What is Project 366? Read more here. Officially it is still three weeks to the first day of spring on March 17. This being central Alberta, however, it is quite common that spring is not in the air until substantially later. This year, however, the second half of February has been very springlike, with mild…
What is Project 366? Read more here. The river valley is a window into Edmonton’s geological the past. The North Saskatchewan River originates 1,800 metres above sea level in the Columbia Icefield. It flows across Alberta and Saskatchewan to Lake Winnipeg, into the Nelson River and eventually into the Hudson Bay. In Edmonton It runs…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Trees trunks and branches grow thicker by adding new cells beneath the bark. The effects of this process can be observed when you are looking at tree rings. To accommodate increased girth the bark also has to increase in width and in doing so the outside parts of…
What is Project 366? Read more here. A small song bird was hopping around among the barren branches against a the canvass of a dark blue sky. My first thoughts went to a Black-capped Chickadee but it only took a quick glance to identify it as another common winter bird in these neck of the…
What is Project 366? Read more here. There often seems to be a trade off between success in finding animals to photograph and the ease of photography. If you want to take pictures of animals, including birds, early morning is better, but at the expense of light. If you want lots of bright light (which…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Here is one last diorama post, this time from a deciduous forest with, what appears to be cottonwoods or aspen stands and a Northern Flicker in the center, a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker on the left and a snoozing flying squirrel in its den on the right. Of the three…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Another dreamlike image from one of the dioramas at RAM. This time a Golden Eagle perched high above aN unnamed valley, presumably somewhere In the Canadian Rockies. At a quick glance one would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this staged scene and the real thing….
What is Project 366? Read more here. During my recent visit to the Alberta Royal Museum (aka RAM) we were treated to some pretty neat dioramas of Alberta nature scapes. Here is one neat one of prairie dogs and burrowing owls representing the dry grasslands of southern Alberta. Burrowing owls are high on my birding…
What is Project 366? Read more here. There is a bend in the creek close to the Snow Valley end of the Whitemud Creek where erosion has slowly (or perhaps not so slowly) undermined the trail. Left to its own means it would only be a matter of time before the bank would collapse, taking…
What is Project 366? Read more here. Despite the many months of subzero temperature, bitterly cold wind and snow and ice this freeze dried cow parsnip remains standing with the seed pods firmly attached. Like a fossil of times long past it remains in a frozen state, preserved for the after-world to witness. In contrast…