Street Biologist's Diary

Venice, August 19, 2019.  One of the highlights of our visit to Venice was to see the "Peggy Guggenheim Collection." It is a wonderful museum of modern art full of some incredible works of paintings and sculptures. Peggy Guggenheim was an American art collector and socialite. She was from the wealthy New York Guggenheim family. In 1919 when she turned 21, she inherited US$2.5 million (currently, equivalent to over US$40 million).  In 1949, Ms. Guggenheim moved to Palazzo Venier dei Leoni , an 18th Century palace in Venice and opened the doors to the public with her exhibition of contemporary art. Over the years, her collection included prominent Italian futurists and American modernists in such genres like Cubism and Surrealism. After Paris, London, and New York, Venice became her city until her death on December 23, 1979.  Peggy Guggenheim sitting beside one of her collections. "Sphere" by Arnaldo Pomodoro. "Three Standing Figures" by Henry Moore. A paint...

  Red-winged Blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus ) is a symbol of spring. Every spring, when I see them visiting the feeder in our backyard, I know that nature is waking up. The male's conk-la-ree is a classic sound of wetlands in the spring in and around Edmonton and many parts of Alberta. These males are gorgeous black in colour with distinctive red shoulder patches that are visible when the bird is in flight or in display. At rest, males also show a white or pale yellow wing bar. These wing markings are very important in defending the male's territory. Males with larger spots are more effective in chasing away the rival males. On this Sunday morning, as I am looking through the window at our snow-covered backyard, I am thinking of those blackbirds visiting the feeders again and calling out loudly the arrival of spring. A few months and it will happen again.......... A high key frame of a male in early spring Every time I look at this photo, I remember Joe Cocker's song ...

  It was toward the end of May, 2022. One evening, I received a text message from my dear friend and bird photographer Dan Spivak, "Are you still looking to get an owl photo?" Reading his message, I almost jumped off my chair - "Of course!" Dan gave me the location in Central Alberta of a mama owl and her two chicks. It was in the middle of the week. So, I had to wait till the weekend. On Saturday, May 28th morning, me and one of my photographer friends drove for over 90 minutes to get to the location. We started looking from tree to tree but couldn't find anything. We thought, they must have left. So, I took a photo of the site where we were standing with my iPhone, and sent it to Dan for his help. Dan immediately replied back saying that we were most likely standing right by the tree and we should look up... way up! And there they were!! Mom and the two owlets were perched in the upper canopy of this giant spruce tree. What an experience that was!! Thank you ...

 First as a student and then later as a university teacher of biology, I have always been interested in wildlife photography. During last few years, I started focusing on birds. While I am going around the trees and bushes with my camera and tripod looking for chickadees, nuthatches, warblers, and woodpeckers, I feel so calm and happy. I have photographed over 50 species of birds in and around Alberta. I will share some of those photos in my future blogs with some thoughts about the species or my experience of photographing them.  We are, right now, in the middle of Canadian winter. When it's frigid minus 20 C temperature, you might think nature is barren, nothing can be found. On the contrary, there is so much going on in the woods. One of the most common all-year around species of birds around Edmonton is Black-capped Chickadee ( Poecile atricapillus ). These little creatures will keep you entertained for hours as they flying in and out of the bird feeders.  A Black-cap...

  Elk island National Park. December 30. 2022. After spending some time enjoying the hoar frost we started to head back to the city. Then we came across this single Plains Bison ( Bison bison bison ) digging in to the snow to find some food. What a gorgeous scene it was! Elk Island National Park has been a refuge for both subspecies of North American Bison - Plains Bison and Wood Bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) since the mid sixties. Bisons are North America's largest mammal species. Millions of them once ranged across the continent from Alaska to Mexico and were an important resource for indigenous peoples who lived on the plains. The bison against the late afternoon light. A close up.

On the second last day of 2022, we visited Elk Island National Park. The park is only about 45 minute-drive from my hometown of Edmonton. Over last few days, we have been seeing heavy fog in the evening followed by hoar frost in the morning. According to Wikipedia, hoar frost is identified as "white ice crystals deposited on the ground or loosely attached to exposed objects, such as, wires and leaves/branches." The park looked wonderful with light fog and ice crystal-covered tree branches blending into the grey sky. The temperature was balmy minus 17 C and it was quite crisp by Astotin Lake. We even saw a large Plains Bison ( Bison bison bison ) digging in the snow looking for frozen grass. It was an enjoyable winter outing. Frosted landscape