Thursday, July 23, 2009

Birds From Here to There

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning - at 5:49 AM in Calgary July 23 according to TimeAndDate.com, a website that tracks such things - and I look forward to enjoying another stunning sunset this evening - around 9:45 PM - much like the majestic solar display that rendered us speechless last night while enjoying the tail-end of the spectacular Airdrie Airshow.
In a subsequent post, I plan to reflect on the heartfelt pride I felt watching our Canadian Snow Birds demonstrate their precise formations last night; it is another type of bird that captured my attention on the way in to work this morning.
While I was listening to the results of the election of Shawn Atleo, the new National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and the University of Calgary President's favorite book, on my way to campus this morning, I glanced over to see a large, Blue Heron standing in a pond amongst dozens of ducks and geese in a pond by the side of the road. A variety of ducks and geese are a common sight in my part of rural Alberta. However, it is relatively rare to see these gorgeous Blue Herons so close to the city. Hence, I was motivated to learn a little more about the prevalence of this bird throughout the province, which lead me to the Royal Alberta Museum, which has some great information about birds throughout
Alberta.
Turns out, according the Talk About Wildlife, this big Blue Bird is fairly prevalent throughout Alberta. Since my house backs onto a pond, I hope to see more of these stately birds this summer. What I didn't know, and I was delighted to learn, is that Barrhead, Alberta is home to one of those large, roadside attractions, the Biggest Blue Heron in the World! Who Knew?
Happy day.



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