Horse on the prairie
Old barn with a view
Layers and stripes
Red barn on a sunny day
Sitting so pretty
Barn with a difference
Mountains at sunset
Tiny predator with prey
Prairie Falcon
Old homestead in sunset light
From shadow to light
Dreaming of summer flowers
From my archives - Long-tailed Weasel
Memories of last summer
Set from the movie, The Revenant
Northern Pygmy-owl from January
The face of innocence
Dragonfly paradise
Poppy seedhead with pink bokeh
A moment of closeness
Reflections
Distant, but much appreciated
Guarding his barn
Summer dreams
Horned Lark
Pileated Woodpecker at work
Little nut and seed eater of the forest
Just a different perch
One of my favourite finds
Cormorants and their reflections
Blending in
Handsome Pileated Woodpecker
Bow River, E end of Fish Creek Park
Way, way up
Such a fun Moose
It's mine!
Another day closer to spring
Great Gray Owl in early morning light
A fine rural relic
Mule Deer on the prairies
Irresistibly cute
Newly burst Poppy
Stinkhorn fungus / Mutinus elegans
Purple and white
White Admiral
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Making sure we go the right way


This is a poor quality photo, as you can tell, but I did want to post it for the record. It was taken yesterday evening, 12 February 2015, SE of Calgary, at one of the ramps leading from another road, right next to the main, busy highway. The lighting comes from car headlights and street lamps, giving the owl a rather unpleasant colour. We had pulled off the ramp on to one of the small patches where a car is able to stop. We really hoped the owl knew what it was doing and that it would soon leave for the fields. While we were there, it flew alongside the car and pounced on some kind of small rodent (Meadow Vole?) for a snack. Seeing this beautiful Snowy Owl certainly made a great ending to a day of exploration in a mostly familiar place!
Yesterday, 12 February 2015, was spent SE of the city, with friends Cathy and Terry. They picked me up around 7:00 am and I think I was home somewhere around 7:30 pm, after a great day of searching for owls, barns, and anything else that caught our eye. The weather was beautiful, despite a cloud layer. The temperature reached a brief high of 13C around 1:00 and 2:00 pm, which felt so good, especially for mid-winter.
Many of the roads we travelled along were roads that I had driven on myself, some of them a number of times. A few of the roads were new to me, which was a treat, including a "trail" that was so deeply rutted and snow-covered that I'm amazed that we ever got out of there! This track and another backroad that was new to me led to a few old barns that I really appreciated being shown. I think my friends were amused that I fell asleep on this very rough track - after only an hour and a half's sleep the previous night, on top of always being very sleep-deprived, I'm really not surprised. It's strange how some fields in the whole area were more or less bare and yet others had a lot of snow covering the stubble, with piles of snow lining the edges of the road.
As far as wildlife was concerned, we saw 11 owls - 8 Snowy Owls and 3 Great Horned Owls. The Snowies, other than the one in this photo, were all extremely distant, so my photos are of white specks in a nice setting, ha. If I hadn't been with two people who can spot "everything", I'm sure that I would never have found most of these owls! One of the Great Horned Owls gave us a lovely view, although not close, with no branches getting in the way. Loved hearing it calling to its mate, who was presumably tucked into one of the neighbouring trees.
Other birds included a flock of Snow Buntings, plus two individuals that were perched on a fence - haven't checked yet to see if I have a sharp enough photo. We had to deal with a lot of heat distortion during the day, so some photos are far from sharp. Another bird we saw was a beautiful Falcon perched on an electricity pylon - not a large bird, so presumably a Prairie Falcon, not a Gyrfalcon.
Many thanks, as always, Cathy and Terry, for a great day out, including the delicious chili you made and brought along. Fun and rewarding! Really appreciated being with you, doing what we all enjoy so much. Thanks, too, for giving me time to photograph the various barns we came across!
Yesterday, 12 February 2015, was spent SE of the city, with friends Cathy and Terry. They picked me up around 7:00 am and I think I was home somewhere around 7:30 pm, after a great day of searching for owls, barns, and anything else that caught our eye. The weather was beautiful, despite a cloud layer. The temperature reached a brief high of 13C around 1:00 and 2:00 pm, which felt so good, especially for mid-winter.
Many of the roads we travelled along were roads that I had driven on myself, some of them a number of times. A few of the roads were new to me, which was a treat, including a "trail" that was so deeply rutted and snow-covered that I'm amazed that we ever got out of there! This track and another backroad that was new to me led to a few old barns that I really appreciated being shown. I think my friends were amused that I fell asleep on this very rough track - after only an hour and a half's sleep the previous night, on top of always being very sleep-deprived, I'm really not surprised. It's strange how some fields in the whole area were more or less bare and yet others had a lot of snow covering the stubble, with piles of snow lining the edges of the road.
As far as wildlife was concerned, we saw 11 owls - 8 Snowy Owls and 3 Great Horned Owls. The Snowies, other than the one in this photo, were all extremely distant, so my photos are of white specks in a nice setting, ha. If I hadn't been with two people who can spot "everything", I'm sure that I would never have found most of these owls! One of the Great Horned Owls gave us a lovely view, although not close, with no branches getting in the way. Loved hearing it calling to its mate, who was presumably tucked into one of the neighbouring trees.
Other birds included a flock of Snow Buntings, plus two individuals that were perched on a fence - haven't checked yet to see if I have a sharp enough photo. We had to deal with a lot of heat distortion during the day, so some photos are far from sharp. Another bird we saw was a beautiful Falcon perched on an electricity pylon - not a large bird, so presumably a Prairie Falcon, not a Gyrfalcon.
Many thanks, as always, Cathy and Terry, for a great day out, including the delicious chili you made and brought along. Fun and rewarding! Really appreciated being with you, doing what we all enjoy so much. Thanks, too, for giving me time to photograph the various barns we came across!
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