Yesterday, 28 August 2018, I did another long drive, this time SW of the city into the mountains. This is a second area that I try to do on my own each year now, to make sure that I don't lose confidence to do the drive. Luckily, I saw a few furry, four-legged critters, which will make a change from all my recent photos. Though my main purpose was to simply do the drive, I knew I would be driving through spectacular scenery and I knew that I might just see a Bighorn Sheep or two and maybe even a tiny Pika/Rock Rabbit. Fortunately, I was in luck with all three.
A tiny Pika made my day, too. Sometimes, one is out of luck, but I was able to get a few photos yesterday, mainly more distant shots. It was a relief to find that there was no snow on the ground, as walking on a talus slope that is also covered in snow and ice is really treacherous. Snow had fallen in the mountains the day before - yes, it's August!! - but either it didn't reach the area I was in or else it had already melted.
These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running back and forth over the massive scree (talus) mountain slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come a bit closer, usually for just a quick moment. Love their little front paws and their round ears.
"The American Pika is a generalist herbivore. It eats a large variety of green plants, including different kinds of grasses, sedges, thistles and fireweed. Although pikas can meet their water demands from the vegetation they eat, they do drink water if it is available in their environment. Pikas have two different ways of foraging: they directly consume food (feeding) or they cache food in haypiles to use for a food source in the winter (haying). The pika feeds throughout the year while haying is limited to the summer months. Since they do not hibernate, pikas have greater energy demands than other montane mammals. In addition, they also make 13 trips per hour to collect vegetation when haying, up to a little over 100 trips per day." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
A couple of short YouTube videos in case anyone wants to hear and see these absolutely cute creatures:
youtu.be/OQ2IgcjVIfc
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
When i woke up yesterday morning, it looked like it might finally be a day without smoke from all the wildfires - a day with some blue sky, not to mention that perhaps the mountains and foothills could actually be seen. We all know that they are there, but it is eerily strange when they all disappear from view. A quick decision was made and I knew the drive had to be done. As it turned out, scenic shots had a haze to them, especially when I reached my furthest point which was Upper Kananaskis Lake. I need to check, but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I had ever driven myself to the lake, and I felt really uncomfortable once I turned off the main highway. So many small roads leading off the road I was on and I couldn't help wondering how on earth I would ever find the way back along this long road that seemed to go on forever. The view at the lake was so hazy, but I posted a photo mainly to remind myself that I actually made it to the lake.
Once I turned around to head home, an orange light came on, on my dashboard. Out came the car manual and I saw that it was the Maintenance light. I think this is only the second time it has ever come on (in just under 19,000 km), both times when I was far, far away from home. Must phone and make an appointment, hopefully for as soon as possible, as I have a couple of drives coming up.
Tags: Alberta Canada Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies nature wildlife animal wild wild animal mammal Pika American Pika Ochonta princeps Lagomorpha Ochotonidae Ochonta 6-9 inches long front/side view native rock lichens scree talus rock glacier cold climates eating a leaf outdoor summer 28 August 2018 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2018 © All Rights Reserved
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Yesterday, 28 August 2018, I did another long drive, this time SW of the city into the mountains. This is a second area that I try to do on my own each year now, to make sure that I don't lose confidence to do the drive. Luckily, I saw a few furry, four-legged critters, which will make a change from all my recent photos. Though my main purpose was to simply do the drive, I knew I would be driving through spectacular scenery and I knew that I might just see a Bighorn Sheep or two and maybe even a tiny Pika/Rock Rabbit. Fortunately, I was in luck with all three. This photo is one of the only photos of a Bighorn Sheep that came out. All my photos were taken through the windscreen, but this was one rapid shot I managed to get when one of the sheep walked past my side window. The windscreen photos are all terrible - weird colour and oh, so blurry. but hoping I might be able to rescue one or two of them.
A tiny Pika made my day, too. Sometimes, one is out of luck, but I was able to get a few photos yesterday, mainly more distant shots. It was a relief to find that there was no snow on the ground, as walking on a talus slope that is also covered in snow and ice is really treacherous. Snow had fallen in the mountains the day before - yes, it's August!! - but either it didn't reach the area I was in or else it had already melted.
When i woke up yesterday morning, it looked like it might finally be a day without smoke from all the wildfires - a day with some blue sky, not to mention that perhaps the mountains and foothills could actually be seen. We all know that they are there, but it is eerily strange when they all disappear from view. A quick decision was made and I knew the drive had to be done. As it turned out, scenic shots had a haze to them, especially when I reached my furthest point which was Upper Kananaskis Lake. I need to check, but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I had ever driven myself to the lake, and I felt really uncomfortable once I turned off the main highway. So many small roads leading off the road I was on and I couldn't help wondering how on earth I would ever find the way back along this long road that seemed to go on forever. The view at the lake was so hazy, but I posted a photo mainly to remind myself that I actually made it to the lake.
Once I turned around to head home, an orange light came on, on my dashboard. Out came the car manual and I saw that it was the Maintenance light. I think this is only the second time it has ever come on (in just under 19,000 km), both times when I was far, far away from home. Must phone and make an appointment, hopefully for as soon as possible, as I have a couple of drives coming up. (Yay, they can do it early tomorrow morning!).
Tags: Alberta Canada Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies nature wildlife animal wild wild animal mammal Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis Bovidae Caprinae female head shot close-up walking past my car side view trees road outdoor summer 28 August 2018 Nikon P900 Nikon P900 Coolpix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2018 © All Rights Reserved
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Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you yesterday (25 August 2018) while you were out again at your summer trailer at Eagle Lake for the weekend! It was a fairly cool day, which was great, but the smoke is still being blown in from the wildfires in British Columbia. I was just reading an article this morning about the awful air quality in Seattle and theirs has been roughly the same as ours. They reckon the very poor air quality is equivalent to smoking seven cigarettes a day.
It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Compared to our visit on 17 June 2017, there were fewer species to be seen, but enough to keep us happy. I think the highlight for me was a Western Kingbird that posed so beautifully on a tangle of metal pipes down near the edge of the water.
I also loved taking a couple of quick shots of this cute goat just as we were leaving. We had stopped so that one of us could get out and buy several food items from a Hutterite stand that was in the trailer campground. I got out to get a bottle of water from my backpack in the back of the car and a friend in the car behind caught my attention and pointed out this animal posing so nicely.
Great to see everyone who went, and we all enjoyed an array of delicious salads and desserts that left me feeling full till the early evening. We also enjoyed meeting your two Grandchildren, Shirley, who happened to be staying with you for the weekend. So good to see them both making lists of the bird species seen.
Many thanks, Anne B, for driving some of us us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated, as always!
Tags: Alberta Canada east of Calgary Eagle Lake campground trailer park animal not wild goat enclosure eye contact close-up face beard horns bokeh trees outdoor summer 25 August 2018 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2018 © All Rights Reserved
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Tags: Santa Maria dels Horts Ochi ravenisses rabanizas Diplotaxis erucoides Brassicaceae Cruciferae flor flora flores silvestres white Vilafranca del Penedès Penedès Barcelona Spain España Испания
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Overslept an hour and have to dash out this morning! More later ...
UPDATE about our friend, Mike Kelly, who amazingly survived an horrific vehicle accident, east of the city, in brutal, -30C weather. One of the two wonderful good Samaritans who helped save his life turned up at Mike's hospital room! This will be so good for Mike, as he really, really wanted to meet his two life-savers and thank them in person. Hopefully, he will still get the chance to meet his other hero. We are all so grateful!
I think this was my favourite bird to see during our five day stay at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, on the island of Trinidad (off the coast of Venezuela). I had seen photos of them before six friends and I went on this adventure, and I was hoping so much that we would see one. I need not have worried, as there were many of these small, purple/blue birds each day. Just love their bright yellow legs and feet.
"The purple honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus) is a small bird in the tanager family. It is found in the tropical New World from Colombia and Venezuela south to Brazil, and on Trinidad. A few, possibly introduced birds have been recorded on Tobago.
The purple honeycreeper is 4.5 in (11.5 cm) long, weighs 0.42 oz (12 g) and has a long black decurved bill. The male is purple with black wings, tail and belly, and bright yellow legs. Females and immatures have green upperparts, and green-streaked yellowish-buff underparts. The throat is cinnamon, and there is a blue moustachial stripe. The call of purple honeycreeper is a thin high-pitched zree.
This is a forest canopy species, but also occurs in cocoa and citrus plantations. At the upper limit of its altitudinal range, it frequents premontane rainforest, usually rather low-growing (33–50 ft/10–15 m) and full of epiphytes and mosses.
The purple honeycreeper is often found in small groups. It feeds on nectar (particularly from bromeliad and similar flowers, to which its bill shape is adapted), berries and insects, mainly in the canopy. It is a bold and inquisitive bird, responding readily to the call of the ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) by coming out of cover and searching for the presumed predator to mob it. The female purple honeycreeper builds a small cup nest in a tree, and incubates the clutch of two brown-blotched white eggs." From Wikippedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_honeycreeper
This adventure was only the second holiday of any kind, anywhere, that I have had in something like 30 or 35 years! The other holiday was a wonderful, one-week trip with my dear friends from England, Linda and Tony, when we went down south to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons in September 2012. I have had maybe half a dozen weekends away, including to Waterton National Park, which have helped keep me going.
Six birding/photographer friends and I decided that we would take this exciting trip together (from 12-21 March 2017), spending the first two or three days on the island of Tobago and then the rest of the time at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the nearby, much larger island of Trinidad. We decided to take a complete package, so everything was included - accommodation at both places, all our food, and the various walks and day trips that we could choose from. Two of my friends, Anne B. and Brenda, saw to all the planning of flights and accommodations, which was so very much appreciated by the rest of us. I could never have done all this myself! We were so lucky with our flights, as we were just in time to get Black Friday prices, which were 50% off!
What a time we had, seeing so many beautiful and interesting things - and, of course, everything was a lifer for me. Some of these friends had visited Costa Rica before, so were familiar with some of the birds. There was a lot more to see on Trinidad, so we were glad that we chose Tobago to visit first and then spend a longer time at Asa Wright. It was wonderful to be right by the sea, though, at the Blue Waters Inn on the island of Tobago. Just gorgeous.
The Asa Wright Nature Centre, on Trinidad, is such an amazing place! We stayed in cabins up or down hill from the main building. Really, one doesn't need to travel away from the Centre for birding, as so many different species visit the Hummingbird feeders that are right by the huge, open veranda, and the trees of the rain forest high up the mountainous road. The drive up and down this narrow, twisting, pot-holed road was an adventure in itself! Never would I ever do this drive myself - we had a guide who drove us everywhere in a minibus. I had read many accounts of this road, lol! There was enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, and the honking of horns was almost continuous - either to warn any vehicle that might be coming fast around the next bend or as a sign that drivers knew each other. The drive along this road, from the coast to Asa Wright, took just over an hour each way.
I still miss the great food that was provided every single day at Asa Wright and even the Rum Punch that appeared each evening. I never drink at all, so I wasn't sure if I would even try the Punch - glad I did, though, as it was delicious and refreshing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served buffet-style, with a great variety of dishes from which to choose. To me, pure luxury. So very, very grateful to have been invited to be part of this amazing adventure.
This is a video that I came across on YouTube, taken by Rigdon Currie and Trish Johnson, at many of the same places we visited on Trinidad and Tobago. Not my video, but it made me feel like I was right there still. Posting the link here again, so that I won't lose it.
youtu.be/BBifhf99f_M
I also came across the following 27-minute YouTube video of the flora and fauna of Trinidad, filmed by John Patrick Smith in February 2015.
youtu.be/6HHBm9MIxnk
Tags: Trinidad island Caribbean West Indies Asa Wright Nature Centre nature wildlife ornithology avian bird birds Purple Honeycreeper Cyanerpes caeruleus Tanager family purple/blue male macro telemacro perched tree branch front/side view bokeh outdoor 16 March 2017 FZ200 FZ200#4 annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved
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