Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: free

This little Great Horned owlet was seen in one of the parks in the city. It had apparently fallen out of the nesting tree and couldn't climb back up, of course. Hopefully, it will survive its lower-level existence until it has grown enough to be able to at least fly a little. I was told that the adults have been feeding it, which is good news, and it seems to be well and healthy despite being out on its own for two nights. Both adults are nearby and keeping good watch over it.

Another photo from last summer of one of the young Red Foxes seen outside the city. It will be interesting to see if they return to the same den(s) as last year. They are such amazingy beautiful creatures. Was out all morning, east of the city, and was happy to see my first Black-necked Stilt of the year - also Avocet, Gadwall, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and so on. We were lucky to see the rare, recently reported, Common Teal/Eurasian Green-winged Teal. It was very distant, at first swimming away from us, and then in flight. Better to have seen this distant, almost-silhouette bird, than not at all, LOL. No chance for photos this morning - all birds were much too far away. Gorgeous day, though. Crazy Calgary weather - supposed to get up to 20C today and even 23C on Tuesday (I think). Might just hop in my car again and drive a little way south west of the city before more of the afternoon slips away. I have SOOOO much I should be doing (including my Taxes), but the blue sky and sunshine are calling me ... sigh.

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 .

We saw this handsome Wilson's Snipe south of Calgary yesterday (was it really only yesterday?!) Six of us went to the area south of 22X to do our annual May Species Count. A long day, from 7:30 a.m. till around 4:00 p.m., but most enjoyable. I would say the highlight was the unexpected sighting of the Great Gray Owl that I posted yesterday! "For a short while this species was lumped with other similar birds, collectively called Common Snipe. DNA evidence showed that the populations did not interbreed, so its original name was restored. The breeding range of the Wilson's Snipe includes most of mainland Canada and the adjoining USA." From talkaboutwildlife website. talkaboutwildlife.ca/profile/?s=129