I'm So Excited!

I got my first picture of an owl in the wild! We saw an old abandoned farmyard and decided it might be a nice place to take pictures. We drove up, and I saw this Great Horned Owl peeking out of the shed. I was afraid he'd fly away, so I took a couple of pictures before leaving the truck, and then stepped out to take some more.

As we got closer to him, he turned around as if he was going to go inside, and then suddenly swooshed out over our heads and flew away.
We decided to look inside the shed, and suddenly, just as we got right close, a second owl appeared in the opening, stared me right in the eyeball and then swooped low over our heads and took off. I wish I had a picture of that, but we weren't expecting a second owl!

A large dragonfly landed on the arm of my jacket and stayed there until we had taken many pictures, and finally I shooed him off! I learned that he is a Blue-eyed Darner.

I'm always fascinated by the many compartments that make up their head and body. The large blue parts on the side of its head are its eyes. Each bulging compound eye consists of up to 30,000 individual eyes! Eighty percent of its brain is devoted to vision! It sees all the colours we do plus ultraviolet and polarized light. They are the fastest insect in the world, and can fly 35 mph. They are also the most acrobatic.

I saw and photographed a new bird: the Red-necked Phalarope. He only has a red neck during mating season. They are smaller than a robin.

There were dozens of them on the lake, and they demonstrated some fascinating behaviour. They would go around and around in one direction, pecking at the water every round or two. They moved so fast it made you dizzy just watching - especially when dozens were doing it at the same time!
I learned that the reason for this was to stir up the water which brings the planktonic invertebrates up to the surface into pecking range. Quite a sight!

Bird Heaven

There was a Bird Sanctuary near the cabin where we stayed with Darrell and Jess, and the area was like Bird Heaven! A big lake, smaller ponds, and big trees on the shore made for great bird habitat. I saw and photographed about 10 kinds of birds that I didn't have pictures of before, so that made me a happy girl!

One morning I went to a pond early and saw about 30 pelicans, and some cormorants, grebes and the ususal pigeons all crowded close together in the centre of the pond. The pelicans and cormorants particularly seemed to hang out together, often sunning themselves on a rock together.

These are Double-crested Cormorants.
They are big birds, but quite a bit smaller than pelicans.
After swimming, they often stand in the sun with their wings open to dry off,
as you see one of them doing.

My first picture of a Yellow Warbler.
There were many there, and they loved to sing.
The place was full of birds, singing and flying from tree to tree.
We wondered why we didn't see any crows or magpies.

There is a western kingbird on the peak.
Double click if you want to see it closer.
I do have close-ups of them, but I kind of liked the roofline is this picture.

The weather was hot and we had a beautiful sunset.
It was a highlight of this trip to see so many birds.
I would take pictures of them, and then Darrell and I would look through our various bird books to identify them.
We value our time with Darrell and Jess after not seeing them all the while they were in Africa.

Vacation Week

We spent a day with Tim and Juanita and Darrrell and Jess and went to the splash park with the kids. It was a very hot day, so Kaleb cooled off with a popsicle.

Seven-week old Luke likes to stand upright at times!
He's pretty strong!

Darrell and Jess at the river.

Then we went to the cabin with Darrell and Jess for a few days.
No, this isn't the cabin, and we didn't sleep in the hay!
But it was at the lake.

We appreciated Jess's parents sharing their cabin with us.

We had a bit of overlap time with them and enjoyed seeing them again.

Family Fun

Tim, Juanita and kids came to visit this weekend. We went to the zoo on Monday.

Kaleb loved it. As soon as we got home, he wanted to go again!

Jon and Magan and kids met us there.
I don't know how Jon escaped my camera!

Baby Luke was so good and adorable!

We went to the Butterfly House.

I've been wanting to do that for years!
And I wasn't disappointed.
There are gorgeous butteflies all over, so many different colors, and they are just asking to be photographed!

Just Ducky

We went camping with good friends Rob and Linda at Westward Ho last week and enjoyed our riverside campsite. The weather co-operated so we could hike, swim, play botchee ball and make blueberry bushpies.

One of my goals is always to take some pictures of birds that I don't have yet, and this is one of them - they are female Common Mergansers. The males have green heads. I like the way the red heads are all fluffy. Apparently when they take off they run with their feet on the surface of the water until they are airborne.

I got this picture in Crossfield. It is a Horned Grebe, and so far it is my prize duck picture. Notice the feathers by the red eye - they stick out and look like a fancy hairdo! If you can't see it clearly, double click on it to enlarge the picture.

This is a Ruddy Duck, and it's claim to fame is its blue bill!

I took this picture in Coaldale.

This is a blue-winged teal pair.

I can't believe how many different kinds of ducks there are, and some so unusual! Now that I've got the Horned Grebe, my next big prize would be to photograph the Hooded Merganser or the Wood Duck. The Wood Ducks are very colorful and nest in trees. The Hooded Mergansers have totally wild hairdos - He is black and white and she reddish.

Another two months to find these birds!

Baby Robin Visit

Mal was drying some of his shoes on the railing of our deck,

and a baby robin settled right in between them.

He decided he might as well make himself comfortable.

Mamma came once to feed him, but that picture didn't turn out.

After awhile he hopped right into the shoe!

Then he flew to the other railing.

He hung out here with his mouth open,

so Mal decided he must be hungry and fed him some strawberry.

He took a bit, and then flew off.

His visit lasted about two hours.

Birds of Prey

I've been wanting to get some pictures of owls and eagles, and I finally did it! However, I feel a little like I cheated. They were not in the wild, but at the Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale. We really enjoyed our visit, in spite of the rain.
Here Mal is holding a Burrowing Owl.

A Bald Eagle.
I had trouble uploading the pictures, but I may add more pictures later.