I enjoyed the antics of this Red Squirrel in the river valley on the first day of the year. He wasn’t really sneaky, he was quite brazen, which was good for me because I could get very close with my wide-angle lens, the only lens that I had with me. That bird seed was oh, so good.
A big afternoon stretch for the goodies.A little shy for a moment, checking me out.Still keeping his eye on me and going for the seeds.Enjoying the snack, but darn! that shadow.
I am confused about what day it is, with a holiday in the middle of the week. Are you finding that, too? Regardless, I think that even in a small way, I am starting off the year right, keeping my promise to myself to get out in the natural world and take photos. Any day out in nature and finding critters to take photos of, is a good day!
I made it out tonight with a friend and we went to the legislative grounds where the city held the celebrations because downtown is in renovations because of light rail transit construction. It was the warmest I have ever experienced, which drew out huge crowds and we enjoyed the hot chocolate, arts and crafts, fireworks and free transit-a great night.
New Year’s Celebrations from 2017 at Alberta Legislative Grounds
I saw a photo of the Australian Harbour where they had, it looks like to me, a great light show of fireworks. They needed to get approval due to the massive forest fires decimating the country but it was okayed. It is interesting to me to see that celebrations on the same day, New Year’s Eve, was yesterday in Australia and not going to happen until tonight in Canada.
This Christmas has been rough. Still weak from the flu at the beginning of the month, I discovered I had an infestation of bed bugs. I had my suspicions in the past and was told by the apartment manager that I needed proof. For months all the apartments around me and below me had the exterminators visit. It was explained to me months ago that the apartments across the hall were done side by side and below, because the next door apartment and the one below was included when someone discovered bed bugs in their home.
I found out from my next door neighbour that they had their last of 3 treatments 4 weeks ago. Why was my apartment not included? Since I live next door my place should have been fumigated at the same time. I found out just before Christmas my whole apartment was full of bedbugs. Now, on New Year’s Eve I have had my place sprayed once, and the apartment is going to be sprayed two more times in 2-week intervals.
It is tough. I wanted to have company during Christmas and bought two brand new chairs for my living room about 4 weeks ago. Now everything is in bags piled up on tables. It is a chaotic mess!
This past decade has had some real highs and lows, with the lows being a bad relationship, and three moves when I lost almost all my belongings every time. The highs were having a car of my own, ironically located with the help of aforementioned relationship and the solo trips I took through the mountains, dropping in on friends, camping and taking nature photos along the way. Those were wonderful journeys and my heart truly sang.
I am looking forward to spending time with friends, doing some more travelling, getting out in nature, taking photos and finding a new place to live that is clean and well-managed. I have been very aware of the troubles in the world such as the massive fires, floods, earthquakes, etc and know I am not at all the only person having difficulties, in fact my troubles are so small compared to most. I have heard of all the violence and suicide this Christmas season and it is so apparent we need to stand by and support each other with a kind word, gesture, and offer hope.
I find it hard to get help during the holiday season and once bed bugs are mentioned, everyone takes a step back, but if you are going through this, you do need to take responsibility and precautions to prevent spreading the bugs and eggs. Or, if you have a freezer, storing things for 4 days. People will stock bags on their balconies but that is only effective if it is -20 Celsius and we are having warm weather now and I don’t have a balcony. It is time-consuming and exhausting.
As anyone knows who has gone through this process, everything is supposed to be washed and dried at high heat and put into airtight bags, especially everything I wear outside. I have a couple of outfits in bags, the same with toiletries, that I keep in the bathtub. I am grateful for friends who invited me into their homes for stays when my place was fumigated, for meals and we went through the laundering process and bagging to be safe and prevent spreading anywhere else.
I am going to heat-treat my camera bag and take some photos tonight of the fireworks at the legislative grounds. I am attending with a friend who has taken me to meetings and stores to buy bags and storage bins this week, and I am most grateful. I am also grateful for the friends who let me stay overnight, who fed me and lifted my spirits. I am grateful to the family who had me over for Christmas dinner, a beautifully-decorated table full of delicious food and pleasant company and laughter. We even had those crackers that bang when you pull the ends apart and wore those paper hats that are rolled up inside with the toy and joke, then played games after dinner.
I wish for all a more peace-filled year, a gratitude for the people in our lives and to treat each other, and our planet, with kindness.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New Year’s Eve in 2017 Not many people as it was -27 and windy!
The weather is up and down like a yo-yo with about a 15-20 degree span the last couple of weeks. I get cold from either the lower temperatures or from the dampness when it goes above zero. It is amazing how many excuses I can come up with for not going out, but I did buy a 1.5 T external hard drive without a program, so I can cut and paste and have been having fun going through old files. I copied over 3,000 photos and it took 10-15 minutes. With my last drive I did not know any better and I got one with a program, a fact that was not explained to me by the sales person. That drive would back up all my files and programs but it took overnight. I had very little control over how much it would back up and every time the program would copy everything all over again, so the space was filling up pretty quickly. I got a warning on the drive that if I delete anything that is backed up, it could wreck the program. That scares me, although I do copy photos without incident.
Needless to say, although my new external drive does not back up the system I am very happy that it is fast and only does what I want it to.
Going through the older photos I have discovered that I have some in their original sizes, another thing that makes me happy because I used to resize images to 400 by 600 pixels just to save room on my hard drive. Later I learned that that isn’t a good size for doing much with.
Here are some images of Nuthatches and Brown Creepers, some old , some new, found in Central Alberta (and the depths of my computers):
(c) Jane Chesebrough Red-breasted Nuthatch.(c) Jane Chesebrough Red-breasted Nuthatch(c) Jane Chesebrough White-breasted NuthatchBacklit White-breasted Nuthatch ( I know, lots of poop on that branch…)(c) Jane Chesebrough Brown Creeper winding its way up the trunk.Brown Creeper, just landed at the base of the truck, ready to turn around and wind its way up the truck again.
I hear the Nuthatches in the neighbourhood frequently so hope to get some new images soon. As for the Brown Creeper, that may take some more time, but there is always something to look forward to. Happy shooting!
John McCrae was a Canadian poet, artist and surgeon who served in World War I in the second battle at Ypres, Belgium. He died near the end of the war of pneumonia.
I am referring to snow. Sure, we have had a few “skiffs” over the past few weeks, very light layers that cover the grass, but this time it looks like it will accumulate to a thicker coating and stay.
Hope your snow tires are on and cars plugged in. For those of you in the south, we of the northern regions start to plug in our cars soon. There is a heater beside the engine block that keeps the engine warm so the car will start when the temperature dips to -20 degrees Celsius, otherwise the battery goes dead. The plug comes out under the hood or the grill, and is often attached to an extension cord running from the house if one doesn’t have a garage.
With most of the leaves gone from the trees and everything looking rather bland, I welcome the change to the season of “winter wonderland.”
Big fat flakes falling gently from the sky, creating a blanket for the earth.
Every spring there would be a competition between my friend Pauline and I regarding who would spot the first Ruddy duck of the season. That person would take the other on a surprise car ride to a destination where we could share the site. Pauline has passed on, but I always think of her when I spot my first Ruddy. The last two seasons have been fruitful, because I have not only spotted the male, but also the female and their ducklings. Here is a review of what I saw this past spring and summer.
My first sighting of a male Ruddy Duck, sleeping with one eye open, watching.Now fully alert, inspecting the pond for rival intruders.Male and female Ruddy Ducks with a territorial Coot coming up behind the male. Same Ruddy male? or another one in a nearby pond.Later in August a way away from the original pond, I spotted the female Ruddy Duck with her 5 ducklings.I hit the gold mine last year when I found this large family of a Ruddy female and ducklings.
Out walking with a friend last week to enjoy the warm rays of the sun in contrast to a few gusts of cold and capture some of the last colours of fall foliage. We were lucky to discover a Black-capped Chickadee, a Blue Jay and a Magpie in one of the parks we stopped at. I had seen some blue Jays up close when they landed in front of me two weeks ago, but I did not have my camera with me then. Seeing these three birds when I had a camera with me was a treat. Both of us took lots of photos and these were the ones that turned out the best.
Black-capped ChickadeeBlue JayI think this Magpie is a juvenile because of the blue eyes. It is cropped because I shot through lower branches, which got in the way.
Walking around a pond or beside a river is calming to me and often I stop, because the beauty speaks to me and beckons me to be still and observe what is in front of me and around me as well as what is within. I look at the grass, trees, the foliage and all that is reflected in the water. I give thanks for the beauty and the peace.
All these photos were taken in the early evening near the end of September during a time when I had access to transportation to this downtown park which is one of my favourites for walking , skiing and birding. Since then it has been closed for renovations and the entrance is blocked, so I am glad I made it here when I did.
The colours of autumn inspire me to play with camera movement to achieve abstract images that I like. I slow down the shutter speed and move the camera, up and down or diagonally, sometimes slower in one part of the picture plane than others in order to capture some of the reality of the scene before me. Other times I like the totally abstract, unidentifiable streaks.
I like the drama that I see in an approaching storm, the kind that tells me I better get back to shelter, make sure I have a bag to put my camera into to protect it from the elements and pull on a raincoat to keep me relatively dry.
One storm rolled in from the other side of the lake this summer that made me run for cover but I was able to stay under a roof ledge to take some photos. At first I faced it but I had to move to one side of the building because the wind was blowing the rain into the shelter and getting me wet. It rained hard for about a half hour, but was happy to wait it out and get a visual recording of the storm.
These people don’t seem to know that it would be wise to head for shore.
I could see it moving across the lake and have taken cover under a ledge that pokes out from the roof.
It is pouring rain now, both on the lake and all around me.
Storm still moving across the lake and I am seeing brighter sky in the distance.Still pouring rain. At this point I wasn’t going anywhere , just hugged close to the building.
A bit of hail-that would have hurt! so stayed under cover. Glad I had water and snacks with me.
When the rain lessened, I went inside the Astotin theatre and watched a documentary of the bison being rounded up and shipped to Banff National Park. Then the rain stopped and the kids went outside to play while we adults played dress-up. Soon after it was time to return home.
Oh, I so enjoyed catching the bus that went to Elk Island National Park all summer! Unfortunately I missed three trips due to illness, in particular the last two on the Labour Day weekend. I am so grateful that the bus runs out to the park in the summer and got so much pleasure from watching the coots, Pelicans and Ducklings grow from hatchlings to young adults. Here are some of my favourite moments.
A nest right beside the Living Waters Boardwalk where I saw an adult American Coot with young that were only a day or two old.
A Teenage Coot who is in molt having a good leg stretchA very young red Plains Bison calf loping across the field
A Plains Bison Bull with an injured eye about to wallow.
A bellowing Plains Bison Bull in rut.
Cows and calves resting in a woodlot on the bison loop.
Western Sandpiper on the beach at Astotin Lake
Muskrat crossing the road.
Gaggle of Canada Geese in the bay
This American Coot got too close for comfort for this Blue-winged Teal
One of many dragonflies that I had the pleasure to photograph this summer but the big one got away…
A male Common Yellowthroat taking a breather from singing his heart out.
Grebe Parent feeding Chick
I could go on and on but will stop here. It was a good summer and I will check out neighbourhoods closer to home to see what birds may be still passing through, getting ready to leave or staying for the winter. There will still be more autumn colours to capture, as well. I have so much to be grateful for and am still thinking of the people devastated by the hurricane. Please, let us not forget them, and send donations in this time and in the future. They need us.
It is funny where you find the birds, sometimes I hear them but can never spot them except for a flash. Then in this one picnic sight I seem to find some young ones that I haven’t identified yet. I know I did see some Red-breasted Nuthatches there, but oooh, the pictures were deleted-bad shots. I did manage to capture images of this White-breasted Nuthatch.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Making Eye contact
The next is a mystery bird. I am curious because of the stripes on the flank on the butt shot, the underside of the tail looks familiar. I will have to get these photos developed and go to one of the wild bird stores in the city and ask for help.
Mystery Bird
I never said I was an expert. The mask reminds me of a Common Yellowthroat and the tail looks familiar. I did see some in the area early this summer.
Welcome back, black -capped Chickadees! They were not gone, just quiet when they were nesting and in molt, now they are chattering and making many appearances.
A flying gaggle of geese, that makes me feel nostalgic.
Adult Red-necked Grebe.
Juvenile Pied-billed grebes.
Juvenile Red-necked Grebe.
Adult American Coot, resting on one Leg
It is a lot quieter now, where birds are concerned. I see flocks of gulls out in the lake and crows and ravens fly by, but the American Pelicans are gone, as are the Crested Cormorants and Common and black Terns same for a few stragglers. Sigh. I just tell myself there may be some passing through while migrating and there will be new ones as (b-r-r) winter approaches.
But for now, lets enjoy the wonders of the latter days of summer and keep my eyes and ears open.
I was very happy to see a few pair of Ruddy Ducks in the ponds and on Astotin Lake earlier this spring and summer, then they seemed to disappear. I discovered they moved further west on the lakeshore and in some adjacent ponds. Most had ducklings attended to by the hens, perhaps the males are hidden and in molt, or have moved on. I saw one hen had seven ducklings with her. I was so happy to see the families, who were so busy diving that it was hard to count them.
Ruddy Hen and her ducklings in a beaver pond beside the Shoreline Trail at Astotin Lake.
One in the middle of a dive, with two siblings and the hen just outside of the frame. A bit closer image of the hen and one of her offspring.
It was my last year volunteering at the Edmonton Folk Music festival this year, my decision. It was not an instantaneous decision, in fact it is one that I have been mulling over for 3 years. My age is catching up with me and I want to ease the pace and have the energy and time to enjoy the music.
I work on a busy crew, serving beverages to over 2,700 volunteers and performers over the weekend. I, with the rest of the crew, but to a lesser degree now that I tire easily, mix drinks, stock cream and sugar for coffee, wipe counters and fill up the fountains repeatedly, which is quite the feat when you are short and need to stretch up to reach the top of the tank. It has been fun for about 20 years but time to take a break.
I am so sore after the first couple of days and too exhausted to actually enjoy the music, often going home early, thus missing artists that I was hoping to see. I look forward to just planting myself on the ground in front of one of the smaller session stages and get up and dance when inspired without worrying about making it to my next work shift.
I enjoy the intimacy of the smaller stages and the spontaneity from the mix of musicians who may be meeting for the first time or reuniting after a few years apart. This is where the magic moments happen.
Deep regrets for not being able to make the “Influences” session with Bruce Cockburn, Mary Gautheir, Ani DiFranco and Alynda Segarra. Can you imagine what that would have been like?
I did get to the “Turning Points” session. Listening to Mary Gauthier who wrote music with veterans and their wives to support and give back to these people when they are “fighting the war after the war” is a heartfelt experience. On the same stage is Courtney Marie Andrews whom I have never heard before but am definitely taking notice now, and talented father and son, Kevin Welch and Dustin Welch singing songs with catching lyrics as well as Robert Francis, another new artist to me.
Onstage: Dustin Welch, Kevin Welch, David Francis, Unknown but great fiddler, Mary Gauthier
Although I sadly missed Don Bryant and the BoKeys because I needed my extra recovery sleep, I enjoyed listening to the Hamiltones with their soulful harmonies and Digging Roots, Anishinabec musicians from Ontario who got the crowd up to circle a whole field to do a round dance, with modernized pow wow music.
The main stage has its magic, too, but in a bigger way. Digging Roots, Trampled by Turtles, St. Paul and The Broken Bones and HOZIER kicked off the festival on Thursday night-that was a great start to the weekend and enjoyed the showmanship of St. Paul and the Broken Bones.
My voice went hoarse when I cheered for Brandi Carlile on Friday night and it still hasn’t recovered 2 weeks later. She and the two brothers that accompany her were great, the reach and harmonies are mesmerizing. It was really something to hear a crowd of 27,000 sing a belated Happy Birthday to the “twins.” , definitely a love-fest happening between singers and fans.
Brandi Carlile with twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth.
Also on Main Stage were Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo on Saturday Night but I was exhausted and didn’t get to enjoy with my full attention.
I love the variety of music, West African, Celtic, Blues, County but one of my favourite things when I am in front of the main stage, is to look around me and see the thousands of candles held by the fans. It is such a pretty sight and next year I will be back, on the hill, holding my candle, too.
It is a nice time of year to take photos of not only birds, but also all those bugs, like butterflies, dragonflies and bees, etc. and I did some of that while on the Shoreline Trail at Elk Island National Park. I previously wrote something on this subject but to my knowledge it was not saved or published, so I am going to try again.
A beautiful bumblebee gorging on clover.
White Admiral Butterfly amidst Prickly Rose
Outer Wing Design of an Azure Blue Butterfly
Inner Wings of an Azure Blue Butterfly
Seven -spotted Ladybug, an introduced spies to Alberta
Wood Nymph Butterfly
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
There are a few that still elude me, but I am having fun going out and about, seeing what catches my eye and am sure there is always more to see.
When I returned to the lake last Saturday, the first place I went to was the boardwalk to check on the nesting Redneck Grebe. Still sitting. Here is the nest from last week when both parents were quite busy building it up.
Both were busy adding to the nest as is typical.
This week where some of the nest has disappeared but it is substantial under the eggs.
I am expecting, ha, no pun intended, that the chicks will hatch this week, as they incubate for about 21-33 days. While one was incubating, its partner was bringing more material to firm up the nest. They both take turns sitting on the eggs and building the nest. That must be a tough job since it has been raining every day for weeks. Today is an exception. Cloudy, but no rain! Yay!
That is a long stretch.
Grebe family with their two chicks out in the bay. Parents seem to be having a lively and noisy discussion.
One of the parents feeding it’s chick a juicy tidbit.
Close-up of one of the Chicks
Parents take turns staying with chicks and going to fetch food.
It was fun watching the families in this bay. Red necked grebes will nest in colonies with spaces in between. They are the noisiest ones on the lake with long, braying calls, squawks, clucks. etc. After the chicks hatch, they will mostly ride on their parents back for 7-10 days, and will stay on even while diving. The young may be fed by the parents for up to a month and a half, and can fly at 50–70 days.
I am eager to return and hope to capture some images of the young on the parents back.
Most of you know the rest of this popular saying. I saw this in action the other night. Let the pictures tell the story.
No animal was harmed in the process of this shoot. At first I was concerned about how he got his head out of the fence, then realized it was a double hole.
I did learn that I need to be careful how I upload and store photos. I usually upload to Windows, then edit in Corel Paintshop Pro. When I upload, the file numbers start over, so I get duplicate numbers for different photos. It wasn’t a problem at first until I clicked on Edit, to go back to the original image, but instead of the one I was working on, it went back to the first image of the same name and I lost the image that I was working on. This taught me that I need to make sub-folders within larger folders or risk losing some photos when I have so many files of the same name within one large folder. Gee, I liked that photo…it was a picture of another rabbit within the enclosure. Live and Learn.
My apartment’s been turned upside down in preparation for the second spraying by the exterminators. All my belongings are pulled from cupboards, closets, shelves and bagged or in storage bins stacked up in the middle of the rooms.
In the center of my living room, parked on top of the coffee table, is my lily plant that has gloriously come into bloom the last few weeks. Calm in the midst of the storm.
I met the camera club at an event last Tuesday and I got caught up with the magic and splendor of the lights, also enjoyed the kids who were having a good time.
There were six cities from around the world represented and it was all so lovely. Here is China.
Close-up of the lanterns in the China exhibit.
The Eiffel tower in Paris.
Strings of lights that you could walk through. I added a painterly effect.
I mentioned in my last blog that a friend and I went out to capture some of the last colours of the season. A lot of the trees have lost their leaves but many of the bushes are still aglow.
I forgot the name again , something berry something aster. but they are abundant in Edmonton and give rich colour.
Close-up of the hedge.Berries are not edible, but decorative.Fence with background foliage.Oak and Maple leaves in a pool of waterBirch and Spruce with camera motion.A wider view of the park.
