Snowy Owls, Eagles, Merlin (20150214) A GREAT day with Jamie, Tim, and some owls

Well it had been a while since we had been out looking for the Snowy's so Jamie, Tim and I decided it was time. Tim had rented a new camera body (7D MK II) and it is always good to get subjects that you have already shot to assist in equipment evaluation. 7:10 we headed out and grabbed a bite on the road. For a change we decided to head to the North-east, some birds had been reported in the area. With ice crystals in the air I mentioned that the birds could easily "disappear" in that type of cloud cover. Our very first bird Jamie spotted when we were right underneath it. We went down the road a bit and tuned around. It didn't provide us with any photo opportunities so we had to wait until this bird assisted us in our quest.

About 30 minutes later we found these Grey Partridge. 

 Just a short 5 minutes later we spotted this cooperative owl. We spent about 30 minutes with this bird. As we waited occasionaly we received the benefit of some blue skies moving in. 

Our fouth Snowy provided no photo opps as it was on a pole line with no access.  Then around noon we found this pair of eagles scavenging in the middle of pairie area. 

And just up the road a bit were two more. Only one provided a photo opp, it looks pretty large on this fence post. 

Jamie made our next spot. "A small owl" was the exclamation, so we backed up slowly. We were only slightly disappointed when it turned out to be this female Merlin instead. She proved to be a very cooperative subject

So where are all these Snowy owls you ask? We found a total of 18 on the day, a new personal best. Here is one of my favourites from the day. I believ this was Snowy 5 or 6. While I am not much of a Landscape fan, I like this image. 

We accidentily flushed this next bird from the ground. We watched it for quite awhile after it had landed, once again in the field. Then it popped in this tree, and the Snow Buntings were none too happy about having it around. 

Then for some reason we started to find more "white" owls. This bird looked huge on the pole, and it just shone like a beacon in the sun which we were now having the joy of experiencing. 

Another bright white bird wa spotted at quite a distance as we were making a turn onto a new road. We confirmed it was in fact a Snowy and it provided us with a close up encounter. I think this is one of my best ever!

As the day was winding down and we were well on our way home, this bird provided us a yet another great "sitting".

Earlier in the day I had been speaking with the guys about the vsrious shots that I had been missing for Snowy's this year. We already grabbed a "tree" bird, then this sweetie decided to satisfy my "grainery" bird requirement. 

Tim spied this beautiful white bird as we were cruising on the highway, so we had to turnaround and get some shots. It decided not to hold so here is a take off shot. 

We found two more birds that time did not allow to take images of, we had to get Tim home on time. A new personal record for all of us with a final tally of 18 of these beautiful owls. We also spotted some coyotes and pheasants. I am hoping that Jamie and or Tim will be providing me with some additional images from the day.  This was my bride's Valentine's day gift to me; a day in the woods with the owls, what a sweetie.  This week, put some wild in your life!

Turbo

Here are a couple of shots that Jamie provided to me from the day, here is a lovely shot of a rooster pheasant.

And a shot of one of ouer owls at take off.

For more of Jamie's shots visit his Flickr page here.

Elk, Moose, Wild Horse (20150208) A morning run out with Russell

It has been quite a while since Russell and I went out with just the camera's and he wanted to get caught up on some things.  We discussed our options and headed out on a "North west track". He was anxious as ever to get out so I met him at 7:00, and we were off. We nicely got started with low light, we had already turned around on our first road. We pulled over to let a faster traveling vehicle pass when I "broke the ice" and spotted a fox, no photos though. Our next encounter was quite a bit more numerous and we had a lot of time for images.

A few of the 2-300 head of elk in this herd. Then right next to us on the east side of the road we had these 3 late-comers to the party.

So things on the day were looking pretty good. We found a couple of Rough-legged hawks that were pretty skitish. Then, as it often seems to happen lately, I said to Russell "watch right here on the left, it is a good spot for moose.". Certainly enough there was a cow moose.

While we were taking images at least four others were visible moving about back in the trees! Up around the corner and down off the hill and we stopped for our first cup of tea. There we were joined by 3 or 4 Borel chickadees. The light was still pretty poor.

A few more Roughies and we were well out of town when I found this cow moose.

As it turns out there were two of them.

Our next find was a critter that I believe Jamie, Kerri and I had spotted a couple of weeks ago and were unable to get any acceptable shots. Here is our only Wild horse of the trip.

It was nice to see the sun out for a bit. We were unable to find either of the owls (Great Grey or Northern Hawk) from the trip a couple of weeks ago, but we did find a flock of about 10-12 Grey Jays.

We spent quite a bit of time with this little troop hoping for them to get into the sun for us. We didn't have much luck, but I kind of like this flight shot.

On our return journey we spotted this little critter. Try as I might I couldn't turn it into a bobcat.

That wrapped up another terrific outing with Russell. Closer to town the elk were still out in the farmer's field but the heat shimmer being produced by the sun didn't allow for quality images. Make certain that you put a little wild in your life this week.
Turbo

Boreal, Merlin, Goldeneyes (2015 January) Sunday walk highlights.

For whatever reason this year our Winter walks on Sundays have been pretty quiet. They haven't been total wastes of time but highlights have been limited. On the 18th we started off with a nice Sharp-shinned hawk.

The group also discovered a small flock of Chickadees which included two or three Boreals.

They are usually a little more shy, and typically found in the conifers like this bird.

We wrapped up the day with this nicely back lit Raven.

Our next weekend (January 25th) we were closer to the river and so we found some great ducks.  This is a pair of Mallard drakes. I find them to be very tough birds to get in flight.

I didn't get alot of notice and this drake Common Merganzer almost totally got by me.

A little stroll on one of the nearby islands landed me this beautiful male Merlin.

I'll finish this day up with this female Lesser Scaup. It was the first time all week that this bird had been spotted in town.

Our February first our highlights of the day were some Barrow's Goldeneyes. This shot shows both the male and female Barrow's along with a drake Common Golden eye bringing up the rear.

Here is probabaly the best shots I have ever taken of a pair of Barrow's. The "pumpkin" orange bill is a great fieldmark for the female, whereas the male's ter drop white area is a distinguishing feature.

Ibelieve tht this is the first time the blog has hosted the female Barrow's. Find some time this week to put a little wild in your life!
Turbo

Elk, Shrike, Snowy owl (20150131) Nothing like fresh snow!

Well the week was wrought with wondering what we were going to do this weekend. Well with fresh snow and -23C temperatures I headed out solo. With the success that we had last weekend I was hopeful that I would have a bountiful day.  There is just something about cruising up a road knowing that no one has been there before you. The anticipation is fabulous! I saw one cow moose on the road in. Fresh tracks, then 50 yards later she appeared. I LOVE fresh snow.  I stopped at the end of the road and took in a cuppa tea. On the way out I spotted her again, and this time I saw a second moose that I would judge to be a bull based upon his bell. It was still snowing pretty hard, this is the cow.

The trip out was uneventful, I checked for Sharptails but found none on our first road. As i was heading over to our second Sharptail road I spotted a single cow elk. I stopped and watched and soon I was able to count 21. As the lead cow would edge further into the field more and more of her followers would jump the fence and move into the open. After a bit of a jump a little "shake" was necessary to get rid of the building snow.

I watched them for about a half hour before the lead cow took them back into the woods deciding not to cross the field and move closer to me.  Here they go back over the fence.

No luck on our second road for Sharptails so I headed back in on my first road, there were no new tracks of another vehicle, so any new tracks would be fresh!
I stopped and spent some time looking at some fresh weasel tracks. They were likely made my the short-tailed weasel that Jamie and I found in the area earlier this year. At the end of the road I grabbed another cup of tea and found this Northern Shrike.

On the way out I found some very fresh wolf tracks, but I couldn't find any hair. The indication from the tracks was that he heard the truck coming and headed off the side of the road. My next subject I found while I was on the phone with my brother in Nova Scotia. This Rough-legged Hawk provided me a driveby opportunity.

Len was on his way to Eagle Watch in New Minas, Nova Scotia so I thought it was appropriate that I had an opportunity to shoot this Baldy as we talked.

I was in the process of changing locations and decided I would see if I could find a Snowy or two to top off my day.  I was speaking to him about the Short-eared owls that had been found in the area where he was, so he decided to take a little look. So this was a first for Turbo's Track and Tour as I was guiding him to look for a specific environment from 3000 miles away. As we were chatting he says "there's an owl!' So he stopped and took some shots. While he was doing that I spotted this Northern Goshawk.

I missed the best chances to get this bird in flight. From the shot above you can see the brownish colouration of this bird indicating that it is a juvenile bird. Here it is in the air.

I finished up the day with this beautiful Snowy. It was very cooperative and held the the whole time I was shooting it, and even after I had left.

A profile image of this beautiful bird. Just a fabulous subject with a little "golden hour" lighting.

A fabulous day! The ability to share some of it with my brother and actually do a bit of a "tour" together made it extra special. Put some wild in your life, and take along a family member, you won't regret it!
Turbo

Three toed woodpecker, squirrel, Northern Pygmy Owls (20150128) A local park evening walk.

With some fine weather being forecast Tim and I agreed to take a little stroll in the late afternoon to see if there were any subjects willing to cooperate. We just nicely got started when we found a fellow photog who had eyes on this Three-toed Woodpecker.

Here is another image showing the lighter back. If this had of been all black this would have been a Black-backed woodpecker, a very distinct field mark.

In some of the heavy spruce we were able to find this red squirrel the light was pretty bad, but we shoot what we find:)

Next up we found a mixed flock, as is often the case of Chickadees and Nuthactches. Tim was shooting the White-breasted while this Red-breasted was my subject of choice.

Of course, as I have already voted the Black-capped Chickadee to be Canada's bird, I have to throw a shot of one of these birds in too:)

Making our way back to the vehicles we could hear a Northern Pygmy Owl calling. So we made our way over to where there were some other folks shooting this bird.

It was a long way up, but the blue sky made it irresistable to shoot. We grabbed some shots and moved along. And, we were glad we did. We arrived in the parking lot where there was a second NPO posing for folks.

Here is another shot, showing this little angel complete with its halo :) Unfortunately the sun had gone down behind the horizon and it is a little duller.

A terrific way to end a fabulous walk. Tim was very pleased as he had a chance to try out his newest lens again. I am hoping he might share an image so I can include it here. Put some wild in your life, share it with a friend, you will both be the better for it!
Turbo

Northern Hawk owl, Wild Horses (20150124) An All day trip in search of wild horses.

Jamie, Kerri and I headed into wild horse country with the hopes of doing better than we wout there recently with Tim. We started the morning with a flighty Great Grey Owl. No shots achieved. Next up was a coyote and then three moose, a pair fo cows and what I think may have been bull that had dropped its antlers. We briefly spotted a single Black horse, but it bolted for some reason and none of us managed a decent shot.
We took a sideroad that we thought might hold a horse or two but stopped as Jamie thought he mightr have seen a Pine Marten. During our investigation I only found this well hidden squirrel.

Then I am afraid we found the high-light of the day, a Northern Hawk Owl. The local Galgary birders had been posting images of a few around the area but now one had mentioned this particular bird yet. It was a very long distance spot. Here is a shot @ 900mm equivalent of the bird in the top of the tree.

We were unable to get much closer, here is a heavily cropped image of this beautiful raptor.

Our next sighting was anothr wild horse. This fella was well out into the open and didn't seemed bothered by our presence at all.

It wasn't until he turned that we were able to see his hind leg injury.

Next up was a group of about 7 horses. We got out of the truck and did a little stalk. This is likely the "stockiest" of the wild's that I have seen. The feet on this fellow remind me of the draught horses.

This was one of his herd.

We got shutout of one of my favourite side roads. We did find this Ruffed Grouse. It was a very dark situation.

We then found three separate herds. Here is a pair from the largest herd I have found yet.

This is the large stallion that had built his herd up to 14 individuals. The other two herds that we could see from this area were only 5 and 6 members. This is a massive stallion. Just take a look at the size of those front legs.

On our way home we found another couple of moose, which may have been two from the morning. We then also managed to spot a Northern Shrike, but it was too far off for good images. We finished up with another cow and bull moose. This fella still had is hardware. Overall a pretty successful day. Put some wild in your life.
Turbo

ps: Here is a shot of the Northern Goshawk that Kerri managed a shot of. It did a fly by in the area where we had all the horses.

You can see more of her images on her website.