Some Days are Successful in Ways You Don’t Expect

I went out looking for owls in Calgary last week. A buddy had told me that they keep silently gliding into a huge tree in front of her home and she was sure they were living in Canmore Park. The next day I loaded up my camera and headed over to the park to find them. She didn’t know what type of owls they are but that didn’t matter to me. I just want more owls. And there is apparently a Coopers Hawk that calls the park his home. I saw him but he was way too high (the bird not me) in the sky to get a photo.

Canmore Park is lovely and I have driven by it and never stopped for probably 40 years. When I first started golfing I would golf at Confederation Park (across the road from Canmore Park) all the time. I took lessons there too.

It was super icy in the parking lot and off the pathways when I got there and there was quite a bit of snow to trudge through. I have to admit that balancing the big lens and tromping through the snow and ice was pretty tiring so I did not make it to all the places that I suspect the owls might live.

What I did find though were some Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Blue Jay and some Chickadees (love those little guys).

Well, birding certainly seems to be my new hobby thanks to my buddy Cealaigh. I love it when I can combine many things into one little (or big, in this case) package. I can photograph birds, watch YouTube about attracting and photographing birds, read books about birds, I can meet up with friends to photograph birds, get out of the city and drive around looking for birds to photograph, look at other people’s photos of birds on Facebook. Eventually, I will be like my buddy Ed and travel just to get photographs of beautiful birds.