Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#449

Happy Boxing Day, everyone! Just needed something completely different from snow and old barns. Dug deep into my archives and came up with this macro of a leaf tip of a Venus Flytrap plant. A splash of colour feels good today - a sunny day, but with a temperature of -18C (-0.4°F) with a windchill of -24C (-11.2°F). This macro shot shows the trap slightly open. I'm not sure why some traps are green and others more yellow, orange or red, but I've had all these colours on one single plant. Perhaps they change colour with age? This leaf tip was somewhere around half to three-quarters of an inch long. "The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Flytrap David Attenborough looks at how this well known carnivorous plant captures its prey. This short video is from the BBC. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIGVtKdgwo

I love the tiny feathers that owls have, especially around the face. You can see how these tiny feathers can trap the heat to protect the owl in cold weather. Five of us had such a great day on 21 July 2013. It was a bird outing at Bow Valley Provincial Park, west of Calgary, at the foot of the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. I knew that I would be looking for wildflowers, insects and so on, as well : ) When we got to the meeting place in the city, the leader pulled out a poster for the Parks Day event that also happened to be going on at the park at the same time. To my absolute delight, it mentioned a Bird of Prey exhibit! After our first walk, which was the Flowing Waters trail, we returned to where everyone had parked and we had an hour in which to wander round the various exhibits. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a row of owls of different sizes - a tiny Burrowing Owl, a Short-eared Owl, a Barn Owl (which we don't get in Alberta), a young Great Horned Owl with enormous eyes (seen in the image above), a Turkey Vulture, and a Golden Eagle! They were tethered along the edge of the trees and needless to say, there were plenty of other people taking photos, but despite the mix of shade and harsh sunlight, I got the chance to click to my heart's content : ) Later found out that many of my photos really were not well taken, but I got at least one that came out OK for each species ... phew! Thanks so much to the people down at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre (near Lethbridge, down towards the Canada/US border) for bringing your gorgeous birds of prey for us to see! I have been south to the Centre three times I think, and always wish I could go back again, but it's not somewhere I can drive to, so this was such a treat! www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/9560542629

To me, it looks like a little mud monster, drowing and calling out for help, lol! Taken at the fascinating Fountain Paint Pot location in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, US. More info later about this hot, bubbling mud, but I must get ready to dash out, and the snow is falling (again), so I have to leave enough time to clear my car. Hopefully, it will be just snow and not a layer of almost impossible ice to scrape, too. Ha, just HAD to share this YouTube video (thanks, Dave!). It never pays to tease a frog! youtu.be/QzXM58qR1Es

We are all breathing a huge sigh of relief - someone apparently came from one of the organizations (someone said Fish & WIldlife) and placed the little Great Horned owlet, that fell out of its nesting tree, back into another tree (after many days of it being on the ground). This was done yesterday afternoon and when I called in yesterday evening, this owlet was on a low branch and Mum and older owlet were higher up in the tree. We were lucky to see Mum catch supper and bring it to the older owlet and rip the bird up and feed the owlet. However, she simply placed a bird of some kind on the branch where this youngest owlet was perched and it had to tear apart the bird itself. So, this youngster is now out of harm's way, at least as far as coyotes are concerned. And people! I just can't believe what some people will do to get a very close shot. I very carefully did not mention the location of this owl family while the owlet was down on the ground.

I was SOOOO thrilled to see this Silver Maple tree in Bowness Park yesterday afternoon! I had longed to be able to take photos of glorious red Maple leaves and finally got the chance. People were arriving to look at this tree and some had obviously heard about it already. I felt SO guilty leaving the park with several leaves in my hand.