hospital, from a bacterial infection of the blood stream! My firm belief is that I had become so run down that my body could no longer fight the bacteria that all of us have in our bodies. It came on so suddenly, after visiting a high-risk family that I was 'working' with. Maybe half an hour after I got home, I began shivering and couldn't stop. Ended up going straight to bed, my doctor made a (rare) house call, and I was rushed by ambulance to this hospital. It all happened when there were no hospital beds available, but thankfully my doctor was able to arrange for another patient to be sent home. My temperature was so dangerously high - I still remember the huge bowl of ice that was placed by my bed, with a fan - and I was in the most terrible pain! I swear it was as bad, if not worse, than giving birth! If my temperature had gone up one more time, I wouldn't be here, writing about my experience! I was a medical mystery that not even the Centre for Diseases (?) could solve. I was put on six of the most powerful antibiotics, and thankfully they worked. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockyview_General_Hospital Just an extra bit of information - in September 2007, an adult black bear wandered into the Rockyview Hospital. A security guard spooked the animal with his flashlight and it darted into an entrance. Fortunately, "there were no patients or staff in the area of the hospital where the bear trespassed." What a sight that would have been!! It then ran across 14th Street and climbed a tree. Wildlife officers tranquilized the bear and released it outside the city. This photo was taken on 21 November 2015, at the end of a day trip with friends. We had been told about a Pacific Loon that was out on the Reservoir, so we called in at North Glenmore Park, not far from our meeting place. It turned out to be a fun day for a group of us, driving SW of the city into the rolling hills to look for birds. We started off ‘well’, when our driver reversed into another birder’s car right there in the parking lot where we met early morning. The crunch sounded really bad, but maybe that was partly the crunchy snow. Thankfully, damage was very minimal! We had had a fair amount of recent snow. Absolutely love the scenery SW of the city - never get tired of it. I think my favourite time of year to see it is in the winter months - as long as someone else is driving : ) Our drive took us southwest to the Millarville area, where we were hoping that we might just see Wild Turkeys, a Gyrfalcon or a Northern Hawk Owl. No luck with the last two, but we were lucky enough to see a number of distant Wild Turkeys at two different locations. Just couldn't get a decent shot of any of them, especially when they were moving about through the trees. I had had a look for these months ago, when people were reporting seeing them, but I wasn't able to find any. I think we did just as well, if not better, with mammals than bird species, seeing several beautiful male deer and a couple of distant Coyotes. Then, later on, we were amazed to see a group of three Moose and just a short distance along the road, a group of five Moose. To see even one lone Moose is exciting, but to see eight in one day was amazing and most unusual. Unfortunately, they were all too far away to get even half-decent shots, but I may post one sometime, just for the record. I will add our leaders' final species list when it is available. Towards the end of our trip, a friend asked what I was going to be doing afterwards and when I said I had no plans, invited me to go along with him and his friend to look for Great Gray Owls and Snowy Owls. I said I would just grab my backpack from the car I had been riding in, By the time I had got my things out, I happened to turn round to go to their car, when I discovered there were no cars left!! Thank goodness my original drive was still there, as the vehicle I was going to transfer into was way down the road! My friend had forgotten me, lol! When he suddenly realized it, he had stopped and was either going to turn around or back up and had instead gone half way into the snow-covered ditch. Impossible to get out, so he was going to have to get a ride with someone else till he could reach a place where cell phone service was available and then call for a tow truck. I'm so glad I wasn't in his vehicle - can't help but wonder if my added weight might have caused his car to roll over, lol! And so I returned to the city with my original friends - safe and thankful. Thanks so much for driving for the day, Andrew - much appreciated! To my other friend, who shall remain anonymous (lol), I do hope it didn't take too long for your car to be rescued! For a list of the bird species seen, see list under the following link: flic.kr/p/AUDnyd .

Posting later than usual today, as I was just too tired last night to find and edit three photos to upload. I really don't enjoy having to do it in the morning : ) This was taken yesterday, 22 October 2015, at a wetland in the SW of the city. Earlier, I had been to collect my car after getting my snow tires put on. I knew that everyone would be wanting to make an appointment for this reason if I left it much longer. From the tire place, I decided to call in at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, on the way home. As sometimes happens, I saw nothing but a little Red Squirrel, but the light was so bad that my few photos all came out blurred. Feeling a little disappointed, I called in at this wetland area in the SW, where I knew there would at least be a few Mallards to photograph. It was such a beautiful, sunny day, it seemed a shame to be indoors - though this big, black cloud did roll in towards the end. Sure enough, the Mallards were there, plus a Coot or two, a pair of distant Ring-necked Ducks, a pair of Canada Geese, and a Lesser Scaup. I really do need to practice my skills when it comes to photographing ducks that are swimming fast, as most of my shots came out very blurry! Ha, I've just checked our weather forecast and I see that it is supposed to snow tomorrow! The morning temperature should be -1C, warming to 7C in the afternoon. I'm definitely not ready for this, even if my car is!