Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Tundra Swan

All five photos posted this morning were taken on 28 October 2018, when a group of 15 of us went S of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Chain Lakes and Pine Coulee 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. 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. 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. We saw so many Swans (Tundra and Trumpeter) on various sloughs and in flight. What a sight they were, with the sun shining on their pure white feathers. Love to hear the Trumpeter Swans "trumpeting". A huge thrill was when our leader led us to a small creek where there were four American Dippers, happily bobbing and dipping, and swimming under water. They weren't bothered by our presence at all. The water colours and patterns were beautiful, too. Terry, you took us on yet another amazing trip! You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day, though the morning was very cold and windy. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Thanks so much, Linda and Robin, for the ride all day - greatly appreciated! I was off my computer all day the next day, too. My daughter came down for the day, as she had offered to come and help me with sorting through some things and getting rid of all my old electronics at recycle places. It saved me a whole lot of bending (which kills my back) and a lot of lifting. Her help was hugely appreciated!

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 28 October 2018. A group of 15 of us went S and SE of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Chain Lakes and Pine Coulee 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. 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. 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. We saw so many Swans (Tundra and Trumpeter) on various sloughs and in flight. What a sight they were, with the sun shining on their pure white feathers. Love to hear the Trumpeter Swans "trumpeting". A huge thrill was when our leader led us to a small creek where there were four American Diippers, happily bobbing and dipping, and swimming under water. They weren't bothered by our presence at all. Terry, you took us on yet another amazing trip! You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Thanks so much, Linda and Robin, for the ride all day - greatly appreciated! I have been off my computer all day today, too. My daughter came down for the day, as she had offered to come and help me with sorting through some things and getting rid of all my old electronics at recycle places. It saved me a whole lot of bending (which kills my back) and a lot of lifting. Her help was hugely appreciated! Tonight is THE night, ha, ha! I am going to set two or three mouse traps (which is how I started out about 6 months ago, but I caught nothing). I absolutely dread going downstairs tomorrow morning, in case the traps have caught something. If they were successful, friends are coming over straight away to remove it/them for me!! I just hope I don't hear the snap of a trap or any squealing!!!

This photo was taken on 17 October 2015, when I spent the day birding with six friends. We travelled west of the city, the direction that I don't often get to see, mostly along Highway 1, turning off in a few places to see what species we could find. Overall, it was a very quiet day as far as birding goes. At this particular pond, we watched several distant Swans, which are always nice to see. The two in this photo are Tundra Swans, but there were also Trumpeter Swans on the pond. This particular pond is part of the Trumpeter Swan's migratory path. "True to its name, the Tundra Swan breeds on the high tundra across the top of North America. It winters in large flocks along both coasts, and is frequently encountered during its migration across the continent." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tundra_Swan/lifehistory While my friends were checking out the few other waterfowl, I just had to turn around and take a few photos of an old orange/red barn in the distance (seen in the next photo). I wasn't sure just where we were, but last night I went on Google Earth and eventually found the exact place. I also discovered that there is a whole lot more about this barn and the ranch it belongs to. It also has a whole movie set in Western theme (i.e. old saloon, etc.), which has been used in a long list of movies. We also did an enjoyable walk along the Flowing Waters Trail in Bow Valley Provincial Park - a highlight there was seeing a Brown Creeper. Here is our leader, Andrew Hart's report, that he sent in to e-Bird. Thanks, Andrew, for the list and of course for a most enjoyable day, as always. "Seven of us met to head west on what was initially a chilly morning which promised to warm up later. Our first stop was at the Jumping Pound Pond where we saw a family of five Trumpeter Swans along with a few assorted ducks. We then worked our way along the back roads parallel to Hwy 1 checking out the sloughs. Only one (about half way to the Sibbalt turnoff) was really productive, yielding 18 Tundra Swans and several waterfowl including some Hooded Mergansers. We then headed to Bow Valley Provincial Park, where we were met by very strong winds. Possibly because of the winds we did not see very much on our walk around the Flowing Waters Trail, several flocks of White-Winged Crossbills were the easiest to see. We did have one Brown Creeper which seemed to be blown up the slope towards us and almost slammed into a lone tree on the ridge path. We passed the Seebe Dam en route to Exshaw, but again slim (to say the least) findings at both locations. We saw about four Rough-legged Hawks between stops. Here is what we saw at the stops. Checklists included in this summary: (1): Jumping Pound Pond Date: Oct 17, 2015, 8:50 AM (2): CA-AB-Rocky View No. 44-45240 Township Road 252 - 51.1252x-114.5434 Date: Oct 17, 2015, 9:10 AM (3): Bow Valley PP - Flowing Waters Trails Date: Oct 17, 2015, 10:10 AM (4): Seebe Dam Date: Oct 17, 2015, 12:25 PM (5): Exshaw Date: Oct 17, 2015, 12:55 PM 38 Canada Goose -- (1),(4) 5 Trumpeter Swan -- (1) 18 Tundra Swan -- (2) 4 Gadwall -- (2) 41 American Wigeon -- (1),(2),(4) 204 Mallard -- (1),(2),(4) 12 Northern Shoveler -- (1) 26 Green-winged Teal -- (2) 2 Ring-necked Duck -- (2) 6 Hooded Merganser -- (2) 4 American Coot -- (2) 4 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (1) 2 Black-billed Magpie -- (2),(5) 1 Common Raven -- (3) 2 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3) 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch -- (3) 1 Brown Creeper -- (3) 6 Golden-crowned Kinglet -- (3) 2 American Robin -- (5) 1 European Starling -- (1) 46 White-winged Crossbill -- (3),(4) 10 Pine Siskin -- (3) 20 House Sparrow -- (5) Andrew Hart"

This photo was taken almost a week ago, on 6 April 2014, when I went with a group of 10 friends to Frank Lake for several hours. This was a "by car" day with barely any walking. Sometimes when we pull over and get out, I can be found looking in the opposite direction to everyone else, taking a photograph of something totally unrelated to birds, lol. You need binoculars or a scope to see most of the birds we come across, which I don't have, but I can never resist the scenery. In this case, I decided to see if I could catch a row of beautiful Tundra Swans flying overhead. Will add Tony Timmons' report for the day - thanks, Tony, both for writing up the list and for taking us down to one of my favourite areas outside the city: "Eleven people were on the trip today, birding Frank Lake and area. We tallied 35 species. Most of the lake is still covered in ice. As many as 10,000 Northern Pintails were seen in the fields, sloughs and flying overhead. Two hundred swans were feeding in the fields. Of note were two Eurasian Wigeons spotted in the shallow sloughs. Canada Goose Tundra Swan Trumpeter Swan Gadwall American Wigeon Eurasian Wigeon Mallard Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Common Merganser Ruddy Duck Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Rough-legged Hawk Coot Killdeer Ring-billed Gull California Gull Great Horned Owl Horned Lark Robin Rock Pigeon,Magpie,Crow,Raven,Starling,House Sparrow" As you can see from the list, birds are returning after being elsewhere all winter. Only very distant views of them all, except for one Great Horned Owl on her nest - impossible to get a proper shot because she was hidden by a tangle of branches. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/tundra_swan/lifehistory animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/tundra-swan/

Was out for a day today, SE of Calgary, looking for birds. Interesting scenery - these are Tundra Swans on one of the many sloughs around Calgary. Finally, most are open now that the ice has melted, so birds can now return. I'm pretty sure that I can see a Coyote in my photo in the distance!