ending May on a nature's high

Finding a spot to settle in for awhile! 

Being one with the fragrance, the sights and the sounds!

Enjoying how Mother Nature paints with many colours! 

 

These last days of May truly offered up a bounty of beauty to send anyone on a nature's high!  I went back to Carburn Park with hopes of seeing the celebrity Lewis's Woodpecker again!  I was fortunate to see it again, yet I felt more fortunate to come upon this sight!  This was my first fawn sighting of the season.   After a couple of minutes, the Mom walked across the path into the trees.....

.....her Baby quickly followed!  A few minutes after that, the Fawn settled in the bushes and the Mom went off.  From what I learned, the Mom will leave the little one for the day and go off to feed.  She will come back at the end of the day and feed it then both will settle in for the night.  

These little Mallard Ducklings were a joy to watch!  

How about that face!  Many people were at the Park to see the Lewis's Woodpecker.  We were gathered in an area where it was hanging out, coming and going.  While I was sitting patiently at a picnic table, it flew into the bushes a few feet away.  In a matter of a couple of minutes, it probably had its photo taken a few hundred times in total, in not more, by the many birders.  This is my favourite of my collection!

Another trip to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary was calling my name!  It would be my last opportunity for awhile so I wanted to go and make the most of it.  I have a few sightings to share with you.  I saw many other types of birds but I need to keep this post at a manageable level.  I did see two Robin's nests, one had the Mom sitting in the nest and the other nest had three babies that looked like they were ready to burst out.  If that was all I saw on this visit, I would have been content and felt fulfilled, but.....

   

.....I was fortunate to see many other  sweet sights such as this Eastern Kingbird!   

There were many Yellow Warblers, this is a female.

Least Flycatcher

Oh Yeah!  The Cedar Waxwings are at the Sanctuary in full force!  And by looking at this photo, there will be more!  This one was collecting stuff to build a nest.  In a few weeks I will check to see if there are young ones in the area.

another Cedar Waxwing

It was not until I got home and checked the ID app that I found out this was a Lincoln's Sparrow.  Some of the sparrows I am able to ID on my own from either the sight or the sound.  I have a few shots of this one, some showing the whole body, but I like how the Sparrow is framed in this photo.

female and male House Finches 

That was May!  

Now for June!  

Stay Tuned!

  

Bow Valley Provincial Park May 27, 2024

  🎵🎵 These boots are made for hiking 🎵🎵

🎵🎵 and that's just what they'll do! 🎵🎵

After discovering that my oldest pair of Styngers are no longer waterproof, the time came to incorporate my newest pair into the mix.  The old ones will be good for dry easy urban walks.  After 16kms of hiking today, these boots proved to be tried & true just like every other pair of Styngers I owned over the decades.  Yet it will be my middle pair that comes with me on my hiking holiday.  

Loads of snow still remains in the higher elevation mountains west of Calgary and I am just so not into fighting through that so I opted for low elevation trails in the Foothills in Bow Valley Provincial Park an hours drive west.  Before even leaving the parking lot, a Dark Eyed Junco dropped by to make an inspection.   

Crocus season is long past in the city but out in the Foothills, they are in their prime!  I knew they peak later out there but seeing them today still surprised me and I spent plenty of time admiring them.  

The Ruffed Grouse choose to cross the path right in front of me, it strutted its stuff at a slow leisurely pace.  This is probably a resident of this location as I remember seeing one in the area on a previous hike here.  Once it stepped off the path, it blended in with the brush.

It was very soon after snapping this shot, that it was time to delayer.  There have not been many days at all where a jacket was not necessary while out & about. Today was ideal shirt weather.  As the hours progressed, shorts would have been suffice.

The crocuses were everywhere and plentiful.  

I have seen and heard Cedar Waxwings in the city but had not been able to capture a pretty picture of one.  There were three in this tree, this was the only one that was not hidden by branches.  I prefer a side view of them but I was just happy to see them and hear them and get a good photograph.  As it turned out, there was a flock of them hidden in the tree, they all flew off as I stepped back onto the pathway.

Arriving at the picnic spot in the open area coincided with an early lunch time.  It was me and a lady fishing that owned the space.  The Bow River is known worldwide for amazing fishing.  It was free of ice and snow and it was running fast and high.   While dining and admiring the mountains across the way, I let my mind wander to when I hiked to the summit of a few of them. 

looking back at my picnic table 

In another area of the Park, I came across meadows of Shooting Stars. 

The plan for the day was to hike a great big loop before intersecting the trail I hiked earlier in the morning.       Near the end of the loop, I stopped by Middle Lake.  The water level was very low.  The rain over the past few days helped somewhat with the draught but much more moisture is needed.

trail around Middle Lake

one last look at Middle Lake from higher up 

This trail leads to the road which I needed to follow for a very short distance before finding the meadow then forest to route find through.  

When I arrived at the meadow, it was time to veer off and hike through it. It was decorated in hundreds of Shooting Stars which I gingerly stepped around.  Following the track on my app, I entered the forest and found my way up to the path I was on earlier in the day.  

looking back at the area I found my way through

I made it back up to the trail I was on earlier and now completed the great big loop.  There were only three kilometres left to cover along the paved path back to the parking lot.  

I just wanted those three klicks done so made a business of it to cover them.  It wound through a beautiful forest filled with bird songs so while I don't care for hiking on pavement, the forest and the songs made for an enjoyable finish.

Carburn Park May 25, 2024

I experienced a joy-filled morning birding at Carburn Park today!  These past few days, a Lewis's Woodpecker has been all over the social media of birders.  The last time one was seen in Calgary was back in 2021.  Today was the first opportunity I had to head off to the Park to see if I could see it. Well, fancy that, I did!  This is a Lewis's Woodpecker, a "lifer" for me!  It was the star of my day and from what the goings on around me, it was a "lifer" for many others and the star of their day!  

Saturday's Star

Before seeing the Lewis's Woodpecker, I saw many other sweet sights!  Her eight baby Common Goldeneyes have grown since I saw them this past Sunday!

The eye on this Common Grackle is just as bold 

as the eye on the Mom Common Goldeneye above.

The male Baltimore Oriole is singing his heart out!  There were a few of them and their songs were music to my ears as I walked through the forest during the early morning hour.  

There was much going on here!  The Mother Mallard is fierce in protecting her babies.  She is snapping at a Male Mallard while her babies try to swim away and as the Female Mallard partner of the Male watches on.  The Male Mallard looked defeated after this interaction and swam away.

an American Wigeon

I like the detail on its feathers.

Oh you cute little Yellow Warbler, your head looks like a tennis ball!  

He looks as pretty as a picture sitting between the green buds.

a Mallard Duckling

A little later I returned to where I saw the Lewis's Woodpecker.  When I left after viewing it the first time, a few other birders came along and I pointed to where it was.  A couple of hours later when I arrived back to the area, those few others were still there along with a dozen or so other birders.  It's quite a beautiful Woodpecker.  This Woodpecker is named in honour of Meriwether Lewis, one of the co-leaders in the famous Lewis & Clark expedition.  I took this photo while admiring it the second time around.

This is a Cooper's Hawk.  What I noticed about it was the little tuft of white feathers sticking up from above its beak.  I don't know what is going on there!  

I had many other sightings but they were mostly of the usual suspects or they were shots that were not clear enough due to lighting or blur.  I felt so fulfilled when I finally left and could hardly wait to get home to see my photos.  

Inglewood + Confluence = SUCCESS

For this year 2024, my goal is to cover 2024 kms via purposeful activity being "out & about" one way or another.  I was aiming for 1000 kms to be covered by the end of June.  When I saw I was approaching that well before the half way mark of the year, I made an extra effort to get it done! This morning I got out to Confluence Park to cover just shy of ten kilometres before an appointment because I knew I would not make it happen after the appointment.  After entering today's distance on my chart, I am now where I wanted to be well before I wanted to be there!  That equals success!   This clip is the bottom part of the chart.

On a dismal, dreary, cold, wet holiday Monday, I visited the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to cover double digit distance by "chasing & capturing"!  While my main intention for going here it for birding, I always hope I might spot other sights.  I had much success with that this morning!  Meandering along minding my own business, I heard the howls of a pack of coyotes, the howling went on and on.  I left the back secluded trail and aimed for the open area at the front where I would feel more comfortable being.  That's when I saw six coyotes exit the forest and cross the bridge.  This photo shows two, the others followed a few seconds later.   

This one waited and watched me.  

It has a beautiful face!  After using my full zoom to snap this shot, I backed off quite a distance then it crossed the bridge to join the others.  It was good to know they were all on the other side now and heading off across the field.  

Whew!  That was exciting!  Now to get on with "chasing & capturing"!  While meandering along minding my own business, I spotted this beaver having a morning snack.  I snapped a few shots but then decided because he was making such a cute noise eating, I took a video to capture the sight and sound. 

Oh my, I wonder does this deer know about the bridge just down the way! The river and lagoon are high due to the recent rain.  I watched to see that it made it safely to the other side, which it did.  Three others followed shortly there after.   

Oh boy, everything needs to get somewhere and finds one way or another to get there!  

I did have success with "chasing & capturing" bird photographs.  The best success of all was seeing this Blackpoll Warbler which is a "lifer" for me. I snapped a couple dozen shots as it flitted about in amongst the twigs and branches.  This was the only photo that was clear enough of them all. Yes!  Success!

🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤

It was so nice to be "out & about" on a beautiful morning after the dark and dismal day yesterday. I needed to get going early to get my nature fix before an appointment.  It had been a number of days since I ventured over to Confluence Park so I made that my destination.  There was business to take care of first and that was to check the Robin's Nest to see if she came back.  She did not!  

What became very clear after getting home and downloading all my photos was that today comes to you by way of the colour yellow!  What a difference a week makes!  After all the snow and rain over the past number of days, the park seems so alive and vibrant now.  

I had lots of success with "chasing & capturing", much more success than I was expecting.  

Of all the birds and ducks I saw, these are my favourites.  

American Goldfinch

Yellow Warbler

Western Tanager

Yesterday at Inglewood plus today at Confluence 

Sights & sounds of nature plus distance covered

Equals SUCCESS!