Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#429

I went back to Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, this afternoon. Found the rare Black-backed Woodpecker again immediately. Then I walked back towards the parking lot to photograph a group of five Mule Deer. Noticed two gentlemen with their enormous lenses focussed on "something". They said they had found a tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. These owls are rare to uncommon year-round in Alberta. Think I've only ever seen one twice in the city and once in the mountains. They can be mobbed by little songbirds and the owls have a pair of "false eyes" on the back of their head to help intimidate these songbirds, such as Chickadees. Though Pygmy-owls are small, they are fierce and often catch birds that outweigh themselves. They usually feed at night, but we did see this little guy swoop a few times this afternoon. They are such cute little owls to look at ! Only 18 cm long and about the size of a person's fist or a popcan. I'm surprised that any of my photos came out as the sky was clouding over and I was looking into the trees. Extremely "noisy" shots but I'm still so happy to have them!

A young teen clutching a camera said to me yesterday inside the Butterfly House at the Calgary Zoo, "I wish these butterflies would stay still"! There is constant flutter but, on the rare occasion, one will land and be still for a few moments.