a New Day a New Month November 1, 2026

There are more splashes of colour rather than snow around here on this first day of November! Some of the colour is my doing! Locally, we are enjoying balmy weather for this late in Autumn.  I've been "out & about" every day yet opting to leave my camera at home and my iPhone tucked away when I am sharing time walking with friends. Today though, I aimed for The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary on my own so my camera got a good workout.  

Before I get to share the colour from that outing, I created this page of colour using sightings, during my visit to Victoria a few weeks ago, as my references. While strolling through Beacon Hill Park, I saw a Chestnut-sided Chickadee and a Spotted Towhee. They were not together, they were both difficult to see and photograph, they were in amongst branches with low light.  That experience was the total opposite to how I choose to present them!  I like this look much better!    

So, now on to today's colour.  The first day of a new month always brings hope, hope for all that is good.  When I spotted this Squirrel hunched over in this position, my thought was "that's exactly how I feel". It was a sleepless night, my Aurora App was active throughout the night.  I checked outside often but there was nothing to see in the sky near me. I could have used an extra hour of sleep!  Alberta though, effective today, is no longer changing between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time. I could have taken an extra hour of sleep, it's not like I had a job or appointment to get to.  I just had to get "out and about"! 

The sky was perfect for my welcome to The Bird Sanctuary!

That cloud in the middle looks like it has wings and is flying!

I like the cotton candy pink colours!

It was a crisp, clear, frosty start to this new month! 

Small sections of the Lagoon are iced over.  

The gold and orange colours popped as did the reflections.

all wood railings were lined with ice crystals 

I saw one female Common Merganser in the Lagoon.  There were more out in the Bow River. This lady with the colourful red head was hanging out with four male Mallard Ducks.  Mallgansser! Mergallard!

male Wood Duck

Many males and females are still here. 

male Hairy Woodpecker

(someone placed seeds on the railing)

These two Muskrats were adorable!  The one on the right was grooming the one on the left.  I have dozens of photos depicting their antics but this one is my favourite.  I wonder if they are siblings!  

The resident Mountain Cottontail stayed out in the open this time.  

I am thankful for the big zoom on my camera.  

The Northern Flicker was intrigued by something!  

I put my own spin on what it saw!

It saw the snowflake that landed on its beak!  

Time will tell how this no changing the time on the clock will work!  I understand other countries tried it in the past but ended up reverting back to the old way of changing clocks twice a year.  After I got with it and got going this morning, I enjoyed everything this new day and this new month presented to me.