Sunday, 18/Monday 19 September 2022: I decided that I will stay up overnight in order to watch the TV coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth 11. I have been watching many hours of coverage from the UK ever since the news that the Queen had died. Here, it is now 2:32 am.
Sunday, 18 September 2022: just a quick note added to let you know that I’m out of commission at the moment, thanks to a trip and fall on my hairdresser’s driveway after a haircut on Monday afternoon! Tripped over a crack/join in the concrete and fell flat on my face, grrr. Broke my nose, messed up my mouth/lips. hurt my knees, knuckles, and my right side is in agony with major swelling and bruising. My right arm (deltoid muscle) is usually in pain but now almost useless. Was at a Health Centre first – had to take a cab as my nose was bleeding, felt a bit nauseous and came out in a cold sweat. Was eventually taken by ambulance to the South Campus Hospital and thoroughly checked out, including a Cat-Scan and a string of X-rays on chest and right shoulder. Thank goodness, there was no bleeding seen in my brain! X-rays didn’t seem to show any breaks, apparently. Returned home eventually after 18 hours. Well, at least I managed to get in about three drives between being ill with a raging tooth/jaw infection plus a very complicated root canal on the tooth after a course of antibiotics, that wasted a month, and this new accident, ha. Hope I can post a few photos, but I know all too well that mouse clicking kills my upper arms, so I will need a lot of self-discipline, lol. Can still look at everyone’s photos, of course.
Back to posting a few more photos taken on 4 September 2022, when I took my daughter for a long drive south to the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre.
After I took this photo, I was able to have this very cute Great Horned Owl juvenile stand on my gloved hand. It stood there calmly and then decided to pull a few strands of my hair and take a few gentle pecks on my face.
Normally, I would never be driving all the way south to Coaldale twice in one month, or even one year : ) However, when I first drove down there on 24 August 2022, I didn’t think my daughter would be free to go with me in time before the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre closed for the season, till April 2023. So, I made a last minute decision to drive there anyway. The other day, my daughter told me that she was going to have a free day yesterday, 4 September 2022. I told her to let me know where she would like to go for the day and she reckoned we should go down to the Centre. I was so pleased about this, as she had never been there before and I was sure she would enjoy herself (despite the heat!).
We managed a fairly early start (which, for me, was a very early start!), leaving Calgary around 8:00 am. For the first time, we had a smoky day. A very quick stop at Frank Lake gave us a wide open view of the smoky sun surrounded by a bright orange sky, as well as a chance to look for any insects on the Maximillan Sunflowers.
Because of the long distance, plus my need to get back to the city before the light started to fade, our drive was pretty much limited to fast highway driving, apart from one gravel back road on the way south.
Most of the journey, one thing that stood out was that there were SO many hawks! I didn’t see every single hawk, as I like to keep my eye on the road. She reckoned that there were at least 100 seen, with which I agree, some on fence posts, others perched on tall utility poles, and some flying high over the harvested fields. Never have I ever seen so many hawks in one day. It was crazy.
Once we got to the Centre, we of course saw yet more hawks. Plus various owl species and Bald Eagles at various stages of development. I was so glad that my daughter got to experience having a cute young Burrowing Owl (named Sage) standing on her arm, and then a juvenile Great Horned Owl. As usual, I took plenty of photos, which I then couldn’t identify when I got home. My ID skills for raptors is not good!
This was such an enjoyable day, despite the heat and long distance. Just like my previous solo drive down south, it was just under 500 km. The rare outing with my daughter is my favourite way of spending a day!
Posted by annkelliott on 2022-09-19 05:52:27
Tagged: , Alberta , Canada , S of Calgary , Alberta Birds of Prey Centre , Coaldale , nature , avian , ornithology , bird , owl , Great Horned Owl , Bubo virginianus , juvenile , close-up , head shot
