Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: electricity

Wednesday, 20 July 2016, was a day of adventure for me. I drove further than I have ever driven before (way, way SE of the city) - must remember to check my mileage when I next go out in my car, but it must have been somewhere between 400 and 500 km total. No big deal for many of you, but for me (and as someone with a driving phobia), it WAS a big deal : ) I am totally exhausted and my poor shoulder rotator cuffs are complaining like crazy. BUT, I had a great time - just a couple of moments of 'panic', when I thought I was lost, and when I noticed that I was seeing different wildflowers and definitely a different landscape. I eventually left home at 11:00 am, a good couple of hours later than I had intended. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take me to get to where I wanted to get, so had wanted to allow plenty of hours for this journey. I had been on the road for about three hours by the time I got there, but did stop at various places en route. The first part of my drive was along familiar roads - called in at Frank Lake just to check the gravel road leading to the gate. An Eastern Kingbird was the only species I saw. From there, I kept driving east on h'way 23, stopping briefly to photograph one of my favourite old houses. This highway eventually bends southwards and leads to Vulcan. I had only ever once driven as far as Vulcan, and that was on 30 March 2015. I had to stop again, like last year, and take a few photos of the cluster of old sheds, barn and house, before continuing on my way. From here until I reached my destination, was all new to me. Exciting and anxiety-causing, all at the same time. I drove further east and then turned south and found myself in a different kind of landscape, with a few interesting birds and plants to see and photograph, including a Ferruginous Hawk (three, actually) and wild sunflowers. I was in tall wind turbine country - which told me how far south I had come. The colours of some of the fields were unusual, too, as seen in this photo. Along one road, I had a Swainson's Hawk who perched nicely on a fence post at first and then circled overhead and followed my vehicle further down the road. Think it may have been a juvenile, screeching for its parents to come and feed it. Also saw a Mourning Dove on a fence post and what I think must be a juvenile Horned Lark. Actually, there were a lot of Horned Larks this day. I tend to forget that we can see them in summer time. After travelling westwards and then north and west again, I found myself heading towards Frank Lake. It was along this road that I spotted some kind of shorebird perched on a fence post. Too late to stop, so I turned around and then slowly drove back to the bird - a Marbled Godwit, giving me a nice, sideways pose. It was still daylight, so I decided to try one more time along the gravel road leading to the gate at Frank Lake. Here, I had another nice sighting - friend, Debbie : ) Good to see you and have a nice, long chat. A great day with an enjoyable ending.

Yesterday afternoon, 31 January 2016, I decided to go for a drive east of the city. The weather was getting sunny and I needed to get out for a while. On the way home, I passed the huge Shepard Energy Centre along the Glenmore Trail and pulled over to take a quick shot of the billowing clouds of vapour. “The $1.4-billion plant in east Calgary is capable of generating more than 800 megawatts of electricity for the provincial grid, the city-owned utility company said in a release. 'The facility is the largest of its kind in the province and an important step in Alberta's transition away from aging coal-fired generation facilities,' Enmax said. Enmax announced the project in 2007 and it became a joint venture with Edmonton-based Capital Power Corporation as a 50 per cent owner in late 2012. It uses combined-cycle technology that has two combustion turbines to generate electricity while making use of waste heat through a steam turbine for extra power production. The centre is about 30 per cent more efficient than conventional coal plants and will emit less than half the CO2 per megawatt hour, as well as less carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide gases, Enmax says. Its cooling towers will also use 14 million litres of reclaimed water per day from the city’s Bonnybrook wastewater treatment plant, the company says. "With this crucial infrastructure added to Alberta's electricity system, we will bring reliable electricity to Albertans for decades to come,” said Enmax CEO Gianna Manes in a release.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/shepard-energy-centre-powe... Grand opening video globalnews.ca/video/2019487/grand-opening-of-calgarys-she... calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-s-largest-natural-gas-fuelled-...

This photo was taken yesterday, 17 April 2015, when I went with friend Shirley to Frank Lake. We spent the morning driving round part of the lake and a short while at the bird blind (hide). Bumped into our friend Dave near the blind and he joined us for the rest of the morning. Nice to have your company, Dave! And an extra pair of eyes is always welcomed. We had heard that the White-faced Ibis had arrived, but we were out of luck yesterday. We did, however, stop briefly to see the Great Horned Owl nest that has three owlets in it. Stopped just long enough to get a couple of photos and then continued on our drive. It was extremely windy yesterday, which may have affected the various birds. Too bad they don't have wind turbines in this area, as it seems to be windy most times I go to Frank Lake! We didn't see all that many, mainly a few birds such as "American Avocets", "Black-necked Stilts" Coots, Canada Geese, and so on. A pity you can't see and feel the wind in my photo, but you can see what a beautiful, sunny day it was. Many thanks for the invite to join you and for driving me, Shirley! We had a fun time, including all of us going to Tim Horton's for lunch before heading home. I was certainly ready for that hot Chili and coffee!

After a bird walk that resulted in not a single bird photo, I decided to shoot the circular disks on a power line! Not sure what you call them.