While our birds may be looking a bit ragged at this time of year, they are travelling in mixed flocks and provide nice excitement. #birds #AB

Behind The Camera On Midway With David Attenborough #Birds www.goldderby.com/tv/2026/ocea...

‘Ocean’ team on David Attenborough’s historic Emmy nod at 100 and how their film ‘changed the world’

Directors Keith Scholey and Toby Nowlan and composer Steven Price break down filming seabed destruction and the treaty their film helped push through.

goldderby.com

Early this morning I did a short interview on CBC Eyeopener for our #YYC hummingbird season. And just a few hours later, this beauty showed up in our backyard! #birds

Paddle-tailed Darners are cool killers that patrol the wetlands. Small flying bugs beware. #bugs

Tiger Salamanders larvae are the kingpins of prairie wetlands right now as they are one of the top aquatic predators in these systems. Even still, they have threats from above as Great Blue Heron and other waders can't help but concentrate their feeding on these slitthery monsters. #herps #AB

While birds bring wonderful meaning into the lives of many people in #AB and around the world, few birds bring more joy than #hummingbirds! They are mysterious, amazing, admirable and accessible! Fall hummer season is on! #YYC #birds

Fall hummingbird season has just begun with this Ruby-throated Hummingbird stopping over in our yard on its way south. Lucky for #AB birders as Asher Warkentin has put together a great document on sorting out our confusing but wondrous fall hummers. drive.google.com/file/d/1Oua_...

The songs of breeding birds have now almost completely vanished from our yard, but another exciting time is upon us. Hummingbirds migrating from the boreal and mountain regions, pit stop in urban floral forests on their fall journeys. Our backyard bee balm awaits! #birds #YYC #AB

Every so often Painted Lady butterflies surge north in a big way. This seems to be one of those years. Have a look out for one of NA most famous butterflies north of the 49 on the 🇨🇦 prairies. #bugs

Active summer storm - active summer cloud seeders #YYC #WX

Garter Snake appreciation time. They are the snake most folks come across and do everything to bust this unforgiving snake stereotype. Plus many different species and fascinating survival skills. Red-sided, Plains, Wandering Garter Snakes

Summer doldrums are upon us. Birds are flying south, but fritillaries are perking up. #bugs Arctic, Great Spangled, Aphrodite, Variegated Fritillaries.

This Grasshopper Sparrow was the only one I saw yesterday - among the thousands of sparrows and longspurs now milling about on the 🇨🇦 grasslands. Most were hiding in the shade during the heat of the day, but Mr Grasshopper posed nicely out in the open. #birds

A group of Waxwings is called an earful​

Today's butterflies certainly followed a feminine theme. Painted Lady, Melissa Blue, Queen Alexandra Sulphur, Aphrodite Fritillary #AB #bugs

Saw one today too ! so many flying cool things

Our fabulous fritillaries are now on the wing! Great Spangled Fritillary is one of the largest and most spectacular of this spectacular bunch. #Ab #bugs

Hooray, Hooray! It's Big Wet Rodent Day! #AcornTheNatureNut youtu.be/ZF6QwnkY6gY?...

Acorn the Nature Nut #21 – Big Wet Rodents

YouTube video by Acorn the Nature Nut

youtu.be

Wandering Garter Snakes are very comfortable near water. This one seems to be chillin' in a cool river while foraging on small fishes.

Some backgrounds are not exactly as they appear. The golden yellow background colour of the Northern Mockingbird was a garage door, and an excavator with the Mountain Bluebird. Both were deliberate framing choices when I took the photos. #birds

To you and I the Cedar Waxwing on the left is a real looker. But maybe for other waxwings it lacks a bit of appeal. The iconic red 'wax tips' on the wings are a sign of status - the more the bird has, the more desirable it is (see the bird on the right w/ 8 tips!). #birds

To you and I the Cedar Waxwing on the left is a real looker. But maybe for other waxwings it lacks a bit of appeal. The iconic red 'wax tips' on the wings are a sign of status - the more the bird has, the more desirable it is (see the bird on the right w/ 8 tips!). #birds

This week, it was just a drive-by. But someday, I will explore this grassland coulee that lies just 10 kms north of the 49˚ border for the snakes, lizards and plants that only live in this area of #AB.

Around here, Cedar Waxwings are central birds of our summer months. They are highly visible, widespread in wild areas and in our backyards. #birds

Common Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels now hold two records of note. 1) continue to be the most misID'd wildlife owing to chipmunk confusion 2) have the longest name (five words!) of all #AB vertebrates

Milbert's Tortoiseshells are critical butterflies to northern well-being as they fly late in the fall and in the early spring. In mid-summer their caterpillars are busy munching on nettles gaining the energy needed for their great hibernating mastery. #bugs

While I wasn't all that surprised to find my first garter snake in our #YYC neighbourhood - I was surprised when it was a Plains Garter Snake. Our other two garter snakes (Wandering & Red-sided) are much better known in this city. #herps

The long reproductive season for Ferruginous Hawks is coming to a close. After the adults arrived in early April, mating, incubation and constant feeding as nestlings - the young are out and exploring their world. #birds #AB

We did well to enjoy distant views of a few Burrowing Owls - the holy grail of birds in the #AB grasslands. This species has declined so much from my early birding days, but the pop'n has now levelled off thanks to serious conservation actions. #birds

Heading out to the NA grasslands for a tour. Many, wonderful things we hope to encounter!