Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: early morning light

From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This photo was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own? It was taken shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too. That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, they didn't seem to be seen for a long time but, more recently, people have been seeing them, fortunately. Hope to eventually get out looking, though I'm not sure when. Depends on winter road conditions and also on when the light-headedness I'm getting (like before Christmas) clears up.

From my archives! I still have many old photos of Great Gray Owls that have not been posted and, as I'm just not getting the chance to "get out there" to look, thought I'd grab a shot from my archives. This shot was taken on a day that I actually got up and left the house really early - maybe the only day I've ever done that, when going somewhere on my own? Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from near its mouth. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too. That was a good winter for Great Gray Owls. Since then, very few people seem to have been seeing them, unfortunately. Hope to get out looking soon. I have to check my car today to see if I can open the hood and then get it closed again. This was difficult to do on Saturday, after a woman suddenly cut right across my lane of moving traffic and there was no time for me to stop. When the other driver and I checked the hood of my car, we found that it was very difficult to get it closed again. I'm really hoping I don't have to take my vehicle in for some kind of repair.

A photo from my archives, taken on 28 March 2013. This was the first Great Gray Owl that I came across that day, on a drive NW of Calgary. Caught it in beautiful light, which was a real treat. After much watching and listening, this beautiful owl finally decided to "go for it", plunging into the snow-covered ground closer than I was expecting. I don't think it was successful, though. I was very lucky that day, seeing another close owl, and then, later, two much more distant owls. Since then, very few people seem to have been seeing these amazing birds of prey in that whole area. It's quite a long drive for me, so I've only been up there a few times since, and saw nothing. The last time I drove out that way was on 28 October 2014, on a drive north to the Didsbury area. I returned to Calgary via Water Valley and Grand Valley Rd/Horse Creek Rd. Saw quite a few Magpies, three or four Crows and one Gray Jay, lol. Other than that - oh, and one Hawk perched high up on a power pole along a busy road - I saw no wildlife at all. All these Great Grays (and Northern Hawk Owls) gave a lot of people much enjoyment back then. We miss them. Have added a previously posted image of this owl, taken the same morning, in a comment box below. "In some areas it is also called Phantom of the north, Cinereous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl, and Sooty Owl." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id

This photo was taken at 6:47 a.m. on 28 August 2014, the last morning of a three-day trip down south of Calgary, with friends, Cathy and Terry. The first two days were spent in Waterton Lakes National Park We were up and ready to leave very early on the third morning, as we wanted to do a long drive eastwards before driving all the way back to Calgary. It's roughly a three-hour drive directly from Waterton to Calgary. Before leaving the park, we took a short drive part way along one of the roads within the park, the Chief Mountain Highway, from where we caught the end of the sunrise. The mountains and clouds looked so beautiful, bathed in pink. Waterton village (or hamlet?), where we spent the two nights at the Bear Mountain Motel, is some distance off to the left of the photo. Little did we know that this was such a different sight from the one we were to encounter late in the afternoon, when we saw a menacing cloud approaching and bringing with it a mesocyclone! We were soon engulfed by it when it came down to ground level, bringing pounding hail and tremendously strong winds. During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014), we saw so many things, including breathtaking scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including endangered Burrowing Owls (way east of Waterton, on our last day), a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me, and also way east of Waterton Park!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse that are uncommon in the park. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators. Definitely a great trip!

This photo was taken at 6:48 a.m. on 28 August 2014, the last morning of a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park with friends, Cathy and Terry. We were up and ready to leave very early, as we wanted to do a long drive eastwards before driving all the way back to Calgary. It's roughly a three-hour drive directly from Waterton to Calgary. Before leaving the park, we took a short drive along one of the roads, from where we caught the end of the sunrise. The mountains and clouds looked so beautiful, bathed in pink. You can see the road leading back to Waterton village towards the bottom of the photo. Little did we know that this was such a different sight from the one we were to encounter late in the afternoon, when we saw a menacing cloud approaching and bringing with it a mesocyclone! We were soon engulfed by it when it came down to ground level, bringing pounding hail and tremendously strong winds.

This beautiful Great Gray Owl was busy hunting, but every once in a while would give a quick glance in my direction. Seen NW of Calgary, on 28 March 2013. (No cropping, but 48x zoom.)

This photo was taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary, shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Today, 14 April 2013, it looks like we are in the middle of winter, once again. It snowed all day yesterday and the snow is falling steadily this morning. My fence is topped with maybe 5" of snow so far. More snow expected tomorrow and then next week, the rain arrives, lol! This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant.

Sorry, back to Owls again : ) Though many of the photos I take tend to be very similar, I do still have a lot of ones that I could add here. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 25 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can so it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light is always different each time. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from its beak. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not (with my very old version of PhotoShop Elements) - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too : ) All about luck and timing. HAPPY EARTH DAY, everyone! Hope at least some of you have been able to get outdoors to enjoy and appreciate the marvels of nature today. So many good things are being done by many people in all sorts of ways to improve our planet. Not sure if this all balances out with all the negative things that are being done by other people. Important things to think about on Earth Day - but we also need to be thinking about them every day, too.

Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 25 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can so it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed NW of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light was different. This one must have plunged into the mix of dried grass and snow fairly recently, as it still had that long piece of grass hanging from its chin. Wasn't sure whether to remove it or not - it's in quite a few photos - but decided to leave it just as it was. Right decision, lol? I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too : ) Flickr is acting up again (at least for some of us). Have not yet been able to add any tags to this image this morning. I've cleared my cache and restarted my computer, but still the same. Also, when I clicked on the Nuthatch photo I posted today, I happened to notice that the row of tiny thumbnail photos in the top, right corner (below map) showed the image surrounded by other photos that were taken on the same date ages ago, and not surrounded by my most recent photos. Never seen that happen before. Very strange. Also, some people are having problems - yet again - with photos not showing up on their Contacts Home Page, and I suspect this is happening with mine, again.

Another photo of the straw-chewing, country-loving Great Gray Owl, taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. This was the second of the four Great Grays I saw that day, the first two quite close, the last two being more distant, but still close enough for photos. In some places, the Great Gray is known as the Phantom of the North. This rather soft image, in snowy surroundings, made me think of that name.

This was the first Great Gray Owl that I came across five days ago, on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. Caught it in beautiful light, which was a real treat. After much watching and listening, this beautiful owl finally decided to "go for it", plunging into the snow-covered ground closer than I was expecting. I don't think it was successful, though. I was very lucky that day, seeing another close owl, and then, later, two much more distant owls. I was NW of Calgary again yesterday, but saw just one very distant Great Gray Owl, hunting in an enormous meadow. Not the best for photos, but it was interesting to watch several attempts made for rodents. "In some areas it is also called Phantom of the north, Cinereous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl, and Sooty Owl." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/id We had snow overnight, but it has mostly disappeared already, I'm happy to say. However, there is a Storm Watch in effect. Up to 15 cm of snow forecast for Edmonton, I see. Looks like we are going to escape this here in Calgary.

This is a photo of a straw-chewing, country-loving Great Gray Owl, taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. This was the second of four Great Grays I saw that day, the first two quite close, the last two being more distant, but still close enough for photos. In some places, the Great Gray is known as the Phantom of the North. This rather soft image, in snowy surroundings, made me think of that name.