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A short spell with a few of Invermere’s belted kingfishers

It seems longer than a month ago when Kian and I went to the Columbia Valley in British Columbia for the Labour Day long weekend.

(please click any image to see a higher resolution version)

We had a great time skateboarding in Invermere, touring around Fairmont and even did a little swimming which was unreasonably cold for the late summer.

Photography wasn’t the focus of our trip but, unsurprisingly, I fit a little in here and there.  Easily the best of these was our walk along the narrow channel of the Columbia River where it meets the northern tip of Windermere Lake.  We found five kingfishers chattering, flying and occasionally diving along the water.

This juvenile alighted on the pillar near us as we were watching another one flying on the far side of the river.  He stayed for several minutes.  Drawing a flyby from one kingfisher but mostly left alone to scout for dinner before the sun set.

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Posted by  |  October 5, 2018 | Categories: Birds, British Columbia, Nature, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

An autumn walk in Kananaskis Country

Ahead of the winter storm which hit late Monday, I went to Kananaskis to enjoy autumn in the mountains.  The clouds were leaden, already suggesting snow when I watched them wrap around Mount Kidd in the fading darkness.

I waited for dawn on the low ridge above Wedge Pond.  The little lake looked beautiful but the brightening sky was much less so.  The clouds did diffuse the light which supported taking a few landscapes of the larch that ring one side.

I wanted to get a hike in so I packed up and headed off to the trailhead for the Galatea Lakes.  I grabbed my tripod, threw on my backpack and headed up.

The trail followed Galatea Creek as it wound up the valley towards the lakes.  I photographed steadily as I wandered along.  It came as no surprise that I hadn’t covered more than a couple of miles before I needed to return home.  It was nice to get lost really seeing and enjoying the forest, the splashing water and the mountains for a couple of hours.

I hope there is a reprieve from the falling snow, I would like to get back this month to see how the autumn landscape looks in winter trappings.

 

 

Posted by  |  October 3, 2018 | Categories: Autumn, Kananaskis, Landscapes | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Wood ducks shakin’ in YYC

Wood ducks are one of my favorite species of waterfowl (side note: that is a weird word!)  I love the plumage of both genders.  To me, they are among the most beautiful birds.  Beyond that, I like watching them paddling around, chasing one another and most of all splashing during their cleaning routine.

Last weekend I spent a couple of hours watching them carry on about their day.  Every now and then, one would separate from the raft of ducks, presumably to get some space, before dunking their head under the water several times, shaking the water off, flapping wings, rising out of the water and then repeating it for as long as they saw fit.  I didn’t tire of watching the water drops fly!

Posted by  |  September 28, 2018 | Categories: Birds, Calgary, Nature, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Autumn leaves

Ice on these leaves softened their autumn colors.  With the change of season over the past couple of weeks, I’m looking for fall scenes wherever I go.  I’m really enjoying taking the time to explore and to photograph them.

Posted by  |  September 26, 2018 | Categories: Autumn | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Inglewood reflection

I’m heading down to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to see which migrating as well as resident birds are around on a wet, cool afternoon.  Kezia and I were down there together last weekend and found some wood ducks, a variety of gulls, one heron and a good number of Canada geese.  This one was paddling on one of the ponds near the river.  Kez and I both like the serene aspects of this scene.

Posted by  |  September 22, 2018 | Categories: Birds, Calgary, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A sunrise in Springbank

The sun climbed over Springbank hill while I was heading into the city a couple of weeks ago.  I stopped at this stand of aspen with its blend of broken trunks, spidery branches and open canopy which I thought would provide an interesting frame for the sunrise.

Posted by  |  September 21, 2018 | Categories: Landscapes, Sunrise | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

An impression of autumn

When the snow was falling last week, I enjoyed trying to create some interesting images from the collision of weather with the fall landscape.  The photograph I shared earlier drew some very kind comments about the style of painting it was similar to.  I agree with Linda who saw suggestion of Pointillism.  Using a short exposure of 1/400th of a second froze the snowflakes in that photograph.  Here, I used a longer exposure of 1/40th of a second.  The slower shutter speed let the snow trace blurry paths through the scene.  I liked the level of abstraction that created.

Posted by  |  September 19, 2018 | Categories: Abstract, Landscapes | Tags: , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Beauty in an early snowfall

I’ve been hunting for images of the autumn that has been hurriedly ushered in.  Here is one from the day of the first snowfall last week.  I was east of my home in Redwood Meadows and found this wonderfully coloured stand of trees.   The snow continued on for much of the day and I looked for more scenes like this.

 

Posted by  |  September 17, 2018 | Categories: Nature | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Winter is coming…

Thanks to Game of Thrones, this phrase is often heard.  Yesterday Mother Nature provided her own reminder that far too soon winter will be here.  I still hope we have a couple of months before it does but the snow is still on the trees this morning and does not yet look interested in melting away.  I can’t say that I’m a fan of snow in September.

Posted by  |  September 14, 2018 | Categories: People, Weather | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

A harvest hawk

As farmers harvest their crops, hawks enjoy using the hay bales to scout for field mice.  This rough-legged hawk stared at me from her perch for a moment before returning her attention to the field.

Posted by  |  September 12, 2018 | Categories: Birds, Hawks, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Herons hunting on the Vermilion Lakes

During the warmer months, there are a number of great blue herons that settle around the Vermilion Lakes in Banff National Park.  A couple of weeks ago, I was on the shore of the second lake watching daybreak over a smoke-filled Bow Valley.

Looking across the lake, I saw ten herons spread out across a marshy spot a couple of hundred meters away.  They were a bit too far away to observe them closely but I liked watching them as they hunted, interacted with one another and preened their feathers.

An eagle flew overhead which sent all of the herons into the air.  In twos and threes they sped away while the eagle stayed on a straight line towards the first lake.  Within 15 minutes a couple of the herons returned.  Shortly after that three others alighted in the shallows of another marshy area.

There was a trail that angled towards that spot so I hoisted the big lens and tripod and wandered down.  The path died out, overgrown by tall grass, but not before leaving me less than 50 meters from the closest of the three herons there.  I set up and then enjoyed an hour watching these birds doing their thing.



Posted by  |  September 1, 2018 | Categories: Banff National Park, Birds, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

A common loon swims in front of a low, rocky island on a calm, smoky morning on Upper Kananaskis Lake.  Haze from the wildfires to the west was thick in the mountains and often hid the mountains that ring the lake.

 

Posted by  |  August 27, 2018 | Categories: Kananaskis, Landscapes | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

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