sweet surprises through weather windows

What a wild time it has been recently trying to weather the wrath of Mother Nature!  When a window of opportunity opened, it was go time, yet for a stretch there, those go times were few and far between.  They came between wind warnings, torrential rains and lightning storms, and after a declared state of emergency was lifted.  That was all locally, and in the mountains it was and still is another story.  After having a winter with three times the amount of normal snowfall, recently dozens and dozens of more centimetres of snow fell on top of what has not melted yet.  Avalanche ratings for this time of year are now unusually high. There is warning after warning after warning about the unfavourable mountainous conditions plus there is a plea to play safe.  Oh the wrath of Mother Nature on one hand......

.....and then on the other hand, oh the beauty of Mother Nature!  Today's story comes by way of numerous recent urban hikes to a variety of places, and all occurred when a window of opportunity to be "out & about" opened wide.  

On this morning's walk along the Bow River, I spotted an Osprey high above flapping its wings in the nest built on top of a light standard.  My intent was to capture a photo showing the wing span.  The second I snapped the photo, a young Osprey popped its head up.  This was truly a sweet surprise when I saw how the photo turned out.

I made a return trip out to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park once the recently closed trails opened up.  This time I aimed for the loop by the river.  My intent was to see how high the Bow was running and boy was it running high with water having runneth over into low laying areas.  In one section, I heard the continuous sounds of two Killdeer and they appeared to be frantically flying about.  I then realized they were protecting this little one who was not old enough to fly yet. The sweet baby Killdeer blended in with the rocks and weeds.  Look at those legs!   As soon as I saw it and captured this photo, I got out of there.  

I made many trips up to Nose Hill as it is a great place to hike many kilometres after a short drive and to finish and get home before the window of opportunity closes.  On this day, my level of patience was favourable.  I saw an American Goldfinch land in the tree.  I listen to its pretty tune and took a few photos of it.  Then along came another and then another and then another. I just stood there and watched and listened.  Then along came another and then another.   In total eight landed on the branches right before my eyes.  This was a sweet sight I had not witnessed before!

The variety of Sparrow species is plentiful.  Some I am confident in identifying by their song, and some I need to use my Merlin app to identify them from a photo I took.  This sweet looking LBJ (little brown job) sang a new tune to me.  Just when I think maybe I have seen all Sparrows, a new one comes along.  My Merlin app tells me this is a Vesper Sparrow.  I am not sure if it is an adult or not.  It has that sweet and innocent look of a youngster to me!  

In a previous post I shared my experience with a fawn at Confluence Park.  On this day I was gifted another fawn sighting but this time it was at Glenbow Ranch.  It was the wee hours of the morning not long after sunrise when I first saw the Doe and then the Fawn.  They both stopped and looked at me and watched me for a few seconds and then I took this photo as they moved along into the dense bush.  The sweet Fawn had difficulty getting through and over some of the more dense and taller bushes.  From what I learned from my Confluence Park experience, I assumed the Mom was leading her baby to a hiding spot where she could safely leave it and then go about her day.  

My hope during each visit to Nose Hill recently is that I might spot baby coyotes.  No luck with that but I have had luck with seeing an adult coyote at some point during each hike up there.  They are each surprise encounters with the coyote taking off in the other direction quite quickly.  That was the case here.  It was good to see it looking healthy and taking off like it should. 

I am looking forward to seeing wildflower shows in the mountains.  I hope to have something to report soon.  These are some of the wildflowers I have seen recently while being "out & about" locally during those open windows of opportunity.      

Yes...oh the beauty and sweet surprises of Mother Nature!