Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: intent

This beautiful Great Gray Owl was amazing to watch, as it listened and watched for a Meadow Vole below the snow. Even when there might be several people standing watching the owl, it is completely focused, other than just an occasional glance in our direction. These owls are quite tolerant, for the most part, of people. Though it looks like it was very close and more or less at eye level, it was actually high in a tree. Normally, we don't get Great Gray Owls in Calgary - I think the last one was seen about 17 years ago, but this winter, we have seen two of them, one at Griffith Woods and the one in my photo, seen at Bebo Grove in Fish Creek Park. How very lucky we have been! The angle of the owl in my photo is not my favourite, but it does show the beautiful feather pattern on the back of the head and the rather flat facial disk. A friend sent me the following information that she had received from Gus Yaki, a well-known Naturalist in the city, after asking him about the first of these two owls, seen at Griffith Woods. When asked about the possibility of the food supply having run out, he did not think the owl was feeding well because it was hunting during mid-day. It should have been hunting at dawn and dusk and sleeping during the day. He said they have excellent hearing. Also, he said he has not seen many small mammal tracks at this location and apparently the Meadow Voles have to surface to allow carbon dioxide to exit from their tunnels. He also said the owls see in ultraviolet which causes mouse urine to shine so they would see that. "These birds wait, listen, and watch for prey, then swoop down; they also may fly low through open areas in search of prey. Their large facial disks, also known as "ruffs", focus sound, and the asymmetrical placement of their ears assists them in locating prey, because of the lack of light during the late and early hours in which they hunt. On the nesting grounds, they mainly hunt at night and near dawn and dusk; at other times, they are active mostly during the night. They have excellent hearing, and may locate (and then capture) prey moving beneath 60 cm (2.0 ft) of snow in a series of tunnels solely with that sense. They then can crash to a snow depth roughly equal to their own body size to grab their prey. Only this species and, more infrequently, other fairly large owls from the Strix genus are known to "snow-plunge" for prey, a habit that is thought to require superb hearing not possessed by all types of owls." From Wikipedia. The first link shows a cross-section of a Great Gray Owl, showing the small size of the skeleton compared to the bulk of the plumage: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Strix_n... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl flic.kr/p/mqChxD

This Great Gray Owl, seen in Fish Creek Park on 17 February 2014, was such a treat. Normally, we never even get this species of owl within the city at all, but 2014 has been different, with the sighting of this individual plus another Great Gray Owl seen at Griffith Woods, which I was also lucky enough to see and photograph. They are such amazing owls to watch, especially when they are hunting. Their focus and concentration is superb. Other than an occasional glance in our direction, the owl completely ignored us - you see this with Great Gray Owls everywhere, as they are quite tolerant, for the most part, of people. This owl was high in a tree, though it looks like it was very close and more or less at eye level. We are back to snow again today, after recent brutally cold weather without snow. It's -15C as I type (windchill -24C), but tomorrow, it is supposed to get up to 3C by the afternoon. How good that will feel! I might be going out, the first time I will have left the house for any reason in 10 days! Cabin fever set in a few days ago : ) Flickr very kindly posted this image on their photostream on 7 March 2014, with the following description. I had no idea that Flickr ever did this. Much appreciated!! "Listening" by Anne Elliot, Flickr photographer spotlight for March 7, 2014. We're happy to feature this Great Gray Owl, taken by Anne Elliot in Fish Creek Park, Alberta, Canada. Elliot's photography chronicles the vast Alberta landscape and the animals that populate it. Learn more about Anne's owl photo here and be sure to follow her to see more of her images. www.flickr.com/photos/flickr/ www.flickr.com/photos/flickr/12984139293/

We have blue sky at the moment, too, as well as on the day I took this photo. The difference is that today, it's -26C (windchill -37C), tonight will be -32C (windchill -42C) and tomorrow morning will be -29C (windchill -38C). Am I going out this weekend? NO! We are under a Wind Chill Warning for the whole weekend, as a very cold Arctic air mass and moderate winds are giving extreme wind chill values. These -40C wind chills are being experienced by much of Alberta this weekend. At these extreme wind chill values, frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes. Taken from information on the Weather Network website. This photo of a beautiful Great Gray Owl was taken on 17 February 2014, at Bebo Grove in Fish Creek Park. Some days people see it; many other days it hides itself away and can't be found by anyone. We were so fortunate to see it that day, and to see it perched on an out-in-the-open, dead tree stump. With a beautiful blue sky as well, what more could one wish for?

Yesterday, 17 February 2014, was my lucky day for seeing this beautiful Great Gray Owl. Though I have seen many before, the special thing about this particular owl is that it was seen in Fish Creek Park, in the city. I believe a Great Gray Owl has only ever been seen in this local park on two occasions over the years, so this was a really special treat. Normally, we never even get this species of owl within the city at all, but 2014 has been different, with the sighting of this individual plus another Great Gray Owl seen at Griffith Woods, which I was also lucky enough to see and photograph. They are such amazing owls to watch, especially when they are hunting. Their focus and concentration is superb and we got to see this yesterday when we were there. Other than an occasional glance in our direction, the owl completely ignored us - you see this with GHOs everywhere, as they are quite tolerant, for the most part, of people. This owl was high in a tree, though it looks like it was very close and more or less at eye level. Today is THE day, when I have to take my computer to a store to have all the data transferred to a new machine that I bought a couple of months ago. See you in something like three days, when hopefully I will have figured out how to set everything up, once I get it back home.

On 10 January 2014, I had to remove my vehicle from the parking lot for the whole day, so that snow removal people could remove the snow and ice (poorly done for my parking stall, which didn't impress me!). I decided that if I drove over to the west of the city and went for a walk, that would kill a few hours. A Great Gray Owl had recently been reported, so I knew I needed to keep my eyes open. Shortly after I started, I passed someone who had just seen the owl about 20 minutes earlier, so I felt hopeful that it was still there. Further into the park, several other people gradually appeared, and it's always useful to have extra pairs of eyes. Eventually, it was finally spotted, hidden within the trees - well hidden! While I was there, it flew along the outer edge of the trees and then in among the trees, giving us some good views each time. It's always fascinating to watch how focused these owls are when hunting - it did catch a Meadow Vole (?) and flew up to a broken tree stump deep within the trees to feed on it. A few other attempts were made, but when it landed, it was out of sight, so I don't know if it caught some other prey or not. I was exhausted by the time I got home, mainly from walking through the deep snow. So glad I was "forced" out of my home, otherwise I wouldn't have made the effort to drive across the city. 8:45 a.m. today - wow, strong winds have just arrived, along with more snow. For once, I think I am going to do something I never do - go back to bed, lol. I was up early today, planning on going on a bird walk.

Great Gray Owl from my archives, taken NW of Calgary on 17 May 2012. They have such an incredible attention span when they are hunting for food, and barely acknowledge that you are standing there. No matter how many of these large owls I see, I am in total awe each and every time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id The Calgary area is under a Blizzard Warning for tonight and tomorrow. "A Blizzard Warning is issued when winds of 40 km/hr or greater are expected to cause widespread reductions in visibility to 400 metres or less, due to blowing snow, or blowing snow in combination with falling snow, for at least 4 hours." www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=db67361bd082ccd1&am... "December is expected to arrive with a blast of Arctic weather in both Calgary and Edmonton, as well as sections of central and southern Alberta, between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. The storm is expected to produce significant snowfall, between 15 and 30 cm, and wind gusts in excess of 60 kilometres per hour. Blizzard conditions could result in deteriorating visibility on highways throughout the province." Read more: calgary.ctvnews.ca/environment-canada-issues-severe-winte...