autumn days

After arriving at two separate Parks outside the city only to see loads of construction vehicles and some closures at both (I should have done my homework), my third choice became Elliston Park. By this time I had almost lost total interest in doing anything other than heading back home. I was here, a very slight interest remained, I made the most of it!  There was no ice whatsoever in the lake, the ducks and geese swam freely throughout.  

female & male Mallard

Great White-fronted Goose (juvenile)

I recognize what this male Common Goldeneye is up to!

He put on a show.....

.....splashing about!

He was working at making an impression on her, the female Common Goldeneye.

I spent about an hour strolling about the Park.  It felt good to have done something after all that unnecessary driving around. I did wonder with all this gorgeous weather so late in the year, would the wildlife be confused!  

"My Name is Maverick"

If you have been following me since June then you will know I wrote and illustrated a children's book about a Canada Goose Gosling.  The title of the book is "My Name is Journey", I shared information about it here blog post.  I had three requests to purchase copies but I declined the offers. During the time of putting the book together, I was on a very personal journey of my own. Being deeply creative helped me along and I now feel I successfully reached the end of that journey. I still have a connection to the book but I've let the possessiveness of it go. I am happily beginning another journey, it's called "My Name is Maverick"! It's about a Bald Eagle Eaglet!

a recent watercolour painting

This unusually warm dry weather we are experiencing locally, so late in autumn, has been great for easily getting around while being out & about. Bodies of water are open, trails are dry, roadways are clear. It confuses my mind while my soul yearns for otherwise. Stay Tuned!

3 short stories

 story #1

With the sun rising earlier since the time change, I don't have to wait forever to get out the door, hit the secondary highway then begin hiking to be in place as the day dawns by lighting up the sky.  The panorama photo shows my view as I began to descend into the valley at Glenbow Ranch. The Bow River was calling me so that's where I aimed.  There were only a few slices of ice, what was lacking in quantity made up for in quality. With the sun well above the horizon, I noticed the day old Super Beaver Moon still shone bright as seen in the left middle photo. It was a beautiful morning to immerse myself in the sunrise while the deer were immersing themselves in searching for breakfast.   

story #2

The third knitted slipper is complete which means I now have a pair.  If you have been following along for a couple of months then you know the first slipper was a disaster.  The second one which is to the left turned out quite good, the third slipper is perfect. What's that saying "third time's a charm!" I'm in a groove again and ready to start another knitting project.  

story #3

After sharing a photo in my last blog post of the Eaglet I painted, I decided I can do better than that!  I can paint a version that is more realistic yet still comical in a way.  So, this painting is better than the last one.  As a reference, I used a photo I took of the Inglewood Eaglet I saw from a very far distance this past May. After painting the Eaglet, the idea of painting Bald Eagle's eggs came to mind.  As I was painting the eggs, yet another idea came to mind. These two paintings may be the beginning of something much bigger. I need to come up with a name for this Eaglet! My Name is_____!

IT'S TIIME! November 2, 2025

It was November 3rd of last year when I began to share photos and stories while monitoring the two Bald Eagles at Carburn Park. It all started with the Eagles building a nest in a tree that was doomed to fail as the beavers chewed away at the base.  A week later the tree was laying on the ground. That sparked my interest in following the Eagles with hopes they would have success with their second nest. They were successful with building a nest in another location but had no success with producing eaglets the following spring which was spring of this year. 

Fast forward to today, November 2, 2025.  From a distance I spotted a Bald Eagle in a tree in the location where the doomed incident occurred last year.  I quickly headed over to get a closer look, the closer look was still on this side of the river with the Eagle perched on the other side. The two guys who also monitored the Pair last year were already in place this morning. They believed this was the male Bald Eagle.  I watched for awhile but there was no activity, so I got active and moved along for a hike to Beaverdam Flats.

An hour or so later as I was returning from Beaverdam Flats, I noticed two Bald Eagles in a tree near where the Eagles constructed their second nest last year.  If you look closely you can see them as two tiny dots almost on top of each other, in the tree at the left.  You need to have an eagle eye to spot them so far away.  I joined up with the same two guys who were now in this location. They reported one of the Eagles was the one that we saw earlier.  

At this point I decided that I wanted to make it a project, this winter, to monitor the Pair again. 

IT'S TIME!  My monitoring begins.  

The two Bald Eagles just sitting in the tree.....

.....going about their business!

The Bald Eagle to the left broke off a branch.

I watched to see where it went with the branch.

It landed in a tree to the far right in the second photo from the top. I watched it rummage around here for awhile then it flew back to the join the other Eagle.  At this point I bid the two guys a nice day and then went about my day knowing in a couple of weeks I will return to see what has transpired.  

I felt happy for the pair of Bald Eagles that they are relentless and trying again to begin another family. I put together this watercolour painting of an Eaglet. This is my rendition of an Eaglet, not looking anything like what they actually do look like.  

I learned lots about Bald Eagles while monitoring the Pair last year and following through on them to this past spring.  I have loads more to learn and look forward to doing so over the next number of months.  I also want to have fun playing with watercolour painting various renditions of Bald Eagles. I hope you will follow along on my "Carburn Bald Eagles" journey with me!  

mood of the day October 31, 2025

 Then just like that Hallowe'en arrived!  

This morning's look and feel offered up perfection for the mood of the day.  I squeezed into rush hour traffic to venture down the "Deerfoot 500" to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to cover some kilometres on foot, to "forest bathe", to bird spot and to come away feeling like I got a full dose of nature.  I arrived to see everything covered in a very thin light layer of frost.

the other youngster was not as curious so dashed off

It was early and even though that adventure on the "Deerfoot 500" woke me up, I was not quite up to snuff with making ID's.  All the while, I thought I was admiring a Muskrat.  There was a baby boom of them this summer and I thought this was just one of the many.  

It was when I saw it swimming a bit later, I knew it was something other than a Muskrat. It was a very similar size to one.  I asked a City Parks Person who happen to be strolling my way, he told me it's a baby Beaver.  An ID can be made by checking out the tail.  

White-breasted Nuthatch

male Common Goldeneye

Muskrat

small sections of light layers of ice are forming 

frostiness

While I was snapping shots, I realized all my photos were dull in colour, muted shades with no vibrancy.  I wondered would any of the scenery shots be cause for an "oh wow"!  Once I got home and loaded the photos onto my big screen, I vocalized "OH WOW"!  I like the look of frostiness and light layers of ice. The photos fit the bill for a mood ideal for Hallowe'en!

October 30, 2025 just another day! NOT!

Wondering and questioning why I wake at ungodly hours is no longer something I do.  I chalk it up to the age I am, maybe I have been inactive or it was too much napping during the day. At times it's because I could be overwhelmed with life's happenings.  Just in case though, when I wake at those hours, I get up and look outside which was the case this morning at 3:30am. I looked outside, I checked the Aurora App, then bundled up and settled on my deck for an hour.  

I am getting to know her better and I'm becoming familiar with her activity. Shortly after 3:30am I watched how the Aurora Borealis began with a slight arch..... 

.....then the pillars began to form.

When I watched the Northern Lights before, I saw movement. This morning when I watched, the lights danced like I never saw them dance before.  It was strikingly obvious, it was quick smooth flowing motions that had me swaying in sync.   The colours became more defined. 

At the same time the bottom of the pillars became even more clear, a flock of a few hundred large white birds flew overhead.  I quickly snapped this shot then aimed for the birds.  My photo of the birds turned out as one gigantic while blob.  When I turned back to look at the Aurora Borealis, the pillars were gone and the lights faded.  At this point, I headed back inside and even though it was just past 4:30am, I went about my day.

🐴 🏔

The plan for today was to share hours with a friend putting highway kilometres on my new vehicle,  aim for a visit to Forgetmenot Pond before the gate closes for the season, then go for lunch afterwards.  How lucky were we once again, we saw one Wild Mustang blending in with the scenery near the parking lot.  

I wonder what The Pond looks like when I go there at this time of year and in the spring once the gate opens.  Today half was covered in a thin layer of ice.  It was a photographer's dream! The mountain peaks were dressed in a new white winter collection.  Are you familiar with skimming a rock across a thin layer of ice?  I am but my friend was not.  The sound it creates is unbelievable!  It's music!  It made me think of what I might here if I could hear the Aurora Borealis sing while it danced!  My friend was mesmerized by the symphony when the rocks slid across the ice especially when they made it all the way to the edge!  

Along sections of the shoreline, ice formations were created.  

I got as close to the ground as I could to get a close up and personal look into the soul of the ice.  

The vapour trail from a plane that just flew over, lined up perfectly with the side of the mountain.  It caught my eye and I wondered where that plane was off to.  It was also time for us to head off to lunch.  I am not sure if I will get another opportunity to drive out to Forgetmenot Pond before the gate closes in mid November.  I always like seeing the area with more snow and more ice.  

🍹 🍹

After receiving our Mocktails, 

we acknowledged our life's happenings while waiting for our schnitzel and spaetzle.   

What was to be just another day turned out being much more than that!

          

looking up

I like when things are looking up and I like looking up things and just plain looking up!  This past while it feels like life is looking up.  It took motivation and work, it took putting plans in place, it took being optimistic and always looking on the bright side, while at times it took looking up things to find ways to make sure that life could be looking up.  

While life it looking up, I am doing lots of looking up.  That comes with the territory of being a planner, a birder plus being interested in trees and cloud formations. This past while, while just plain looking up, I admired how trees created canopies.  A few weeks ago the canopies were full and colourful with beautiful blue peeking through.  This is my creation of that canopy creation!  

Today's plan was to venture down to Carburn Park where I could do lots of looking up.  I would be looking up for birds with hopes I would have success. The local bird count is dismal.  What's here now will probably stay for the winter.   

Three Siberian Larch Trees are near the entrance to the trail leading to the river. Two have lost most of their needles yet this one remains vibrant, a few bright lights help with the vibrancy.  Parks People are getting winter decorations in place while the weather is still user friendly.  

I like visiting here to see vistas like this! 

While meandering along, I was looking up more than looking anywhere else, that was until I heard a splash.  This muskrat appeared a few seconds after I heard the splash, then he was gone just as quick with another splash.  One of the things I ended up looking up was why do their tails stick straight out of the water sometimes.  I learned it's for balance. 

 

I spent some time looking up at this male Downy Woodpecker.  

I wanted my photo to show the red, so I had to pack my patience while he moved about. 

While looking up at this Black-capped Chickadee, 

I ended up snapping the shot at the split second the sun shone in its eye.  

At another location while looking up because I heard a sound, a Doe darted towards me. She scared me so I took off in the other direction while she just as quickly followed me.  Finally she darted again but this time into the woods.  I returned from where I came to see if I could discover what that sound was that I heard.  Looking up was not needed, there stood a Buck right off the trail.  It scared me so I took off in the other direction but thankful it did not follow me.   

A little later I spotted the Buck again and he spotted me! I learned the locals call him "Downturn".  One of the small antlers growing off the main antler is curled downwards which is very unusual.  They always grow upwards. I was happy the Doe was elsewhere and all that darting was done.  

I spoke too soon!

Not long after the Doe & Buck episode, I saw a female Mallard Duck dart after the male.

There was not much birding activity that had me looking up today.  I mentioned at the first of this post that awhile back the tree canopies were full and colourful with beautiful blue peeking through.  Now that the trees have lost most of their leaves, today while looking up I didn't see full and I didn't see colourful but I certainly saw lots more beautiful blue peeking through!  I created this painting to make a pair of paintings showing tree canopies then and now.

There is so much to see and learn wherever and whenever you are doing some sort of looking up!