Marbled Godwit / Limosa fedoa
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple/Water Avens seedhead / Geum rivale
Indian Paintbrush
Mountain Bluebird
Alberta foothills in smoke haze
White-tailed Deer family
Mountain Bluebird female
Nemophila sp.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird female
Celosia sp.
Greenish-flowered Wintergreen / Pyrola chlorantha
White-tailed Deer
American Robin with food for his babies
Western Grebe
Once a home
Forever cute
Helmeted Guineafowl / Numida meleagris
Little country church
Here comes dessert!
Western Wood Lily
Cameron Falls, Waterton Lakes National Park
Nodding/Musk Thistle / Carduus nutans
Wolf's Milk slime mold, Rusty Bucket Ranch
A country scene
Smoke from the British Columbia wildfires reaches…
Blonde curls
Garden flowers at the Rusty Bucket Ranch
Watch dog : )
Sheep at the Rusty Bucket Ranch
Hearts at the Rusty Bucket Ranch
Artist's Conk (or Conch), Rusty Bucket Ranch bio-b…
Fungus, Rusty Bucket Ranch bio-blitz
Summer colour
Pure bliss when it's 32°C
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
A view from Red Rock Canyon, Waterton
Pinedrops
Bear Grass / Xerophyllum tenax
Bighorn Sheep, Waterton Lakes National Park
Orange False Dandelion / Agoseris aurantiaca
Wildflower meadow, Waterton
Intricate beauty of Bear Grass
Beautiful blonde Black Bear
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
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200 visits
Old barn in a field of canola


Flickr has had/is still having problems today with views stats and photos not being seen on other people's Contacts page. Glad I'm not the only one, but it's still annoying.
Two afternoons ago, on 16 July 2017, I had no choice but to get out for a short drive. My place was like an oven from weeks of heat, and I just couldn't stand it for one more minute. I drove the back roads SW of the city that I so often drive when I only have time or energy for a short drive.
The last two days have been much cooler but now, after having a couple of windows open, my place smells strongly of smoke from the British Columbia wildfires. By the end of this drive, the smoke haze was so bad that it was useless trying to take scenic shots. Amazing that some people in NW Calgary were getting falling ash from the fires yesterday. This photo was taken early in my drive, still within city limits, and before the smoke haze thickened.
Hot and windy are not my favourite conditions, but the air-conditioning in my car felt wonderful! There didn't seem to be all that much to be seen, though I suspect that one Mountain Bluebird pair has a second family to feed now. I was so happy to see the male in his usual place and even more excited when I saw him with a tiny insect in his beak, meaning only one thing - new babies. Usually, there are no cattle to be seen in the field, but on this day, I had a lot of curious faces watching me carefully.
Other than this Bluebird pair, the only other bird I photographed was an American Robin. No Snipe could be heard and only a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds to be seen. So, I decided to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, intending to just check the forest around the parking lot, to see if there were any fungi growing. There were four vehicles in the parking lot and I plucked up enough courage to go a short way into the park. This place always gives me the creeps and, usually, I only go a few feet into the actual park, if at all. Knowing that bears and cougars have been seen, it's never a good feeling to be there on my own. I've only ever seen a large Moose there on a couple of occasions. A few days ago, a friend told me that she had been told that someone who has an amazing forest for fungi had said that the fungi were at their peak right now. This seemed rather unlikely, as it is still only mid-July, plus the fact that everywhere is so dry. I just had to go to Brown-Lowery to check on the fungi there - absolutely nothing, other than three or four small, shapeless blobs on tree trunks. Hopefully, we will get rain in the next few weeks.
Far more important, I hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon, though there is none in their forecast. Maybe a week ago, about 200 wildfires were being reported in that province, causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.
Two afternoons ago, on 16 July 2017, I had no choice but to get out for a short drive. My place was like an oven from weeks of heat, and I just couldn't stand it for one more minute. I drove the back roads SW of the city that I so often drive when I only have time or energy for a short drive.
The last two days have been much cooler but now, after having a couple of windows open, my place smells strongly of smoke from the British Columbia wildfires. By the end of this drive, the smoke haze was so bad that it was useless trying to take scenic shots. Amazing that some people in NW Calgary were getting falling ash from the fires yesterday. This photo was taken early in my drive, still within city limits, and before the smoke haze thickened.
Hot and windy are not my favourite conditions, but the air-conditioning in my car felt wonderful! There didn't seem to be all that much to be seen, though I suspect that one Mountain Bluebird pair has a second family to feed now. I was so happy to see the male in his usual place and even more excited when I saw him with a tiny insect in his beak, meaning only one thing - new babies. Usually, there are no cattle to be seen in the field, but on this day, I had a lot of curious faces watching me carefully.
Other than this Bluebird pair, the only other bird I photographed was an American Robin. No Snipe could be heard and only a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds to be seen. So, I decided to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, intending to just check the forest around the parking lot, to see if there were any fungi growing. There were four vehicles in the parking lot and I plucked up enough courage to go a short way into the park. This place always gives me the creeps and, usually, I only go a few feet into the actual park, if at all. Knowing that bears and cougars have been seen, it's never a good feeling to be there on my own. I've only ever seen a large Moose there on a couple of occasions. A few days ago, a friend told me that she had been told that someone who has an amazing forest for fungi had said that the fungi were at their peak right now. This seemed rather unlikely, as it is still only mid-July, plus the fact that everywhere is so dry. I just had to go to Brown-Lowery to check on the fungi there - absolutely nothing, other than three or four small, shapeless blobs on tree trunks. Hopefully, we will get rain in the next few weeks.
Far more important, I hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon, though there is none in their forecast. Maybe a week ago, about 200 wildfires were being reported in that province, causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.
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