5 November 2019: another day of snow.
This afternoon, I have just posted five odds and ends of photos, from way back in my archives. I have started (yet again) backing up and deleting photo folders from my hard drive, as I am pretty well out of space. Also, I will have to take my computer in before too long to get it changed over from Windows 7 to Windows 10, seeing as support for Windows 7 comes to an end in January. So, some deleting would be a good thing to do before I take in my computer.
This farm cat photo was taken on 28 December, during the annual Audubon Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count. The area that my small group of seven people covered was N of Cochrane and E of Highway 22. Though the word 'Reserve' is in the name, this count was like most others, driving all the country backroads and calling in at several farms. The weather was bad, with poor light and gently falling snow pretty well all day long. Thanks so much, Stephen, for driving the four of us safely!
One of my favourite places to stop on this Count is the farm belonging to Steven Tannas and his family. We are always allowed to wander freely, in our search for birds, which we really appreciate. I couldn't remember if it was at this location that I photographed a gorgeous, large red barn in 2012. When I asked Steven if the barn was on his property, he said it was over on his neighbour's land. Our next stop was at this neighbour's and, sure enough, there was the barn (plus another, smaller one that I had forgotten).
Steven runs Tannas Conservation Services Ltd.. One of their projects is the rough fescue (native grass) restoration project, which has been very successful over the past 7 years. Check the links below to discover all the other things that Steven's work involves:
www.tannasenvironmental.com/about-us/our-history.html
www.tannasenvironmental.com/
www.nativeplantproducer-esrs.com/About-Us.htm
Tags: Alberta Canada NW of Calgary N of Cochrane Cochrane Wildlife Reserve annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count farm pet animal cat ginger barn outdoor winter 28 December 2015 FZ200 FZ200#3 annkelliott Anne Elliott © All Rights Reserved © Anne Elliott 2015
© All Rights Reserved
This photo was taken yesterday, 29 December 2019, during the annual Audubon Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count. The area that my small group of four people, in one car, covered was N of Cochrane and E of Highway 22, very roughly across from the Water Valley area. Though the word 'Reserve' is in the name, this count was like most others, driving all the country backroads and calling in at several farms/ranches.
One of my absolute favourite things to photograph on this annual Count are the Llamas at one of the farms. This farmer had about eight of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. However, when we called in yesterday, we were told that some had died and only three were left. Only one of them was in a place where I could get a photo - the other two were busy feeding with the cows. Most of the animals were given to the farmer by other farmers who no longer wanted them. I think the first time I photographed the Llamas at this farm was on 30 December 2007.
Another of my favourite farms to stop at belongs to a young, hard-working family. They have an Anatolian Shepherd which is an amazing dog with the owner's young children. These enthusiastic landowners work so hard in the area of native plants, growing various species in their greenhouses. Steven Tannas was excited to show us some of his new additions, too - pigs and sheep. I love pigs, but was totally unprepared to see pigs that were covered in curly hair! These pigs are called Mangalitsa pigs (also called Mangalica or Mangalitza) - some are Swallow-bellied Mangalica (black and blonde) and others are Red Mangalica (reddish-brown). They are fed left-over, expired grocery store vegetables, so they eat extremely well. There were a number of piglets, too, but old enough to have lost their stripes. Unfortunately, the family was not home when we stopped by this year.
Steven runs Tannas Conservation Services Ltd.. One of their projects is the rough fescue (native grass) restoration project, which has been very successful over the past 7+ years. Check the links below to discover all the other things that Steven's work involves:
www.tannasenvironmental.com/about-us/our-history.html
www.tannasenvironmental.com/
www.nativeplantproducer-esrs.com/About-Us.htm
A nearby farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. I always hope that someone will be home, so that I can ask permission to get out of the car and take a few photos. We were in luck yesterday and the owners were happy enough to let me photograph their two barns. I think one was built in the 1930s and the other in the 1940s. The oldest one was a hog barn and the larger, closer one was a dairy barn. Have to remember that this IS a bird count, not a barn count, so I feel very lucky to get any photos of any barns : )
The weather was beautiful, with the temperature between -1C and 3C, and no wind. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground.
A huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander round their farmyards. These visits make our day so much more interesting and rewarding! So many delightful people. One of our stops is especially welcoming each year - with coffee and cookies ready waiting, not to mention the use of a washroom, which is always greatly appreciated,
Thank you, Jim, for being willing to drive the four of us all day. Without drivers, these counts just would not be able to take place, so it is appreciated so much. Glad your car only ended half way in a ditch on this count, unlike the experience we had on the High River Count a few days ago : )
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No more Llama photos (till next year) and no more red barn photos from this Bird Count. Promise! I didn't want to be posting any of these in between photos taken in Quebec last May, so now they are out of the way.
I am adding these eight photos late tonight. All of the photos were taken on 29 December 2018, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of regular back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area our group covered was right on the east edge of the count circle.
One of my absolute favourite things to photograph on this annual Count are the Llamas at one of the farms. This farmer has seven of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. Most of these animals were given to him by other farmers who no longer wanted them.
"Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia.
Another of my favourite (very welcoming) farms to stop at had a beautiful, old dog named Fang, who sadly died this year. They have a "newer" dog who had just had leg surgery. Apparently, this Anatolian Shepherd is an amazing dog with the owner's young children. Three cats are also at the farm, but I didn't see any of them on this trip. The enthusiastic landowners work so hard in the area of native plants, growing various species in their greenhouses. Steven Tannas was excited to show us some of his new additions, too - pigs and sheep. I love pigs, but was totally unprepared to see large pigs that were covered in curly fur! His four pigs are called Mangalitsa pigs (also called Mangalica or Mangalitza) - I think three of them are Swallow-bellied Mangalica (black and blonde) and one is a Red Mangalica (reddish-brown). They are being fed left-over, expired grocery store vegetables, so were busily munching on a variety of nutritious squash. Apparently, babies are striped.
"The Mangalica (also Mangalitsa or Mangalitza) is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig. It was developed in the mid-19th century by crossbreeding Hungarian breeds from Szalonta and Bakony with the European wild boar and the Serbian Šumadija breed. The Mangalica pig grows a thick, woolly coat similar to that of a sheep. The only other pig breed noted for having a long coat is the extinct Lincolnshire Curly-coated pig of England." From Wikipedia.
modernfarmer.com/2014/03/meet-mangalitsa-hairy-pig-thats-...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalica
Steven runs Tannas Conservation Services Ltd.. One of their projects is the rough fescue (native grass) restoration project, which has been very successful over the past 7+ years. Check the links below to discover all the other things that Steven's work involves:
www.tannasenvironmental.com/about-us/our-history.html
www.tannasenvironmental.com/
www.nativeplantproducer-esrs.com/About-Us.htm
A nearby farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, but I did get the chance to take four or five shots as we drove past them. I always wish we could find someone home, so that I could ask permission to get out of the car and take a few photos. Have to remember that this IS a bird count, not a barn count, so I feel very lucky to get any photos of any barns : )
The weather was so beautiful, with the temperature starting off at 0C and later getting up to about PLUS 8C. It was heavily overcast till noon and then brightened up and turned into a glorious afternoon. The Count last year (December 2017) was just the opposite, with a bitterly cold temperature of -23C.
A huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander round their farmyards. These visits make our day so much more interesting and rewarding! So many delightful people. One of our stops is especially welcoming each year - with coffee and cookies ready waiting, not to mention the use of a washroom, which is always greatly appreciated,
Thank you, Dave, for being willing to drive the four of us all day. Without drivers, these counts just would not be able to take place, so it is appreciated so much.
Tags: Alberta Canada Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Audubon Christmas Bird Count 2018 NW of Calgary farm animal Llama domesticated portrait front/side view fence outdoor winter low light 29 December 2018 Nikon P900 Nikon P900 Coolpix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2018 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
This photo was taken on 29 December 2017, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area we covered (right on the east edge of the count circle) was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail.
The first evidence of any wildlife for me, first thing in the morning, was a Jackrabbit that was nibbling on snow-covered plants right outside our leader's house. Of course, at 7:15 in the morning, it was still dark.
One of my favourite things to photograph on this annual Count are the Llamas at one of the farms.. This farmer has several of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. I'm not sure how many Llamas they have - somewhere around 7? Most of these animals were given to them by other farmers who no longer wanted them.
"Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia.
One of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. This day, though, with a temperature of -23C all day (windchill probably at least -30 to 35C), cats stayed indoors. I caught a brief glimpse of only one cat outside. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, so we couldn't search the farmyard, but I did get the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of one of the barns, from a side view. The photo in a comment box below shows the front of this barn, seen in the distance.
Another farm we stopped at had beautiful Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls coming to a feeder. A joy to see these splashes of colour in a very cold, white, white world.
So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Too cold and too much snow to spend much time searching various farmyards, and we had finished the Count by 2:30 pm. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below. Many thanks, Dave, for driving us. You did a great job of handling roads that were not in the greatest condition, and it was greatly appreciated. The light was awful all day, and it was so difficult to see where the ditch was and where one road turned off to another. There is no way I would ever try driving on our back roads in such weather! Also, a huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander round their farmyards. These visits make our day so much more interesting and rewarding!
Tags: Alberta Canada Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Audubon Christmas Bird Count 2017 NW of Calgary farm farmyard building wooden barn red old field tree snow rural rural scene -23C all day overcast outdoor winter 29 December 2017 FZ200 FZ200#4 P1280273 annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved
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Yay, today's Error 502 issue has now been fixed and Flickr can be accessed once again.
Monday, 13 January 2020: our temperature at around noon is -26C (windchill -36C). It may well have been a degree or two colder, earlier - yes, it got down to -38C! Sunrise is at 8:34 am, sunset at 4:55 pm. We have been in a brutal, dangerous deep freeze over the weekend and it is forecast to continue all this week. Temperatures not to mess with - if you don't absolutely have to go out, be wise and stay home. It amazes me that schools have not closed down. We will all be so relieved when this frigid spell is over.
Warm colour is definitely needed today, so I am finally getting round to posting a few more images from my archives. I put them aside when I was going through old photo folders to back-up and delete.
This farm cat photo was taken on 28 December, during the annual Audubon Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count. The area that my small group of seven people covered was N of Cochrane and E of Highway 22. Though the word 'Reserve' is in the name, this count was like most others, driving all the country backroads and calling in at several farms. The weather was bad, with poor light and gently falling snow pretty well all day long. Thanks so much, Stephen, for driving the four of us safely!
One of my favourite places to stop on this Count is the farm belonging to Steven Tannas and his family. We are always allowed to wander freely, in our search for birds, which we really appreciate. I couldn't remember if it was at this location that I photographed a gorgeous, large red barn in 2012. When I asked Steven if the barn was on his property, he said it was over on his neighbour's land. Our next stop was at this neighbour's and, sure enough, there was the barn (plus another, smaller one that I had forgotten).
Steven runs Tannas Conservation Services Ltd.. One of their projects is the rough fescue (native grass) restoration project, which has been very successful over the past 7 years. Check the links below to discover all the other things that Steven's work involves:
www.tannasenvironmental.com/about-us/our-history.html
www.tannasenvironmental.com/
www.nativeplantproducer-esrs.com/About-Us.htm
Tags: Alberta Canada NW of Calgary N of Cochrane Cochrane Wildlife Reserve annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count farm pet animal farm cat cat ginger barn snow snowing outdoor winter 28 December 2015 FZ200 FZ200#3 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © All Rights Reserved © Anne Elliott 2015
© All Rights Reserved