Photos, videos and docs of Anne Elliott, with the keywords: "stubble"

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 15:50:16 +0000

Did everyone remember to set their clocks forward an hour? I totally forgot - a good job I didn't have an appointment or something. This morning, too, I have had the Blue Screen of Death twice! Both times, I was on Facebook. Again hardly any photos being posted by My Contacts on Flickr.

This was a totally accidental shot, taken on 14 February 2019, with my old Canon SX60, which I hadn't used for ages. When I took the first few shots, I could tell something was happening inside my camera, rather like a camera set on burst (which I never use). However, this was different and when I reviewed the photos, I discovered that I must have caught the dial somehow and it was on a different setting. The result was a set of six completely different images, every one now deleted except for two of them.

This encounter was one that gave us the opportunity to take some reasonable photos. I was so happy, as I had longed to see a Short-eared Owl on a close fence post for several years. Can't say I'm exactly enjoying posting any owl photo though, after the last eight or nine unpleasant days, but I do want to add any OK images to my albums. In case any local photographers just happen to read this, apparently the RCMP have been called out to the area several times because of the number of people and cars. I haven’t been out there since 27 February.

This is what I wrote under a previously posted photo taken at the same time:

"On 14 February, I was so lucky. Friend, Pam, phoned to see if I'd like to go with her for a quick drive east of the city. I hadn't been expecting to get out for a few days, as I had a cortisone injection in my left hip the previous day and one is supposed to rest for a few days. Another 10 days and I get a shot in the other hip. I wasn't going to drive anywhere, but being driven and no walking sounded just too nice to turn down. We also both knew that snow was in the forecast for the next two or three days.

We were very lucky with an owl sighting and this one flew to a fairly close fence post - and just stayed there. Looks like a bit of its most recent snack of Meadow Vole was still on the tip of its beak.

The temperature was a few degrees "less cold" than the previous 12 or so days. However, it was still SOOOO cold, so photos were taken with gloved hands. Two weeks of deep freeze has not been enjoyable, to say the least. This morning, 15 February, it is "only" -20C (windchill -25C) and snow fell overnight.

Many thanks, Pam H, for the invite and this absolute treat! So much appreciated."

Our deep-freeze, that has lasted many weeks, has finally broken! Today, 9 March 2019, the temperature is -4C (windchill) -8C. This coming week, highs are supposed to be 0C and above. We might get some snow on a couple of the days.

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:40:53 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

This was just a brief encounter and I only got maybe two or three dozen photos. I was so happy, though, as I had longed to see a Short-eared Owl on a close fence post for several years. Can't say I'm exactly enjoying posting any owl photo after the last eight or nine unpleasant days, though, but I do want to add the few OK images to my albums. In case any local photographers just happen to read this, apparently the RCMP have been called out to the area several times because of the number of people and cars. I haven’t been out there since 27 February.

This is what I wrote under a previously posted photo taken at the same time:

"On 14 February, I was so lucky. Friend, Pam, phoned to see if I'd like to go with her for a quick drive east of the city. I hadn't been expecting to get out for a few days, as I had a cortisone injection in my left hip the previous day and one is supposed to rest for a few days. Another 10 days and I get a shot in the other hip. I wasn't going to drive anywhere, but being driven and no walking sounded just too nice to turn down. We also both knew that snow was in the forecast for the next two or three days.

We were very lucky with an owl sighting and this one flew to a fairly close fence post - and just stayed there. Looks like a bit of its most recent snack of Meadow Vole was still on the tip of its beak.

The temperature was a few degrees "less cold" than the previous 12 or so days. However, it was still SOOOO cold, so photos were taken with gloved hands. Two weeks of deep freeze has not been enjoyable, to say the least. This morning, 15 February, it is "only" -20C (windchill -25C) and snow fell overnight.

Many thanks, Pam, for the invite and this absolute treat! So much appreciated."

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 17:52:02 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

A brief update on the Facebook issue: the photographer responsible for the posting has now deleted the post and all the angry, accusing comments left by people who changed the subject from road safety to people going out to photograph owls far too often, taking too many photos, etc., etc.. Thank goodness, I can now try and forget the whole thing, though it really doesn't make me look forward to going anywhere to take photos.

On the day I took this photo, my actual reason for driving east of the city was to go and introduce myself to one of the local landowners in that area. About a week before, her Grandson had been curious about what people were doing, parked along the side of the roads. He told me that his Grandmother was really nervous and afraid, wondering what we were up to. Understandably so, as there is so much crime in rural areas. I had reassured him that anyone in any cars were photographers, interested only in seeing and photographing the special owls that were on their land. He invited me to go in and meet his Grandma, but I had to explain to him that my night vision for driving is bad and that I needed to try and get back to the city before it got dark (ended up driving in the dark!). I told him that I would call in another day and I wanted to make sure that I did this. So, the night before I returned, I had printed out a photo that I had taken a week ago of one of these Short-eared Owls, perched on a post in their field. Also printed a Snowy Owl and a Great Horned Owl for them, and we had an enjoyable chat about the different kinds of owl. I do hope this lady feels safer now that she knows exactly what everyone is doing. Farmers in the area are not happy with the situation, though.

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 17:00:23 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

On the day I took this photo, my actual reason for driving east of the city was to go and introduce myself to one of the local landowners in that area. About a week ago, her Grandson had been curious about what people were doing, parked along the side of the roads. He told me that his Grandmother was really nervous and afraid, wondering what we were up to. Understandably so, as there is so much crime in rural areas. I had reassured him that anyone in any cars were birders/photographers, interested only in seeing and photographing the special owls that were on their land. He invited me to go in and meet his Grandma, but I had to explain to him that my night vision for driving is bad and that I needed to try and get back to the city before it got dark (ended up driving in the dark!). I told him that I would call in another day and I wanted to make sure that I did this. So, the night before I returned, I had printed out a photo that I had taken a week ago of one of these Short-eared Owls, perched on a post in their field. Also printed a Snowy Owl and a Great Horned Owl for them, and we had an enjoyable chat about the different kinds of owl. I do hope this lady feels safer now that she knows exactly what we are all doing.

I am going to add, for the last time, the following, that I have posted for the last two or three days.

"I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals (see my Album) - including the day before yesterday. These owls are very secretive and many birders go years between sightings. It is so important not to give the location of this species. Be careful that there is nothing in your photos that gives away the location.

Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary" (totally untrue!), so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Two days ago, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. It was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for today.

Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Others follow ebird religiously, dashing out to see every more 'special' bird that is reported and location given. I don't post many photos on Facebook and I certainly don't post the same photo to three groups. It gets so very boring to see the same photos everywhere. These people flood their own Facebook pages and the groups! The only reason I can see is to get as many Likes as possible. Anyway, most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day.

So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset (devastated, actually) I am to have been told (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. As they said, my "goody two-shoes" image was gone. They both know I have very high ethics, including when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a provincial birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view of the owl, so out I got and caught up with them. To prove that I was not planning on getting out of my car this trip, I was wearing just my thin summer jacket (over fleece) in a windchill in the minus 20C's.

Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. Have barely slept the last two nights! The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)!

That day, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos.

Sorry for the rant, but I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get lots of likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try?

PS: I rarely allow people (i.e. friends) to photograph me. Not sure what right this man thinks he has, to take my photo and especially to then post it on a very popular Facebook group page. I would like it removed from Facebook, or at the very least, to have myself totally blurred out of the image. When this sort of thing happens, it can totally destroy a person's joy of photography!

Actually, on a more serious note, something that I'm sure most people don't think of. You really need to be careful about taking a photo of someone and then posting it (without signing a consent form). For various security reasons, doing this could actually put someone in danger. For example, a woman (or vice versa) might not want their photo being advertised in this way, not wanting an abusive spouse/partner to know where they go sometimes or what they do. Just something to keep in mind."

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 16:25:44 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

On 14 February, I was so lucky. Friend, Pam H, phoned to see if I'd like to go with her for a quick drive east of the city. I hadn't been expecting to get out for a few days, as I had a cortisone injection in my left hip the previous day and one is supposed to rest for a few days. Another 10 days and I get a shot in the other hip. I wasn't going to drive anywhere, but being driven and no walking sounded just too nice to turn down. We also both knew that snow was in the forecast for the next two or three days.

We were very lucky with an owl sighting and this one flew to a fairly close fence post - and just stayed there. Looks like a bit of its most recent snack of Meadow Vole was still on the tip of its beak.

The temperature was a few degrees "less cold" than the previous 12 or so days. However, it was still SOOOO cold, so photos were taken with gloved hands. Two weeks of deep freeze has not been enjoyable, to say the least. This morning, 15 February, it is "only" -20C (windchill -25C) and snow fell overnight.

Many thanks, Pam H, for the invite and this absolute treat! So much appreciated.

Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 05:18:18 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I have been hoping to get a reasonably close photo of a Short-eared Owl on a fence post in the wild for the last few years. Finally, I got the chance on 7 February 2019 - not too bad, though it could have been a bit sharper. They are such beautiful owls and an absolute joy to see. Not sure when I'll get the chance to go east again - the deep freeze continues and it is most unpleasant to try and take photos in these temperatures. The risk of getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere in these frigid temperatures puts me off going.

My actual reason for driving east of the city yesterday was to go and introduce myself to one of the local landowners in that area. About a week ago, her Grandson had been curious about what we were doing, parked along the side of the road. He told me that his Grandmother was really nervous, wondering what we were up to. Understandably so, as there is plenty of crime in rural areas. I had reassured him that anyone in any cars were birders/photographers, interested only in seeing and photographing the special owls that were on their land. He invited me to go in and meet his Grandma, but I had to explain to him that my night vision for driving is bad and that I needed to try and get back to the city before it got dark (ended up driving in the dark!). I told him that I would call in another day and I wanted to make sure that I did this. So, yesterday was the day. The night before, I had printed out a photo that I had taken a week ago of one of these Short-eared Owls, perched on a post in their field. Also printed a Snowy Owl and a Great Horned Owl for them, and we had an enjoyable chat about the different kinds of owl. I do hope this lady feels safer now that she knows exactly what we are all doing.

Had a short search for Snowy Owls yesterday, too, but came up empty-handed. However, I did see a gorgeous Prairie Falcon perched high up on top of a power pole.

Short-eared Owl

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 05:16:45 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

These are such beautiful owls and an absolute joy to see. Not sure when I'll get the chance to go east again - the deep freeze continues and it is most unpleasant to try and take photos in these temperatures. The risk of getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere in these frigid temperatures puts me off going.

My actual reason for driving east of the city yesterday was to go and introduce myself to one of the local landowners in that area. About a week ago, her Grandson had been curious about what we were doing, parked along the side of the road. He told me that his Grandmother was really nervous, wondering what we were up to. Understandably so, as there is plenty of crime in rural areas. I had reassured him that anyone in any cars were birders/photographers, interested only in seeing and photographing the special owls that were on their land. He invited me to go in and meet his Grandma, but I had to explain to him that my night vision for driving is bad and that I needed to try and get back to the city before it got dark (ended up driving in the dark!). I told him that I would call in another day and I wanted to make sure that I did this. So, yesterday was the day. The night before, I had printed out a photo that I had taken a week ago of one of these Short-eared Owls, perched on a post in their field. Also printed a Snowy Owl and a Great Horned Owl for them, and we had an enjoyable chat about the different kinds of owl. I do hope this lady feels safer now that she knows exactly what we are all doing.

Had a short search for Snowy Owls yesterday, too, but came up empty-handed. However, I did see a gorgeous Prairie Falcon perched high up on top of a power pole.

Hoar frost tree and vanishing fields

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 03:51:19 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

The trees at the very edge of the roads were quite visible, but practically everything else disappeared in a dense fog that caught me by surprise today, 5 January 2019. I had hoped to finally drive east of the city yesterday, after already waiting a couple of months. Then I saw in the weather forecast that it was going to be a very windy day, so my plans changed. When I checked the forecast around midnight last night, we were supposedly going to have sun with some cloud this morning, clearing to a nice sunny afternoon. Yeah, right!! The thick fog had developed way before I left the eastern edge of the city and, though I was so tempted to turn around and head for home, I kept going, hoping that the fog would clear further east. Just the opposite! Most of the drive was in very poor visibility, barely able to see the road I was on and not seeing cars in the distance. Once my eyes looked further than the fences along the road edges, I could barely see anything at all, just dense fog. A far cry from an ideal day for looking for Snowy Owls! Everything was a pale grey or white and I would never have been able to see a distant owl and would barely see an owl perched high up on a power pole. After roughly almost five hours of dangerous driving conditions and 235 km travelled, I just had to give up and head for home.

I did manage to find a few odds and ends to photograph, but nothing too inspiring. Post-processing turned white photos into images that had some colour and detail - not at all how things looked in reality.

Disappearing into nothingness

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 06 Jan 2019 03:47:10 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

When the world turns white

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 17:24:26 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

This photo was taken on 9 January 2016, when I took part in a Mid-winter Bust-out trip east of the city, led by Terry Korolyk. Eight of us, plus our leader, took part in this day trip - maybe when everyone else saw what the temperature was first thing in the morning (-23C, not counting windchill, which would have made it much colder), they changed their mind about going! Everything was covered in a heavy layer of hoar frost, which turned everywhere into a beautiful winter wonderland. The sky was blue - what more could anyone want? Well, a few birds would be nice, of course : )

The highlight of the day was seeing 6 Short-eared Owls, in addition to 6 Snowy Owls (7 seen by the people in the other cars, when we split up at the end of the day). As a photographer, though, the only birds that were barely close enough were two of the Snowy Owls. All the Short-eared Owls were tiny dots in the landscape. I don't know how anyone was able to spot them! Most of the photos I took of anything were so blurry and not fit for use. Zoomed in shots, especially, suffered from heat distortion - and distorted they are!

Our meeting place was right across the city; a drive that I never enjoy at all, but I really didn't want to miss this outing. Some of the roads we travelled were ones that I had driven several times before. Most of the time, though, I had no idea where we were : )

As always happens on any day that I go anywhere, I turned my camera lens to anything else of interest/beauty, even more so when the birds are way, way off in the distance.

Thank you, Terry - it was a great day and much appreciated, as always! You did an excellent write-up of the whole day (not posted here). Many thanks for driving some of us, Andrew.

Prairie life in winter

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 16:29:09 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Flickr problems, yet again!

Today, 15 March 2018, Calgary is under yet another Snowfall Warning, and it has been snowing all morning. Snowfall, with total amounts of 10 to 20 cm is expected. Heavy snowfall will continue over much of southern Alberta today. At this time of year, we tend to get snow, then it melts or starts to melt, then it snows again, and so on. Yesterday, I had to get across the city and was amazed that there was hardly any snow left in many places. I don't know how so much snow could just disappear like that, especially leaving no flooding. To think, one year ago today, I was standing on a tropical beach on the island of Tobago : )

On 17 February 2018, a small group of us headed way SW of the city - and into yet another snow storm. I kept checking to see if the trip was going to be cancelled, but fortunately, our leader had only read "few flurries" for the day. I had read further detail that said that a huge snow storm was moving into the area, bringing up to 25 cm of fresh snow, poor visibility, white-outs, treacherous roads! I knew taking photos was going to be a challenge, and seeing anything in the first place was going to be an even bigger challenge. So glad we went, though - even more so, that I wasn't driving, other than to our local meeting place in the city.

The main reason for the trip was to look for Golden Eagles, though of course we were happy to see anything else, too. Last year, we saw five, but this time we couldn't find any. With such poor visibility, they could still have been out there.

We did see Bald Eagles, though, and quite a few (mainly very distant) Sharp-tailed Grouse. At one location, they were on the road way ahead of us. I was able to get two or three closer shots of one of them, and managed to sharpen the 'best' one as much as I could, enough to make it just about fit to post. They are such beautiful birds. I thought we might see some small birds during the day, but we saw no Snow Buntings or Horned Larks. A very distant Great Horned Owl was seen in the yard at one of the places some of us always used to call in at when we were doing the annual Christmas Bird Count for the area. Also spotted a distant Merlin perched in a bare-branched tree.

Three Moose were seen - a lone one and two others together at a different location. The one on its own had been standing but took a few steps and lay down in the deep snow. The other two were spotted when we were almost at the top of a steep, snow-covered back road. Our leader slowed down and, though I normally don't ask someone if they would stop for something, I did so this time. Oops, sorry, Tony, lol! We were stuck, unable to continue our climb to the top of the steep hill. Luckily, Tony is really good at reversing (and trying again)! There were also many Mule Deer to be seen, especially along the coulee.

I love the landscape in this whole area and always enjoy photographing it. This day, the weather was so bad that most of the landscape was just a faint shape in the distance, or else had completely vanished. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell if the distant shapes were actually hills or clouds!

A great day, despite the weather. Thanks so much, Tony, for the ride and for another most enjoyable day!

A white world

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 16:01:36 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Today, the sun is actually shining (or at least it was when I was typing the description for the previous photo), with a temperature of -17C (windchill -29C). I was longing to go on the annual Snowy Owl Prowl east of the city, but, after being out yesterday, I just couldn't face the long drive across the city to today's meeting place. So glad that I did go on the successful Pre-Owl-Prowl outing the other week. Instead, I plan to join several friends for a local walk this afternoon. It would be just so easy to hibernate the whole winter and I am trying to make sure I don't let that happen : )

So, yesterday, 17 February 2018, a small group of us headed way SW of the city - and into yet another snow storm. I kept checking to see if the trip was going to be cancelled, but fortunately, our leader had only read "few flurries" for the day. I had read further detail that said that a huge snow storm was moving into the area, bringing up to 25 cm of fresh snow, poor visibility, white-outs, treacherous roads! I knew taking photos was going to be a challenge, and seeing anything in the first place was going to be an even bigger challenge. So glad we went, though - even more so, that I wasn't driving, other than to our local meeting place in the city.

The main reason for the trip was to look for Golden Eagles, though of course we were happy to see anything else, too. Last year, we saw five, but this time we couldn't find any. With such poor visibility, they could still have been out there.

We did see Bald Eagles, though, and quite a few (mainly very distant) Sharp-tailed Grouse. At one location, they were on the road way ahead of us. I was able to get two or three closer shots of one of them, and managed to sharpen the 'best' one as much as I could, enough to make it just about fit to post this morning. They are such beautiful birds. I thought we might see some small birds during the day, but we saw no Snow Buntings or Horned Larks. A very distant Great Horned Owl was seen in the yard at one of the places we always used to call in at when we were doing the annual Christmas Bird Count for the area. Also spotted a distant Merlin perched in a bare-branched tree.

Three Moose were seen - the one posted this morning and two others together at a different location. This one had been standing but took a few steps and lay down in the deep snow. The other two were spotted when we were almost at the top of a steep, snow-covered back road. Our leader slowed down and, though I normally don't ask someone if they would stop for something, I did so this time. Oops, sorry, Tony, lol! We were stuck, unable to continue our climb to the top of the steep hill. Luckily, Tony is really good at reversing (and trying again)! There were also many Mule Deer to be seen, especially along the coulee.

I love the landscape in this whole area and always enjoy photographing it. Yesterday, the weather was so bad that most of the landscape was just a faint shape in the distance, or else had completely vanished. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell if the distant shapes were actually hills or clouds!

A great day, despite the weather. Thanks so much, Tony, for the ride and for another most enjoyable day!

Before winter arrived

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 18:17:26 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

Thought I'd better post three more local photos today, instead of more green rainforest shots, before I lose all my Contacts : ) As far as my Trinidad & Tobago trip is concerned, I have more or less finished with photos of mangrove trees and other greenery, and will be posting a few (distant) bird images.

On 13 December 2017, I was out on the road by 9:20 am, which is a miracle in itself. I find it almost impossible to get out early when I am going for a drive by myself. I didn't have any photos edited ready to post, which helped. Seeing snowflake icons in the forecast for too many of the days in the coming week, I thought I had better take a drive SE of the city while the roads were clear. I was lucky with the clouds in the morning, as you can see in this photo. I absolutely love driving this kind of road - at least, in good weather.

My hope was to maybe find a Snowy Owl in this whole area, like I had done in previous years. I knew I would probably have more luck if I drove the back roads NE of the city, but I didn't feel like driving that far. No luck finding a Snowy Owl and, in fact, there were barely any birds of any kind to be seen - just a small flock of Common Redpolls and two or three Magpies. At least I knew that I would pass several old barns that I have photographed on previous occasions. It just felt good to be in such scenery on a beautiful, sunny day. That is, until I somehow got lost on the way back home. I think I know where I may have gone wrong. Seeing a huge road sign that said North Calgary, I wasn't sure if I would end up on the dreaded Deerfoot Trail, like happened last time I was out in that area. So, I kept driving straight and found myself in a fairly built-up area that I had never been in before. Ended up driving back the way I had come until I was on familiar ground. A long way and a lot of wasted time!

You never know where you'll see a Snowy Owl

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 17:35:09 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

This was Snowy Owl number 4 that we came across three days ago, on 13 January 2018, when a group of us went east of the city in search of owls and anything else. This was the last Snowy that friend Tony and I saw before it was time for us to get back to the city, as he had some final preparations to get done before heading off on a trip. After we had left the rest of the group, we came across a fifth Snowy, perched on a piece of machinery in a field. A nice treat before we headed back to civilization. I heard later that the rest of the group saw a total of seven Snowy Owls, as they stayed out for the whole afternoon. Despite seeing a total of 8 Snowies on this day, this winter doesn't seem to be a good year for these owls. Some years, the Internet is full of photos of these spectacular visitors, but this year I'm not seeing many. Thanks so much for the ride, Tony - so much appreciated, as always.

After all the frigid weather we have had so far this winter, this day felt balmy. Actually, I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it must have been above 0C. There was no cold wind and it just felt pleasant. The sun was shining and the sky was full of 'good' clouds. Not sure why almost all my photos were too blurry to keep - maybe the light wasn't as good as I thought it was. However, I did get a shot of each of the owls, so I'm happy. A few other bird species were also seen, including Common Redpolls and Horned Larks, Gray Partridge, Magpies, etc.. Tony also spotted a Prairie Falcon on our way back to the city.

Many thanks, Terry, as usual, for taking us on this owl prowl. It was a great trip and, especially for those who had never seen a Snowy Owl before, a most amazing experience. As with any kind of owl, it doesn't matter how many one sees, I always find each time is as awesome as the very first time.

Two male Snowy Owls in the same field

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 17:32:12 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

On 13 January 2018, I went with a group east of the city, to look for Snowy Owls, especially. This winter doesn't seem to be a good year for these owls, though we were very lucky on this outing. Some years, the Internet is full of photos of these spectacular visitors, but this year I'm not seeing many. Thanks so much for the ride, Tony - so much appreciated, as always.

I took a photo of the closest Snowy Owl and then it flew across the field and landed again. Someone spotted a tiny white speck in the distance behind this owl - a second one, another gorgeous male! (This is a highly zoomed photo). These owls were owls #2 and 3 of the four we saw by lunchtime. Part way into the afternoon, Tony and I had to head back to the city, but we did see another owl on the way home. The rest of the group saw three other Snowies after we left, making a complete total of 8 birds.

After all the frigid weather we have had so far this winter, this day felt balmy. Actually, I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it must have been above 0C. There was no cold wind and it just felt pleasant. The sun was shining and the sky was full of 'good' clouds. Not sure why almost all my photos were too blurry to keep - maybe the light wasn't as good as I thought it was. However, I did get a shot of each of the owls, so I'm happy. A few other bird species were also seen, including Common Redpolls and Horned Larks, Gray Partridge, Magpies, etc.. Tony also spotted a Prairie Falcon on our way back to the city. I will add Terry's list of birds seen by the end of the day in a comment box below.

Many thanks, Terry, as usual, for taking us on this owl prowl. It was a great trip and, especially for those who had never seen a Snowy Owl before, a most amazing experience. As with any kind of owl, it doesn't matter how many one sees, I always find each time is as awesome as the very first time.

King of silos

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 16:08:03 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I very rarely post any black and white photos, but decided to post this one, taken on a Christmas get-together with my daughter. This rather fancy metal silo is huge, with stairs on the side of it.

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the following 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day on 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, and a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across. Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Under a Chinook arch

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 12:14:46 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the following 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day on 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across. Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

A sunrise sky that lasted till sunset

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 16:51:17 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the next 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day yesterday, 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. Looks like we could be getting around 20 cm of snow tomorrow, badly timed for one of our out-of-city Christmas Bird Counts. Yesterday was rather chilly, with a cold wind. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across.
Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

New "barn", Granary Road

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 16:37:59 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

I have been trying to find information on what this building is used for, but I was out of luck. I called it a barn, but I think that the huge, main building at the opposite end of the area is called the Barn.

This photo was taken almost a week ago, on 19 November 2017, when I spent a few very enjoyable hours out with my daughter. This is the time of year, of course, when Christmas Markets and Fairs spring up everywhere, within the city and in various hamlets outside the city. There were two that we ended up going to - Granary Road and Bragg Creek. This was the very first Christmas for the newly opened Granary Road. Bragg Creek market has been held for many years, but we had never been out there to one before. Both felt calm and were far less densely packed (at least when we were there) than some of the bigger markets in various towns.

I had been hoping to get over to Granary Road all summer and fall, but it just didn't happen. This is a brand new market garden, SW of the city, with an active learning park, too. I was very disappointed months ago, when I first saw what was being planned for that particular area. Most of all, I and many other photographers, were horrified when we discovered that the row of five old, red granaries/sheds had been removed from the landscape. Some of you may remember my photos of these granaries, which I called "The Famous Five". They have been replaced by five new, red sheds which, I have to say, looked better yesterday than I had previously thought. Later: found the following information:

"Granary Road (pronounced gran-a-ree in the English manner), is a project by 5 Red Granaries, a group of Alberta folk who have come together to build it. When they purchased the property, there were five red granaries on site. Unfortunately, the granaries did not survive an attempt to move them." From an article in the Calgary Herald newspaper (link below).

calgaryherald.com/life/food/john-gilchrist-granary-road-m...

Link for my album, "The Famous Five" - 25 images of the original, old row of five, red granaries.

www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/albums/72157648910659879

The huge main building is full of various permanent, carefully chosen vendors, and a restaurant. Very nicely designed, I thought. Three huge greenhouses stand next to the main building - fresh produce is sold from them and from local farmers. A small petting Zoo was being held in one of the greenhouses - Alpacas, goats and bunnies, all very cute.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpaca

The huge, outdoor educational area looks like a lot of fun, and I want to go back next summer to wander round it, when this part reopens for the season.

www.granaryroad.com/

Thank you, Rachel, for an enjoyable few hours spent with you! Always the best kind of day. See you in December.

Old house next to metal silo

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne Elliott) — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 14:04:55 +0000

Anne Elliott has posted:

This photo was taken on a trip to Pine Coulee Reservoir a week ago, on 12 November 2017. A group of eight of us went S and SE of the city on a birding trip to one of my favourite areas. This included Pine Coulee Reservoir, Clear Lake and the Twin Valley Reservoir. I just love some of the landscape through which we drove - barren, rugged, middle-of-nowhere kind of scenery. It looks so different in each season - I think my favourite time of year is when there is a covering of snow on the empty hills, and ice on most of the water. I've still not had the courage to drive in this area myself, as I know that I might never find my way out of it.

Several previous trips had covered part of this latest drive, but much of the return drive was in a huge area that I had never been to before. Later in the drive, we crossed the main highway #2 south and travelled the backroads way, way south of the Frank Lake area, and kept going north until we got back to the city. The Twin Valley Reservoir was one of the stops we made in this new-to-me area.

Actually, the other day, I was reading my account of a trip made on 9 November 2013, and I discovered that, in fact, I HAD been to this area before. Just shows that I often have no idea where we are at any given time. Since the trip in 2013, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the area S and SE of Calgary. The following is from Terry Korolyk's account of that day, four years ago:

"The north end of Clear Lake was frozen, so, we headed north to the Twin Valleys Dam Reservoir, and, drove up the east side of it. This produced more Rough-legged Hawks,and, a Prairie Falcon. Some herds of Mule Deer and flocks of Gray Partridge were seen on the trip home via Highways 804, 799, 552, and Dunbow Road."

As on almost all these day trips out of the city, almost every bird is far, far away, needing at least binoculars and best of all, a scope. Two Great Horned Owls and a couple of tiny Common Redpolls were the only closer photos I took. This was the first time that I had seen Redpolls this year, so it was a nice sighting. They were flying back and forth from the trees to perch on a rough, wooden fence.

Also, as always happens, my camera lens turns to things other than birds. Scenic shots are always taken - after all, I feel that it is important to record the habitat of any birds seen. I have no excuse to give for photographing any old barn or homestead, other than that I LOVE to photograph them : )

Terry, you took us on such an amazing trip! So many new (or forgotten) places, to me at least. You even arranged with the weatherman for a beautiful, sunny day. It couldn't have been a better outing - so very enjoyable. Now all I need to do is look at a map and try and find roughly where we travelled! Really appreciate your carefully made lists of all species seen, and where.