Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: paper

When we were exploring and botanizing the beautiful acreage (south west of Calgary and west of Millarville) belonging to Janel Butler and her family four days ago, this teeny shell was noticed on the ground. It was temporarily placed on our botany list, and then returned to its original place. (Not my handwriting, by the way, ha). I am absolutely dead beat - and my feet are killing me and my hips are complaining that they were forced to climb a very steep hillside covered in very slippery grass, as part of our hike today, LOL! I left home at 7:30 a.m. and got home this evening around 9:00 p.m. Apart from three of us stopping to have some supper on the way home, we have been out walking the rolling prairie grasslands south west of the city, west of Nanton, hour after hour after hour ; ) We record every plant we come across, every bird, animal, insect, etc.. Every time we go out to botanize someone's acreage or do a botanizing hike in the foothills or mountains, it's a wonderful win/win situation. We get the amazing chance to see new places and new things, and the ranch/acreage owners are given a complete list of our findings. Not too warm today but dreadfully windy. I almost dread taking a look at my photos in case none of them are sharp enough. Photographing wildflowers in strong winds really doesn't work, LOL.

We saw a couple of these Yellow Jacket wasp nests when we were on a botanizing outing in Bragg Creek Natural Area two days ago. They were built at the base of two different trees. We all scattered when I announced that several wasps were flying away from the nest - thought immediately of friend Doug who received about 12 wasp stings recently! We were impressed with the scallop design that the wasps had created : ) Just managed to get a couple of quick shots before rapidly departing.

We saw this old Paper Wasp nest on a walk in South Glenmore Park this morning. It was probably built either by a Bald/White-faced Hornet or else a Yellowjacket. It always amazes me how creatures in nature are programmed for certain skills and they all just go ahead and do it : ) Each chamber here is perfectly built and makes for a different kind of image. Though it was -3C early this morning and I had to scrape all the ice off my car windows, as you can see the sky was deep blue. I much prefer this kind of day to a warmer one with grey skies! I have to admit that I was trying to press the shutter button with an index finger that I couldn't feel. And it is only going to get worse... brrr!

It is fascinating to examine a piece of an old wasp's nest. The paper is quite tough and sometimes has coloured patches in it like this one.