Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: smoke

Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you yesterday (25 August 2018) while you were out again at your summer trailer at Eagle Lake for the weekend! It was a fairly cool day, which was great, but the smoke is still being blown in from the wildfires in British Columbia. I was just reading an article this morning about the awful air quality in Seattle and theirs has been roughly the same as ours. They reckon the very poor air quality is equivalent to smoking seven cigarettes a day. I had stayed home the two days before this outing, to avoid breathing in the toxic air. It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Compared to our visit on 17 June 2017, there were fewer species to be seen, but enough to keep us happy. I think the highlight for me was a Western Kingbird that posed so beautifully on a tangle of metal pipes down near the edge of the water. I also loved taking a couple of quick shots of such a cute goat just as we were leaving. We had stopped so that one of us could get out and buy several food items from a Hutterite stand that was in the trailer campground. I got out to get a bottle of water from my backpack in the back of the car and a friend in the car behind caught my attention and pointed out this animal posing so nicely. Great to see everyone who went, and we all enjoyed an array of delicious salads and desserts that left me feeling full till the early evening. We also enjoyed meeting your two Grandchildren, Shirley, who happened to be staying with you for the weekend. So good to see them both making lists of the bird species seen. Many thanks, Anne B, for driving some of us us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated, as always!

On 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but the temperature was more bearable (got up to around 25C) than most of our summer. Early morning was quite chilly, in fact. While at the meeting place, I took this photo - all the smoke we have been having for many weeks produces this kind of sunrise and sunset. I read that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lynn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. By the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated.

Today is the first day of September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and two days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought to Texas by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in the eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Yesterday, 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but yesterday's temperature was more bearable than most of our summer (got up to around 25C). Early morning felt quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV this morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lyn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. A day later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated. By the way, I didn't post any photos to Flickr yesterday. The day before was such a hot day (up to 33C, which is no joke when you don't have air-conditioning) and the smoke was bad. By the time evening came, I was just too hot and tired to look through photos and edit them. Also, I knew I was going to have a very early start next morning (4;50 am) and had no energy to post anything that early.

Yesterday, 10 August 2017, I finally did a drive that I had never done before. I'm always hearing or reading about Sheep River Provincial Park, but it was not until maybe a couple of weeks ago, that I got round to looking on Google to see exactly where it is. I found that maybe the first half of the drive, as far as Turner Valley, I had done before, which helped. The drive west from Turner Valley to just past the Sheep River falls was all new, so I "drove" the whole length on Google Earth to see what it was like. The whole distance from home and back was 195 km, so it was a much shorter trip than when I drove all the way south to the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre (511 km), on 3 August. I was hoping to see some wildlife and beautiful scenery, but the most important purpose for this trip was to make myself do a new drive. I almost didn't go, as I woke up later than I had planned, not feeling the greatest, and didn't leave home till 11:15 am. Glad I pushed myself out the front door, though. The only wildlife I saw was a Mule Deer doe, that I saw in two different places. She was looking for salt along the road and couldn't make up her mind whether to cross the road in front of me or not. I sat in my car and waited, and eventually she did cross and ended up near the passenger side of my car. When I was almost at the very end of this road, I stopped to take a look at the Sheep River Falls. It takes just a short walk from the parking lot to get a view of the falls below. Towards the end of my walk, black clouds rolled in and there was a bit of thunder accompanied by a sprinkling of rain. Short-lived, thankfully. As for scenery, the smoke continues from the British Columbia and Alberta wildfires. This results in poor landscape shots, at least with my little point-and-shoot. I'll be posting just a couple of scenic views, not for their photographic merit, but just to remind myself what the landscape is like. Just noticed a report for Waterton Lakes National Park. I do hope that no wildfires start in this little gem. "As of 9 August 2017, extreme fire risk in Waterton Lakes National Park prompts closure of trails and campgrounds." calgary.ctvnews.ca/extreme-fire-risk-in-waterton-lakes-na...

Another smoky day here in Calgary (21 July 2017), with a temperature of 20C this morning and cloudy. The air quality yesterday was expected to reach High Risk, but it seemed to be bearable late in the afternoon. So, I took a drive along some of my favourite roads SW of the city, seeing a few of the 'usual' things. I often can't stop at this location, as there is only enough room for two vehicles, and there is usually one car there, at least. I was happy to find that the spot was empty yesterday - then, half a minute later, three guys on noisy motor bikes pulled up next to me! I really hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon. The other day, about 145 wildfires were being reported in B.C., causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.

Yesterday afternoon, 16 July 2017, I had no choice but to get out for a short drive. My place was like an oven from weeks of heat, and I just couldn't stand it for one more minute. I drove the back roads SW of the city that I so often drive when I only have time or energy for a short drive. Today is much cooler and now, after having a couple of windows open, my place smells strongly of smoke from the B.C. wildfires and the Banff area. I posted a photo showing how the smoke is affecting Albertans. Best to stay indoors if possible, so I guess I won't be going anywhere for at least the next few days. It makes scenic shots pretty much useless. Then, last night, we had a blackout in my part of the city. Apparently, the outage was due to a motor vehicle damaging ENMAX equipment. I guess that is why two or three firetrucks came rushing down my street around 11:30 pm last night, and ENMAX vehicles were working till almost 2:00 am just down my street, within sight. Hot and windy are not my favourite conditions, but the air-conditioning in my car felt wonderful! There didn't seem to be all that much to be seen, though I suspect that one Mountain Bluebird pair has a second family to feed now. I was so happy to see the male in his usual place and even more excited when I saw him with a tiny insect in his beak, meaning only one thing - new babies. Usually, there are no cattle to be seen in the field, but yesterday, I had a lot of curious faces watching me carefully. Other than this Bluebird pair, the only other bird I photographed was an American Robin. No Snipe could be heard and only a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds to be seen. So, I decided to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, intending to just check the forest around the parking lot, to see if there were any fungi growing. There were four vehicles in the parking lot and I plucked up enough courage to go a short way into the park. This place always gives me the creeps and, usually, I only go a few feet into the actual park. Knowing that bears and cougars have been seen, it's never a good feeling to be there on my own. I've only ever seen a large Moose there on a couple of occasions. A few days ago, a friend told me that she had been told that someone who has an amazing forest for fungi had said that the fungi were at their peak right now. This seemed rather unlikely, as it is still only mid-July, plus the fact that everywhere is so dry. I just had to go to Brown-Lowery to check on the fungi there - absolutely nothing, other than three or four small, shapeless blobs on tree trunks. Hopefully, we will get rain in the next few weeks. Far more important, I hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon, though there is none in their forecast. Maybe a week ago, about 200 wildfires were being reported, causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.

"In the city of Calgary the air quality health index was off the charts through the overnight hours Tuesday (25 August 2015), peaking at 19 on a scale where 10 is considered "high." The smoke is being blown here from the northwestern United States. It affected the visibility the whole day, so there was no sign of the distant mountains and even the hills and fields closest to us. Most unpleasant, and I don't know how people who live much closer to the wildfires are managing! So many Firefighters bravely battling the flames! Added on 27 August - apparently, a spider had climbed inside the equipment used to track air quality and this had given the inaccurate ratings! Air quality was really bad, though. Took this photo at 7:50 am yesterday morning, 25 August, when 10 of us arrived at a friend's house, ready to go north of Calgary to near Sundre, for a few hours of botanizing, Actually, I think the sun may have been darker than the orange that my photo shows - later, I have just adjusted the shade of orange to a more accurate colour. The two darker marks you can see are the sunspot region 2403. www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/news This was the second visit to Judy Osborne's for a few of us, me included. The previous trip was on 30 June 2015. By now, of course, a lot of the wildflowers are finished, but I found enough other things to photograph, including a distant, beautiful Red-tailed Hawk, plus a few of the plants in my friends' garden at the beginning and end of the day. Thanks so much, Judy, for having us out on your beautiful property again. It was a most enjoyable day, despite the dreadful, smoke-filled air. We look forward to being out there again next year! Many thanks, too, to Barry, who drove a few of us out there and back to Calgary. A long, long drive and it was much appreciated!

This cigarette butt was lying at the bottom of wooden bin, with yellow, peeling paint. Today, I attended an excellent one-day Photography Course put on for the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park (FFCPP). Part of the course in the afternoon was to spend about two and a half hours wandering around the area near the Visitor's Centre and the Ranch. We were to take photos, keeping in mind some of the things we had learned in the morning. These are five of the photos I took and I will upload a few more next time.