Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: country

I don't think I've posted many photos from 28 July 2014, when I drove along some of the dusty, gravel backroads SE of the city. It was another really hot day, so I just had to get out of the house and into the air-conditioning of my vehicle. Some of the fields were still pure gold - I liked this one with beautiful grasses growing along the edge. I love driving a gravel road, surrounded by vibrant yellow. Looked like some of the Canola fields had already lost their colour, though. Birds seen that afternoon/evening included a Barn Swallow, a young Marsh Wren that was enjoying a dust bath, a single young Sora, several Coots including one young one, two or three different species of shore bird (will eventually post photos, but I may not have the IDs), American Avocets, a couple of Swainson's Hawks, a lone White-faced Ibis on one of the small sloughs in the area. and a Meadowlark (looking rather scruffy, so it may have been a young one). There are 15,000 Canola producers in Alberta. Canola is one of the healthiest vegetable oils, if not the healthiest. "Canola refers to both an edible oil (also known as Canola oil) produced from the seed of any of several varieties of the rape plant, and to those plants, namely a cultivar of either rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) or field mustard (Brassica campestris L. or Brassica Rapa var.). The oil is suitable for consumption by humans and livestock, and for use as biodiesel." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola

Yesterday, 12 July 2014, I spent a few hours in the late afternoon till mid-evening, driving just a few of the backroads SE of the city, in the Frank Lake area. I had been there the day before, too, and just couldn't resist a few more hours there. Some of the fields were aglow with vibrant yellow Canola crops, which I look forward to every year. I didn't have time to drive far enough to find a beautiful barn surrounded in colour, so used these three silos instead. The sun was shining, but it was such a hazy day. My first stop was at Frank Lake, where I saw a few more Eared Grebes with their quite large "babies". The light was really bad, so it was impossible to get photos that showed colour and details. Will lighten one or two of them and see if that works. Saw Soras again - love these little guys, they are so cute. A few very distant White-faced Ibis, but I lucked out later, finding a lone Ibis at a slough somewhere around the lake. The Barn Swallows are vicious at the moment, dive-bombing anyone who approaches the blind! You not only hear them as they whoosh past your head, you also feel them! Hang on to your camera if you take photos from inside the blind, as they will continue to dive-bomb. It's too bad, as they really don't make it very pleasant for people. Also saw a couple of small birds that I'm not sure of the ID for, along the country backroads. Posted one of them today and will upload a very poor photo of the other sometime soon. There are 15,000 Canola producers in Alberta. Canola is one of the healthiest vegetable oils, if not the healthiest. "Canola refers to both an edible oil (also known as Canola oil) produced from the seed of any of several varieties of the rape plant, and to those plants, namely a cultivar of either rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) or field mustard (Brassica campestris L. or Brassica Rapa var.). The oil is suitable for consumption by humans and livestock, and for use as biodiesel." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola

Another photo that I need to add to my set of old photos taken in Doha, Qatar, 1966-67. catnaps.org/islamic/boats.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhow

A couple of days ago, 8 February 2013, I drove a loop SW of Calgary, covering various backroads. On the last leg of my short drive, I spotted this cowboy leading two of his horses down the snowy hillside. Just had to stop and take a quick shot - it looked so "Alberta" : )

We live in such a great and free country, which is something to be remembered each and every day! A special wish and thank-you for all those Canadians who are serving our country, especially overseas! This is Canada's 142nd birthday - we are so young! Created with fd's Flickr Toys .

I took the original photo mainly for a Northern Goshawk that was perched high on the roof. However, it was too distant and so I thought I would concentrate on just this part of the barn.