Some Birds

When there's fog at this time of year with 2024 winding down, there's always going to be a bit of frost. So I headed down to the Bow River to see what I could find. And not only did I find frost, I also found, I was going to say cold birds. But in truth, these guys are adapted to this. They live in that microclimate around the flowing water. Makes all the difference in the world. So with birds like these Mallards, and these two are really having a discussion. And Goldeneye. Mergansers, like this big guy on the far side of the river, they're adapted to this. They don't have to worry about things like that as long as they can get their faces down to the bottom of the river to find something to eat. They're good. Photographing them in that cold fog, well that's a challenge for we terrestrials. It wasn't too hard to find them. The thing is, it was kind of hard to see them. But like I said, when there's fog at this time of year, there's always going to be a little bit of frost. And if you ignore the traffic noise, it does look awfully pretty. But I was really hoping to find more birds. And I did. I found these pheasants wandering through the fog out in the field near a feedlot. And not too far from them, these mule deer. They were poking around in a field not too far from the Carsland Weir. That's that roaring you hear in the background. And that's where I was headed to see if I could find some birds. But it was cold, it was windy, it was foggy, and there weren't any birds there. I do love that splash ice though. And that was the end of my day. But I really wasn't satisfied with what I got, so I went out again the next day. First to this little spring down along the Elbow River right here in the city of Calgary. Always lots of birds there. And then over to the big milling facility next to the rail yards. Ducks like these mallards accumulate there to feed on the spilled grain and everything else around. And they do get cold feet. They don't like walking in the snow. And they get pretty nervous when an eagle shows up. This young bald eagle flew in to see what he could snag off the ground. The Canada geese, they just went and landed on the roof. But this raven and his friends, they decided to annoy the eagle. Why, I don't know. But ravens, they always know what they're doing. But the eagle flew off and the ducks relaxed. And then as I headed back down to the Bow River to have another look, I found all these robins. Now these guys should have flown south a while ago, but there were probably 40 of them and they were just gorging on these, I think, pin cherries. Gorgeous to see. Back at the river, more fog and more frost. But there were some birds. And as long as there's some birds around, I'm a happy boy.