Elk siblings or friends

Note: This is NOT my main photo of the three (i.e. the very last photo posted) I'm posting today! The Great Gray Owl is my main photo. Flickr is messing up yet AGAIN, showing my photos in a different order from what I post when some people look at them, which drives me nuts! Often, my second and third photos are much poorer quality (sometimes downright awful, lol), so that is what people see if they have Flickr set to show only one photo from each Contact, instead of what is usually the best of my 'daily three'. They are always displayed in the right order on my photostream.

Even though these majestic Elk are raised at the Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch, along with Buffalo/Bison, it's amazing to see them on the rolling hills SW of Calgary. Of course, one always prefers photos of animals in the wild, but I rarely get to see wild Elk and, when I do, they tend to be way off in the distance.

Throughout history, elk have been hunted for their quality lean meat. More information on the Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch can be found at the link below:

www.crmr.com/ranch/

The light was so harsh when I arrived at a wetland in SW Calgary rather late in the afternoon of 5 June 2015. There didn't seem to be a lot of birds in sight and just the usual ones, so I didn't stay long. No sign of any young ones yet with the Red-necked Grebe, lying on her distant nest.

From the wetland, I drove a few of the backroads SW of the city, seeing familiar birds that I often photograph, but always happy for the opportunity to shoot again. One hillside had numerous white-spotted baby Elk - raised on a ranch, but still so cute to see, despite not being wild. Three Mourning Doves were perched on a high wire in their usual spot. A herd of gorgeous Long-horn cattle and their cute youngsters were in a field that I passed, but again, the afternoon sun was just too harsh for photos. Stopped to photograph a pair of Mountain Bluebirds - there were flashes of blue along many of the backroads. A Snipe standing on a fence post in a different place completed my afternoon.