SATURDAY MORNING BIRDING

     For six months of the year I lead a Saturday morning bird watching group. We pick a spot in town or a short way out of town and spend two hours seeing what bird life is out there. I have 25 people who participate and from 10  to 15 attend each Saturday.

     The group is mixed with a few elderly and then most others are of working age. It's surprising when new people show up and say they've always birded but wanted to bird with a group. Most of the time they are excellent birders.

      Saturday , Sept 8 we went to a location called Nova Nature Trail.

     We have several large petrochemical plants here , one of them being Nova. Nova was built in the seventies and has expanded several times since. Now when large plants are made they buy a lot of land near them. They rent it back to the farmers.

     That's where the Nova Nature Trail comes in. The 255  acres was probably rented out for pasture. The company decided to make the land into a nature trail. They've done an excellent job. There are 10 to 15 km of trails The habitat varies from grass to brush to trees and  riparian.  There is a sleepy little stream the goes through the property. Beavers like this so the dams make some excellent wetlands.

     Saturday was cloudy, a bit windy and 14 C. Nine of us went out and had a great time. We found 24 bird species The garter snake that one of us nearly stepped on was and extra.

     The following photos were taken by Lynette Asselstine  Braun.

Off we go

   Look in there!

Shoveller

The great blue heron surprised us and then came back to have a look at us.

A grove of aspen

 A general view of the area. The company has build great trails and walk ways near the wetlands.

   With many sets of eyes and some very competent birders we can find quite a few species

SATURDAY MORNING BIRD WALK

    Many of you know that I lead a bird watching group every Saturday morning. I do the recording. Sometimes I carry my binoculars and other days it's the camera. I can't handle all three of them at the same time.

    This morning we visited a rural property that is private. The former owner was an avid bird watcher and certainly knew the native plants. She built a huge house overlooking a very shallow lake that is home to many water and shore birds. She hosted many bird watching groups and always had food ready. But that's another story. 

    Today we spent two hours walking through the property. It's an undeveloped piece of farmland. One of the relatives has carved out a private nine hole golf course. All of this makes very good bird habitat.

      The lake was covered with birds but most were too fr out for identification. We were able to pick out coots, Blue-winged teal, Common golden eye and Canada geese. a spotting scope would have been handy at this location.

WHAT I DID FOR FATHER'S DAY

     For many, Father's Day has a tradition of a special breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are good times and traditional celebrations.  It's been interesting reading blogs and seeing what people did to celebrate Father's Day.

     Well, what did I do. I'm not big on going out to restaurants to celebrate. There are many more things I would rather do. Both my kids live very far away. I got a phone call from one and an email from the other. The phone call came just a few minutes before I was leaving.

    Yes, I was going out to one of the local parks that has natural habitat. I was actually going to one of the larger sanctuaries. Yes, this is what I would rather do. Surprise! Surprise! The Micro manager came with me. The Micro manager has not been feeling well at all so I as surprised she came.

   So in two hours I got my fix of flowers birds and critters. I didn't get a photo of a Richardson's ground squirrel (gopher) . It would have been easy but they entertained me and I forgot about a photo.

    

Surprising What is There When You Look

      A few weeks ago someone posted about a mural on a fence. Aha, I said. I know where there's something similar beside me.

       About 3 or 4 years ago an interesting art piece was placed on my neighborhood school fence. For about a 100 m a pattern of fish were attached to the fence. I thought, "Well, that looks nice but I wonder what it is." Well, I kept driving by the school 5 or 6 times a week. I always noticed the fish.

       Now the fish were bright colors and many shapes. From the road it looked like they were ceramics. I was impressed.

      I could only think that it was a very interesting school art project. So with the post a few weeks ago I decided I had to take a look at the fence mural. One afternoon I took my camera to take a look.

      I was impressed. It was a project to teach kids about fish conservation. I'm sure the kids learned about different kinds of fish and fish habitat. They probably learned about fish anatomy. And the art project was a big part. I'm sure the kids will remember what they learned for a long, long time.

      Someone cut out basic fish shapes from plywood. It looks like there were 5 or 6 different shapes and I'm sure each kid would get one of each pattern to paint. Some kids tried to paint a realistic fish such as speckled trout. Some were very, very good. Others had some very imaginary patterns.

      So I've been driving by an interesting project for three or four years missing out on it's significance. How many other people have been passing by and not investigated?

       So hats off the the kids, teachers and school for creating a very interesting project.

   

Owl Award

      On a number of past posts I have mentioned the Red Deer River Naturalists. I have belonged to this group for a long time and participated in their activities.I have a link on this blog to their web site.

     This group is dedicated to the study, preservation and enjoyment of natural history. We try to promote the preservation of native habitat so that native plants and animals can survive and thrive. There are only small portions of native habitat left and these patches are fragmented. 

     I have been a member of this group for many years and have been on the board for a long stretch...long enough to be given the Owl Award. The Owl Award is given to some one who has been a long time board member. Needless to say, I was pleased to receive the award this year. For a small group we've accomplished much. We conduct field trips and have regular monthly speakers. These activities are open to the public. We also follow municipal development plans and comment on improvements that can be made. We've also developed educational programs for children.

I never saw a microphone I couldn't like

Something for the top of the book case

    For the presentation I was asked a few questions. They asked me if there was some one in particular who influenced me. Yes, it was my Mom. When I was about 4 my Mom asked me if I wanted to see a pretty bird. She took me down the road 400 m and we crossed the ditch and crawled through the brush. I came face to face with a mallard drake. I've never forgotten that moment.

   I was also asked what I would like to see in the future. I didn't really give them an answer. I would like to see things as they were a 150 years ago before the white man came and destroyed this beautiful area. I would also be minus 75 years old and that would be cool. 

    This award is one that is very meaningful to me.

My Canada Day

      Yesterday was Canada Day and a day for all kinds of public events and interesting activities. These events were all in the name of celebrating our country's 147 birthday. We live in  beautiful land and wonderful country. There's lots to celebrate. I have been with this country for over half of it's life!

     Now , I'm not big on public celebrations. I'm happier to go off by myself and wander through an area that still has the native habitat. So yesterday, the Micro manager and a friend went to the local celebrations and I went off for a walk through the local nature sanctuary. Don't get me wrong. I like my country and think I'm most fortunate to have had my family make the choice to live here.

     I took my camera and knew what I was looking for but thought I was too late as the flower I was looking for bloomed about mid June. I thought I might as well look. I did find Lady's slippers. The first find was of very brown and long past due bloom. A little while later I found a lady slipper in full bloom. It made my day. I took many more photos of flowers , but I dumped most of them as they were not in focus.

The faded lady slipper

The lady slipper in full bloom

I'll leave this one for you to identify!

Common Wild Rose

The trail I spent my time on.

A really healthy wetland. Well maybe not. It's choked with reed canary grass.