The exuberance of chickadees
Chickadees are constant companions in our backyard throughout the winter. These hardy little balls of feather and fluff chitter away as they fly from tree to feeder and back.
Even on the coldest days, they energetically continue their conversations and activities. With winter hinting, somewhat reluctantly, at giving way to spring here in the Foothills, I have taken a few opportunities to photograph these little birds from our second story deck.
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Morning flight…
A great gray owl launches with the sun behind her.
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Evening hawk in Autumn
Sitting here with several inches of snow on the ground it feels like autumn has passed by now. I hope it comes back but I found a few photos of this hawk.
I think it is a red-tailed hawk but it could be a Swainson’s. Either way it was beautiful and I enjoyed watching it on the fence-post for a couple of minutes before it took flight.
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Inflight fight
This shot of two bald eagles sparring in midair is one I have waited to capture for a long time. I felt extremely lucky to get this dynamic image with the wings flared, one claw wide open and the emotion in the top one’s face.
I have photographed bald eagles in many places over the years. They are dynamic, powerful, cunning, intelligent and emotional raptors who I never tire of watching at rest, in flight or on the hunt. This is one of my favorites of these incredible birds.
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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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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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Morning flight
Mallard ducks backlit against morning sunshine rise off a pond east of Cochrane in Alberta, Canada. Photographed on September 26, 2020.
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A magpie’s winter dream
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Eagles in the Columbia Valley
At the end of March, I had some time in Radium with my family. I spent the mornings meandering along the Columbia River as well as some of the valley’s ponds and puddles. This area of British Columbia seemed a couple of weeks further into spring than my home in Bragg Creek in Alberta. Green was starting to show on the trees and in the grassland. And on one lake, ice was still covering most of its surface.
The open water offered fish and the ice had some kind of insect, slug or some such on it. Ravens and bald eagles were drawn in by both. Over a couple of days I had some great opportunities to watch both and their occasional interactions.
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A long-eared owl hunting
The long-eared owl has proven to be an elusive target for me photographically for many years. I’ve heard them call, or seen them in dim light but not been fortunate enough to get time with them in decent light. That happens in wildlife photography but hope springs eternal! Last week I was looking for great gray owls west of Calgary with two visiting photographers and luck broke our way.
Driving along a quiet back road we found this beautiful bird perched on a fence line in mid-afternoon sunshine. It was cold but the owl seemed comfortable and even a little dozy. The eyes closed a few times broken up by broad sweeps of the fields in front and the bushes behind. We moved off the road and walked a little closer before setting up the long lenses on the various supports. A little while passed and then the long-eared started to twist her head while her eyes fixated at a point in the snow a few meters away from the fence.
This carried on for a few minutes and was accompanied by more sweeps. I was not sure we would see a dive into the snow or if the owl would lose track of the rodent under the snow. It didn’t and we did. In a very quick change from being stationary, she swept into the air and then plunged towards the ground and into the snow.
Most of her body disappeared as the snow was knee-deep. That did not have any impact on her accuracy. She pulled the rodent out of the snow and swallowed it in one gulp.
She repaired to the post, made another flight – this time over the brambles behind – then returned to the fence. We headed off, leaving her to her field, and continued scouting for great grays. We found a couple in beautiful light – I will share those photographs soon.
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Snowy owl
I spent a few hours photographing this beautiful bird east of Calgary near Delacour. The temperature, and the wind chill, conspired to make it a bit uncomfortable for me. Not so for the owl, he appeared to take the cold with little interruption to normal operations. He perched atop telephone poles and fence posts for long periods broken up by several flights low over the fields. Three of those were successful hunts. This image was from one of the scouting flights as he climbed towards a high perch. I liked the interesting shape of his profile and the soft details in the background of this image.
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Bald eagle in Bragg
Found a bald eagle in a branch above a couple of ravens that were on the ground. There must have been something that they were fighting over with the eagle for breakfast. When the raptor launched it angled away from me but I had a good side shot for a second.
Christopher Martin Photography 