Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 2008

Only three more days till Christmas, for those of you who will be celebrating! A few shiny baubles - actually part of a wreath that I bought recently, partly so that I could take a few photos, and it was even on sale : ) - to wish you all a very Happy Christmas!

Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter, Rachel! She is still on a trip to New Zealand but will be returning home to Vancouver soon. Hope she is greeted by a blanket of snow on her return to the West Coast, LOL! It's snowing heavily where I am. A windchill temperature of around -40C for Sunday!!! (Thanks as always, fd!)

The Trumpeter Swan is locally common from April to October, though I don't get to see them very often. The bird in my photo was at the Calgary Zoo. "The Trumpeter Swan was hunted almost to extinction for its feathers and meat in the early 20th century.... it is hoped that populations will continue to recover". From Birds of Alberta by Fisher & Acorn.

These tiny Red-breasted Nuthatches are so light and dainty when they land on your hand. Love it when they stop for a second and look up at you.

Another photo of this gorgeous Northern Flicker, this one showing the black bib and all those amazing black spots (which I love!). From a local Naturalist: "This photo shows characteristics common to the Northern Flickers in the Calgary area. All of our birds are basically hybrids between the western Red-shafted and the eastern Yellow-shafted forms. This bird is a male, indicated by the moustache or malar stripe. This is normally red in the western form and black in the eastern form. Both colours occur on this bird. The yellow shafts of the eastern form are plainly visible in the wing of this birds. Also characteristice of the Yellow-shafted is the red nape patch. Uncharacteristic is the gray throat, typical of the western form. The markings around the eye, while most like the western form, are more exaggerated."

I know it's not very Christmasy, but I thought I'd post this, as many of my Flickr friends and local friends seem to enjoy our feathered neighbours and take spectacular photos of them. I do have a more Christmasy "card" that I will post a little closer to Christmas Day : ) I am so thankful that I have learned a fair amount about the birds in my area and have grown to respect and care about them more than when I was unaware and ignorant of what amazing wildlife surrounded me. Thank you ALL for sharing your superb images and for teaching me so much about your little corners of the world. Your beautiful photos inspire me so much, and hopefully I am learning and will continue to learn from you. Happy Christmas, everyone! Stay safe! Thanks, fd, as always for this and all your other fun things!

I spent about an hour or an hour and a half yesterday just watching this family of Ground Squirrels. There was no sign of my Great Horned Owl family in their grove of trees - more roadworks going on just a few feet away from their trees, which may have had some effect. So, my camera turned to these furry little creatures. This one was in the middle of making its tiny screeching sound and I found its expression rather amusing! Actually, I burst out laughing when I saw the photo on my computer!!!