Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: picnic table

This photo was taken at Pine Coulee Reservoir three days ago, on 12 November 2017. A group of eight of us went S and SE of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Pine Couleee Reservoir, Clear Lake and the Twin Valley Reservoir. I just love some of the landscape through which we drove - barren, rugged, middle-of-nowhere kind of scenery. It looks so different in each season - I think my favourite time of year is when there is a covering of snow on the empty hills and ice on most of the water. I've still not had the courage to drive in this area myself, as I know that I might never find my way out of it. Several previous trips had covered part of this latest drive, but much of the return drive was in a huge area that I had never been to before. We crossed the main highway #2 south and travelled the backroads way, way south of the Frank Lake area, and kept going north until we got back to the city. The Twin Valley Reservoir was one of the stops we made in this new-to-me area. Actually, I have just been reading my account of a trip made on 9 November 2013, and discovered that in fact I HAD been to this area before. Just shows that I often have no idea where we are at any given time. Since the trip in 2013, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the area S and SE of Calgary. The following is from Terry Korolyk's account of that day, four years ago: "The north end of Clear Lake was frozen, so, we headed north to the Twin Valleys Dam Reservoir, and, drove up the east side of it. This produced more Rough-legged Hawks,and, a Prairie Falcon. Some herds of Mule Deer and flocks of Gray Partridge were seen on the trip home via Highways 804, 799, 552, and Dunbow Road." As on almost all these day trips out of the city, almost every bird is far, far away, needing at least binoculars and best of all, a scope. Two Great Horned Owls and a couple of tiny Common Redpolls were the only closer photos I took. This was the first time that I had seen Redpolls this year, so it was a nice sighting. They were flying back and forth from the trees to perch on a rough, wooden fence. Also, as always happens, my camera lens turns to things other than birds. Scenic shots are always taken - after all, I feel that it is important to record the habitat of any birds seen. I have no excuse to give for photographing any old barn or homestead, other than that I LOVE to photograph them : ) Terry, you took us on such an amazing trip! So many new (or forgotten) places, to me at least. You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Now all I need to do is look at a map and try and find roughly where we travelled! Really appreciate your carefully made lists of all species seen, and where.

When friends, Linda and Tony, arrived in Calgary after travelling from Montreal by train, they had two or three days in Calgary before we took off for a week down to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. We spent a day at the Calgary Zoo and then spent a day - very wet! - in the Banff/Lake Louise area. Cascade Ponds is on the Lake Minnewanka loop drive, 300 m (0.2 mi) north of the Trans-Canada Highway. Taken on 9 September 2012, before the non-stop rain set in. "Cascade Ponds was created when gravel pits were transformed to a day use area, complete with wooden bridges, grassy banks, picnic tables, firepits, and cooking shelters." Cascade Mountain is just off to the right of my photo. www.summerthought.com/banff.hiking.cascade.htm

More often than not, I don't see any sign of Gray Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) when I drive west of the city to the beginning of the mountains, to Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis. However, I was lucky to have this one join me at my picnic table on October 13th, even though I had to part with some of my Granola Bar : ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Jay

A couple of these Gray Jays (alias Whiskey Jack or Camp Robber) flew over to where I had stopped for lunch at Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail, on August 16th. I knew it was safer to give them a couple of pieces of my sandwhich rather than risk them swooping down and stealing the whole thing, lol. I don't often get to see these birds, so it's always a treat to see them.

Actually, not a HUGE amount of snow, but more than enough : ) Just an ordinary picnic table in the park, and such a familiar sight to all of us who live in places where it snows. This looked so untouched when I was on a walk in Fish Creek Park on New Year's Day morning. Stay warm, everyone!

This is what our picnic tables look like in the parks now. "They" say that this winter is supposed to be a severe one, after 10-15 years of comparatively mild ones. I love the way the snow sparkles when the sun shines on it.

I was amused when this beautiful White-tailed Deer walked through the bushes and came and stood at one of the picnic tables near where I was standing. The words, "What's for supper?", flashed hrough my mind!