Road warrior
After hunting along a field to the right of the road, this great gray owl flew low across to the other side. I left a few minutes later while she continued to closely watch the grasses while moving between fence post and traffic sign perches.
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Great gray owl backlit in the morning
This owl was hunting along a field and flew up to this post close to me after swallowing a vole. The sunlight shone through the extended feathers as she flared her wings to land. The intensity of the great gray owl eyes was on full display as well. A few different elements came together to make an image that I really like.
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The first hummingbird of the year
We heard a quiet buzz above our deck yesterday, looked up and saw a Rufous hummingbird hovering near our feeder. It was our first one of the year and one of the most welcome migratory birds that return to our backyard each year.
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An owl in the rising sun
I went out onto the Foothills last weekend to catch the sunrise. It was beautiful but this great gray owl stole the honors for the morning to me. I loved having her backlit by the warm sunshine while she flew to hunt in the field.
Amid a number of current challenges, I enjoyed getting out for time to photograph and put energy into this passion of mine.
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A whisky jack in flight
We have several gray jays that visit our backyard a few times a day. I watched this one land in the trees in the afternoon. When it launched, the snow sprayed behind as its wings flared out as it flew into a dive.
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Hummingbirds in the backyard
Early in the summer, we had a couple of hummingbirds that visited our backyard. We had a feeder out before we went on vacation and I had a couple of great photography sessions sitting on our deck watching them come and go. These are a few photographs from those.
This is either an immature or a female Rufous hummingbird. I don’t know this species near well enough to say which one. Certainly a beautiful bird no matter.
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Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron over Frank Lake
After a day that started with snowfall, the clouds cleared in the evening. Desiree and I headed south to Frank Lake to see what birds were staging around the shoreline. With the unusual dip in temperature, I was unsure which birds may have jumpstarted their migrations and which would still be there. We were treated to a large squadron of white pelicans which were the main focus of our bird watching and photography. The sun fell under the clouds an hour before dusk and the light was incredible right through to sunset. Aside from the pelicans, we had several species of seagulls, great blue herons, cormorants, hawks, coots, ducks and shorebirds that came by. And, a number of Black-crowned Night-Herons too. Surprisingly to me, most of those were juveniles. Which Desiree was able to identify as Night-Herons. Which was great as I thought they were an egret or another type of heron. The young look very different from the adults in this species of heron! This photo caught the heron flying into the warm sunlight and I was lucky to have it catch the eye.
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Whiskey Jack on the wing
I love Canada jays. They go by a couple of names (well I guess we like to call them by a few names) – I like Whiskey Jack and Canada jay more than gray jay but those are just my own preferences. Some people see them as mischievous camp robbers. I don’t. For me, they exemplify companionship as I always flitting around in pairs. I found this one in a tree and waited until it flew off towards the call of its partner.
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Great gray owl in the late winter forest
On a solo outing to some remote roads, I found a gorgeous great gray owl perched on a telephone pole in warm afternoon sunshine.
A short wait ended with the bird gliding into the forest. It found a perch there and moved to two other ones before flying to a knot of trees close by.
She scanned the sky occasionally, watched the ground steadily but did not find a target on or under the snow. One launch had the owl drop onto a pile of deadfall. I caught a nice launch off of a tree trunk and followed the bird up to her next perch.
Soon she flew across the nearby meadow and landed in a lone evergreen. She flew along a frozen creek to a slender tee – a winter’s skeleton – that bowed under her weight.
And then she flew west, further afield, and well beyond my shooting range with the gear I have.
ng range.
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Great gray owl – winter edition
Driving home through Millarville last weekend, I hoped to see a great gray owl along the edge of the forest that skirts the road toward Bragg Creek. I had my camera beside me and my girlfriend and I kept eyes peeled for them on fenceposts or perched in the trees.
We found one amid a snow storm. It was not in a stop friendly location so I took a couple of quick shots and continued along.
Happily, another one was waiting a few miles further along. This one was watching over a field and was kind enough to have chosen a tree that was across from a small pullout. We had time to point out the owl to the kids and for me to put a long lens on it. After a few minutes, it launched out over the field and I had some good flight opportunities.
It had been a few months since I had seen a great gray owl so I was thrilled to get to see two that evening. I’ll have to make sure I retrace my steps there again soon.
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A Christmas owl
I found this great horned owl on December 20th. She was perched a couple of meters off the ground in a stand of trees along the edge of a farm east of Langdon on Alberta’s prairie. It was just before noon and the day was cool but not frigid. The warm sun was lovely as I walked from the range road to a position with a better view of the owl. I was excited to photograph the bird – especially once I had the sunlight at my back and I could catch the glow of the golden eyes.
She watched the ground intently at times and tracked any ravens that flew overhead. I settled in on a mound and waited for the bird to launch. Despite a couple of shakes and repositions early on, the bird didn’t fly then and soon the eyes were shutting for increasingly long intervals.
For four hours I waited before the owl jumped into the air. I was in a great position but was chagrined when she flew away from me. Hope returned when she alighted on a branch 20 meters away and turned back towards me. A few minutes along and the excitement returned. This time the flight path was towards me and she flew beside me on her way to another line of trees towering over a snow-covered field. This time afforded me a great angle on the owl.
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A magpie’s winter dream
