Winter Birdwatching, Weaselhead Park

Is it spring? One can never be too sure in Canadaland! It's hard to believe that a few weeks ago my friend Pam and I joined a few other birdwatchers at Weaselhead Park in Calgary on the snowiest day of the month. It figured that the weather would turn so severely after some lovely, melty, blue sky days just when I planned to go birdwatching with my friend. She's been enjoying weekend birdwatching trips and I have been so envious of her photographs! With a winter storm warning covering the Southern half of Alberta, it would be too easy to bail, but I felt determined. I spent my youth living farther North than here. Somehow I managed to live, work and play for many years without calling in a snow day or hiding beneath the covers. Adventure doesn't come knocking on your front door, hoping that you will answer, after all. Click on the birdie to see all the photos.

Sometimes, adventure requires you to get up at crazy o'clock. I sprang out of bed at 5 on the dot after having a dream that it was 8 and I missed my ride. After grimly shovelling the sidewalk, I layered up - underneath my older, longer winter coat I wore wool socks, leggings, yoga pants, jeans, two toques, two scarves and double mitts. I borrowed a 200-700mm zoom lens and doubler from work, but ultimately left the doubler at home. I took an extra, less powerful zoom lens, but it could have stayed home as well since it impossible to switch them out with all the snow. Once my camera bag was on my back, I could barely get it off.

We carpooled to the Weaselhead Park in Southwest Calgary after a slightly hairy car ride on the Deerfoot. It was dark and the roads were mushy. It was make your own lane after the snow plows took a crack at it. The sky was purple by the time we reached the parking lot and we were soon joined by a few others birders. The purpose of the trip was to watch hundreds of magpies leave their roosts at sunrise. Unfortunately, sunrise was a little overcast, and by the time the sky changed colour again, only a few dozen had flown over the bluff where we were standing. Some even flew back!

We followed our very knowledgeable and friendly guide from the bluff, down a hill, into a valley, across a bridge until we came to a smaller wood bridge. My phone recorded 6km of walking, although Google Maps seems to think it was 2. The snow was a blessing as it covered all the ice on the pathway and my new Yaktrax crampons made it easy to avoid a fall. It didn't take us long at all to see birds once we went away from the much windier bluff. It was noticeably warmer. We saw black capped chickadees, a boreal chickadee, blue jays, magpies, red polls, grosbeaks, ravens, Northern flickers, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers and a nuthatch. There was a red squirrel scooting about in the trees, but he didn't come close.

Winter photography was...challenging to say the least. It was physically demanding even though I was up to the task. I only had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast and somehow didn't go all hangry :-D Operating the zoom lens with my gloves on was difficult (took them off for a few minutes...big mistake!). The auto focus on my camera was working hard. I nudged the wrong setting on the wheel too and I'm not sure how many photos were affected. All in all I took about 300 photos and marked 52 as total duds due to blurriness. I had to correct for luminance and colour noise. On the upside, the flat lighting made it possible to be artistic with the photographs.

We saw some human wildlife including joggers and cross-country skiers who weren't about to let the weather control their lives. I'm so glad I went - easily the best part was spending two hours talking with other birders in a Timmy's! I was physically exhausted but emotionally ecstatic after such a great outing - maybe it was the lack of sleep - but the downside was a huge surge of energy in the afternoon and a hunger for calories. I really could have used a steak or something :-)

Suddenly September

I go back to ACAD on Tuesday...we've spent August trying to cram as much summer as possible into one month. June and July were such downers, but I did a lot, and the proof is in Instagram :-)

We went for a lot of country drives! This graffiti barn is out near Linden, Alberta. It never looks the same. Linden has a great little restaurant called Country Cousins, although it's not quite the same as what it used to be. It used to have a buffet loaded up with Mennonite home cooking, now it's just OK. The farmer's sausage is still wonder as are the homemade pies.

 I volunteered for the Calgary Folk Music Festival again! They really treat their volunteers wonderfully and it is such a good time. It takes 1500 volunteers to make the festival tick, and is a lot of hard work! But there's a free t-shirt, snacks, gelato, two meals a day, program and free music to sweeten the deal :-) The hot band this year seemed to be The Mexican Institute of Sound.

The festival takes place on Prince's Island Park, which was overcome by the flood back in June. 250 volunteers made it possible for the festival to happen. The whole island was underwater, the River Cafe was temporarily closed and it's amazing they were able to get it done in time. Some of the stage areas were closed, and Stage 2 was moved to nearby Eau Claire market. There was a fine sand everywhere due to the silt...but the river ran blue again by this time at the end of July.

 

We tried to go to the Royal Tyrell Museum on the August long weekend, but had to bail! This was the line up of cars just to make the turn off into the road to the parking lot. We had arrived there around 3pm, and thought that would be a good time to miss the crowds. Apparently not! Ah well...it was still a nice drive. We'll have to go again when all the kids are in school. One of the problems with Calgary is that you have so many people fleeing the city for long weekends - can't be helped, really. We were looking forward to it as the last time we were there was 2007.

Saw these groovy clouds around Red Deer! They were originally grey, but I love how Instagram turned them into waves. I really like Instagram as a creative medium...it's like this random result that I can use for drawings and paintings. In the 30 years or so that we have been travelling Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton I have never seen clouds like this.

Here's a view from the 10th Street Bridge last week. The water is still high. There's an island near the bridge where geese nested, but it's still underwater. It's hard to imagine just how devastating the flood was. It will be a long time before everything is "normal". The rusty looking structure is called Poppy Plaza and was intentionally made to look that way. It's next to Memorial Drive.

 Lastly, a new farmer's market opened up near us. Most of the farmer's markets in Calgary are far south, so it's always a chore to get to. This one is located at Symon's Valley Ranch, which used to be a restaurant and dance hall. It's been fixed up some with outdoor seating and lots of shops inside and out. It has only been open for a couple of months, so it will be cool to see how it grows as more people and vendors know about it :-) There were live geese and ducks there to see, and lots of seating, so it should be good. It's also literally out in the country too!

Verti-go-go

Man, what a silly day! I woke up dizzy at 5am this morning; the chinook loudly left during the night and I half wonder if it gave me vertigo or if it is really an ear infection. I guess time will tell. I tried to go back to bed but I had some horrible dreams, including one where my soul ran away (don't laugh!) and I tried to wake my husband up to help me, but I couldn't because I had no soul! The anti-histamine the doctor prescribed didn't really help until about 10am and by then the morning was getting away from me.

We ended up going to the Crossroads Market, a farmer's market, for lunch. It's an interesting place to go people watch and find "junktiques". Alberta isn't old enough to have old, old things. The stuff you see tends to be things that your grandparents had in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Now and then I find something really interesting, like this little souvenir booklet of Edmonton:



(click for larger on Flickr)

Alberta may be a young province, but I'm glad in a way, even if I know I won't find a 200 year old tea set. A lot of our contemporary history is preserved in glorious colour like this booklet.

Writer's Block: Where I Want to Be

Livejournal has a daily writer's block question and sometimes I find they really jog my memory! Today's question is What was your childhood dream? Did you ever accomplish it?

My childhood dream was to be a jockey. I never wanted to be a ballerina or a princess or anything like that. Suffice to say, I haven't achieved that dream despite being short enough - alas, I wouldn't make the weight requirement! The last remnant of that dream faded around Grade 9 or 10. Before my family moved to Calgary, I seriously thought about attending Olds College for their Equine Science or Exercise Rider and Jockey program. Alberta has a thriving horse industry and if the new Balzac racetrack ever gets built, it will have two major racetracks.

But my parents favoured career plans that were more practical and less dirty, so I never did have the encouragement in that area either. I practically grew up at Northlands Park, which was my Dad's way of babysitting us when Mom worked weekends or evenings. It was great, if a little odd - we could run around wherever we wanted, there were always fries after the eighth race and there were horses to watch! There was never a shortage of Dad's friends who doted on my brother and I as well. Like bowling, an afternoon at the racetrack seems like an antiquated hobby.

Naturally, I loved The Black Stallion as well. I wish I could find it, but I have a Grade 1 drawing of me riding The Black. It's such an adorable picture - I love kid's art - but it's a picture I keep finding and losing over the years. The next time I find it, I promise to scan it in!

Calgary Honkers!

I have been lucky this year to get some Canada geese pictures. Here's an adult I saw near where I took a picture of a whole family down by the Bow River. Click for larger.






And here's the goose family! I really want to upgrade my camera...the 12x zoom is nice, but I want more :-)






You know, timing is everything with birds - they're fast and you have to be in the right place at the right time. I took the family picture on Thursday and the adult on Friday; when I walked by the bridge this morning, I saw just an adult off in the trees. I'm glad I had my camera with me and dawdled on the way to work :-)

Etsy Alberta Team Sale!

The Alberta team is having a week long sale from May 1 - May 7. There are over 70 participating shops, including mine, where you'll receive a free magnet of your choice with each purchase.

Not A Dream!

For many mornings now, I thought I dimly heard a robin calling in the wee hours. Perhaps it was just a wishful subconscious, but nope, yesterday I saw my first robin! She (or he) was hopping around in a barren ash tree not too far from my house. It trilled briefly, and took off. And naturally, I did not have my camera!

I did not have my camera either last week when I left for work late. The unmistakable, carefree toodle-ooh-doo of the house finch made him easy to spot. I think I'm going to be in for an early walk on Saturday morning - one of my photography goals is to get a nice picture of a robin. And if I get a house finch - all the better!





It's scenes like my front yard, above, that make me wonder why I live where I do. I have been to Lexington, Memphis and Seattle; half of my heritage is from the Mediterranean. All these places are lush and humid in comparison to ol' dry Alberta. But, if I ever left Alberta, I wouldn't leave the prairies. There's so much I love about them, but I haven't been able to really express the "why". I think this little ditty sums it up nicely though:



Ask why the eagle soars in the air
Or builds so high his craggy nest,
Ask why the fishes love the sea -
Then ask me why I love the West

(attributed to John D. Higenbotham, 1933)