Swainson's Hawk

Seeing hawks on fenceposts while I'm driving is frustrating. First, it's hard to spot them in time to stop. And if there's traffic and not much shoulder, then stopping may not even be an option. If you drive by they ignore you. But if you stop, they often immediately fly away. Or even more annoying, they sit long enough for you to get your camera almost ready, and then they fly away. This was one of the more cooperative subjects.



As usual, these aren't as sharp as I'd like. It's hard to hand hold a 900mm equivalent lens!

Three Forks

When we're in the area we like to stay at the historic Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks. And if we have time we'll go for a walk in the nearby Missouri Headwaters State Park. And take photos, of course.

I noticed this single bright purple thistle by the path and when I got closer I found it had a resident goldenrod crab spider. They can change color but only between white and yellow, so it stood out against the purple.



Shelley waited patiently while I took a bunch of photographs. She even wore a matching colored t-shirt :-)



When we came back at the end of the hike, at first we couldn't find the spider, but it was just hiding behind.



There were a few birds around, but I didn't get close to any of them.





The prickly pear cactus was flowering. I'm always impressed by the showy flowers from a plant that often hides in the grass.



I'm not sure why some are pure yellow, and some have red. Different species? Different stages?



Another pretty flower (that I don't know the name of :-)



And some backlit seeds that caught my eye.

Deer in the Flowers

As we drove past this patch of flowers beside the highway, I noticed this deer. The deer was nothing special but I liked the combination of deer and flowers so I got Shelley to turn around and we drove back. Luckily it hadn't disappeared and had actually moved a bit closer the the road, which was good since I didn't have my big lens on the camera.

It definitely noticed us, but it hung around for a few photos





before deciding enough was enough.



This was just south of Glacier National Park on the way to Helena.

Back to Nature

After the weather ended our flying at Air Adventures in Drayton Valley we were headed south. I had previously seen something about Back to Nature B+B so I checked if they happened to have a room and they did. The house itself is an amazing log home built by the Timber Kings of tv fame. And the owners are nature photographers so the house is also filled with wonderful photographs. (They also have photography and birding packages.) We had a short walk around the woods in the evening when we arrived but unfortunately rain in the morning prevented further explorations. It would be great to come back for a few days and enjoy the area.

They told us to watch out for the Great Gray Owls but sadly we didn't see any. We did see a couple of red foxes though, and enjoyed watching and photographing them.



Quite the tails on them!



And the long legs remind me of a deer.



They were definitely aware of us, but apart from keeping their distance didn't seem too concerned.



They were hunting (for mice?) in the long grass but despite a few leaps they didn't appear to catch anything.

More photos on Flickr.

One-eyed Sphinx Moth

I spotted this moth on the ground near Drayton Valley south-west of Edmonton. I didn't know what it was but I posted it on iNaturalist and someone identified it for me :-)



When it settled down it would half close its wings and the pink parts with the eye spots would be hidden. But a little nudging would get it to open its wings like this. They are apparently quite wide spread - from Alaska to Baja, but this was the first one I recall seeing. This is one of the moths where the adult does not feed, so perhaps they are not around long. (mate, lay eggs, and die)

Print of the Week

Fern fiddlehead. I love how ferns unfold. Nature is amazing.

Crab Spiders

I'm always on the look out for crab spiders. I often spot them on daylilies, although they are on other flowers as well. I hadn't had much success until I spotted this one at Innovation Place on my way home from work.





There are some daylilies in the back alley just near our house where I often find crab spiders. I spotted one the other day that was white so I assume it had just arrived, since they change color to match what they're on. I went back on the weekend with my macro lens. I first spotted this medium sized one on the underside of a flower.



It moved around to the inside of the flower and I got a better shot.



Then I found this larger one (.5cm / .25in body) busy eating a fly. (They inject digestive fluids and then suck out the result.) This one had slightly different markings, but I think they are the same kind (Goldenrod crab spiders)



You can see the eight eyes in this one. Sometimes it looks like they only have six, but there are two that point to the sides.



If you look closely in some of these shots you can see the fly's head is detached. (It's behind in this photo.) I'm not sure if the spider did that deliberately?



I was trying to keep a small aperture (f11 - 16) for depth of focus, but that meant quite slow shutter speeds, even with high ISO. So in the afternoon I went back with my monopod. A tripod would have been even better but it's awkward getting the right angle and following them as they move around. By this point it had finished its meal (I assume it's the same spider since it was in the same flower). I'm guessing they hold their legs like that ready to grab prey. Strangely, the "hairs" on the legs point the wrong direction for holding onto something. The legs end in a single curved "claw".





I ended up taking almost 400 photos. That probably seems excessive but out of a batch of 10 or 20 from the same angle, there might only be one or two decently sharp so you need to take lots. (The benefits of digital!)

See all 20 photos

Running

Sunday morning long run today. I wasn’t too sure how it was going to go. This was the third weekend I’d done the long loop around the bridges (18 km). Two weeks ago I wasn’t sure if I was going to go long for the first time of the summer but when I got to the turn off I felt good, and it was a beautiful sunny but cool morning and it went well. But then last week was a real struggle. It was hotter, 25c by the time I finished, and I probably got a bit dehydrated. It wiped me out for the rest of the day. So this week I wasn’t sure what to expect. I tried to hydrate better before and during, and it wasn’t quite as warm (22c). Happily it went well. Well enough that when I reached home at 18km I felt good enough to keep going for another 2km to make it 20.

Thankfully the IT band knee problems that have plagued me for the last few years seem to have gone away (touch wood). I have no idea why. I’ve been doing stretches for it, but I’ve been doing that all along. I did make a point of running outside this winter instead of retreating from Saskatchewan winter to the treadmill. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful!

Of course, other aches and pains have taken their place - a weird pain in my left foot, and issues with my right hip. But luckily neither bothers me while I’m actually running, unlike the knee problems. I want to blame the aches and pains on age. But I suspect it’s got more to do with a personality that basically keeps going until it hurts. Age just means that happens sooner than before. Today was a good example. When I felt good at the end of my planned run did I stop and count my blessings? Of course not! I kept going and ran farther (and at a faster pace than the rest of my run). In some ways that was a struggle, in other ways it felt good. Maybe that’s endorphins, but I think there’s a large psychological aspect as well.

Pretty much every Sunday morning over the summer there is some kind of run/walk event going on. And almost all of them are along the river so I’m running past the crowds. That’s far too social for me. I like to run on my own. Lately I’ve been working on making it a moving meditation, especially my long runs. The benefits of meditation are clear, but I’ll never sit for two hours and do “nothing”. Combining it with my running makes sense to me. Just like you’d do sitting, I focus on my breathing, sometimes counting breaths. When my mind wanders I bring it back to center and concentrate on the breath going in and out of my lungs, on how my body is feeling. Sometimes the thoughts won't stop, other times I succeed in emptying my mind of everything except the motion. When things hurt it’s harder, but that’s when you want to be able to step back and look at those feelings from a distance. I’m not very good at it, but I try. I think it helps.

Photos of the Week

I haven't seen the jackrabbits for a while so I was happy to see this one. It was smaller so I'm assuming it's one of this year's young.



I always like (and even remember the name of) these cornflowers (aka Bachelor's Buttons)



I look for the Wood Frog several times a day - on the way to work, at lunch, and on the way home. Usually one of those times it's in its usual spot. I'm not sure where it is the rest of the time, but there are plenty of places to hide. Humorously, the spot where I find it is within a few feet of the path to Boffins. But I'm sure the restaurant goers don't notice it. They probably wonder what I'm doing crouching beside the path. It's well camouflaged but easier to spot now that I know what to look for.



I think it's getting fatter. Either it's just finding lots to eat or it's preparing to lay eggs. I think there's just one wood frog, but I can't even be sure I'm seeing the same one each time. The eggs are fertilized after they are laid, so presumably the females might grow eggs even if there wasn't a male around.



I spotted this butterfly and followed it hoping it would land so I could photograph it. It did land, but about 10 feet up in a tree! I held the camera over my head and managed to get this shot. After some research I thought it was an Admiral but I wasn't sure. I submitted it on iNaturalist and it was identified as a Red-spotted Admiral. I adjusted the camera settings since I was shooting against a bright sky, but not enough. It came out pretty much a black silhouette, but luckily the ZS100 has a good enough sensor that I could boost the exposure afterwards.



It's hard to appreciate on this small version, but this is one of my sharpest images of a fishing spider. Impressive results from the little ZS100. This is two handheld shots focus stacked.



It was on a floating piece of bark and I managed to nudge it around with a twig without the spider disappearing underwater. It did get a little disturbed at one point and I managed a little different angle.



I had the macro lens out today so I took a few shots of nearby flowers.







See 17 photos

Common Mergansers

As I approached this pond through the trees I saw this pair on the water. I was able to stay hidden and get some decent shots without spooking them. (Even got some nice reflections on the water :-)



Usually with birds it's the males that are fancier, but in this case the red headed female (especially when her crest is up) is just as colorful as the male. 

A Few Reflections

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.

- Pablo Picasso

A few more from Vancouver Island. Near a B+B I stayed at (Farm Table Inn - recommended) there was a small lake / pond. I stopped briefly to check it out and took a few reflection shots as I'm prone to do. The above one reminds me of a watercolor. The next one is a bit like a Rorschach ink blot.

Photos of the Week

I think this is a Cherry-faced Meadowhawk. There are a number of similar red meadowhawk dragonflies that are almost impossible to tell apart. I'm guessing this one because it seems to be the one that is observed in Saskatchewan. One thing that helps with photographing dragonflies is that even if they fly away when you approach, if you stay still they will often return to the same perch where they hunt from.



I keep looking for the wood frog but most days I can't find it. I spotted it one other time but it immediately dove down and hid in the mud and leaves on the bottom. This time it didn't seem to mind me photographing it.



Most days if I spend a few minutes searching I can find one of the fishing spiders. They don't look all that well camouflaged in the photos, but they can be hard to spot. One day I spotted one and went to get my camera. When I came back I couldn't find it, even though I knew where it should be. I had just about decided it was gone, when I spotted it again. It hadn't moved!



They seem to be getting fatter. I assume the ones I'm spotting are the larger females and that they are busy growing batches of eggs.

The flowers are also growing around Innovation Place. I think this is a kind of Clematis.



I should know what these next ones are, but I can't get motivated with flower identification the way I do with birds or even insects.



Irises are one of the few that I manage to remember. One of my favorites.



This next one was growing wild by the river. I'm guessing it's native, but I'm not sure.



It was a challenge photographing the flower because it was very windy and it kept blowing around. As I was waiting for a pause in the wind, this small butterfly landed, first on the flowers, and then on the leaves. It looks a bit like the Spring Azures I saw in BC. At first I thought it might be a Summer Azure, but the markings aren't quite right. I posted it on iNaturalist but no one has identified it yet. [Update: It was identified as a Silvery Blue]



As I was walking, a momentary shadow passed over me. I looked up to see this Swainson's hawk and managed to grab a few shots of it, although not very sharp.



This morning on my run I saw some magpies in a tree - no big deal. Then I saw one of them was not like the others. Maybe a hawk? I stopped and walked around the tree to get a better angle. Then I realized its claws held a baby gopher draped over the branch. I think it might have been a Northern Goshawk but I didn't get a good look and sadly didn't have a camera. I wonder if the magpies were hoping to steal its food?

From a distance these three looked black but based on the photos I think they are Brown-headed Cowbirds.



Of course, there were the usual suspects as well:







Canada geese molt during breeding season and can't fly till about the time when their goslings are ready to take flight. But they still seem to be flying around so I guess they haven't molted yet?



The baby gophers are out (as that hawk found). They seem more curious and less nervous than the adults. These three were quite funny to watch, pushing and shoving as they alternated between hiding in their hole, and looking around curiously. I nicknamed them the three stooges.