Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: ABigFave

The dreaded seedhead of a Goat's-beard plant! This invasive plant is much disliked.

Found this member of the Paintbrush family out in Kananaskis, at Cobble Flats. Very unusual colouring - not sure that it's "supposed" to be colouring!

It was only maybe -13C early this morning when I left home about 6:45 a.m.. All day, it has felt SO cold - just three or four seconds without my glove each time I wanted to take a photo and it was excrutiatingly painful! The sun has been shining all day - cold and beautiful. The highest this photo got in Explore was #66 on 4th February 2007.

Oooooh....temper tantrum! Chickadees never like another Chickadee coming near the food, as this photo taken today, shows!

I didn't notice how the sun was turning the grass blades into golden ribbons until I downloaded my photos to the computer. I was concentrating more on the beautiful light and the sparkle of the snow.

Snowy Owl female and owlet at the Calgary Zoo. This is a cropped version of a photo similar to one I posted a while ago. So "ugly", it's cute!

One of the things I noticed on my walk this morning. I love that central pattern and the long, fine hairs.

This is the female Snowy Owl at the Calgary Zoo; the mother of three owlets. This was #272 on 7th December 2006.

The Black-capped Chickadee is the most common bird to fly down to one's hand (my daughter's in this photo) here in Calgary. I have only had these, plus Boreal Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches on my hand but will hope for a White-breasted Nuthatch and maybe even a Downy Woodpecker this winter. Thanks everyone!

This was such a magical hour, spent quietly watching and photographing this young Great Horned Owl. A few days ago, we noticed that their nesting tree stump had fallen or been blown to the ground. Hopefully, they will choose another tree in the same area for nesting next spring. (Note to self: I used a similar photo to this one for my 2008 calendar.)

Wish I had seen this bird out in the wild, though I have seen Great Greys in the countryside before but from a distance. Instead, I have had to make do so far with getting my closer shots at the Calgary Zoo. The aviaries there have Great Greys as well as other owls, with nothing between you and the birds. This owl was sitting in a tree inside one of the huge aviaries maybe 10 feet away from me. Quite an experience to find oneself looking into THESE eyes! Not a single slight movement was missed by these sharp eyes. This is a photo I posted when I first joined Flickr and I don't have any record of what # it reached in Explore. I do know that it was at #416 at one point. Thanks, everyone, for taking a look!

This was my very first bird photo, when I was new to "birding". In fact, I had no idea what kind of bird it was until I got home and did a little research. This photo, taken almost two and a half years ago, got me totally "hooked" on nature photography. These small birds will fly to your hand to feed, though hand-feeding is rather frowned upon.

This was the one and only photo I had time to take before this Merlin flew off and fortunately it came out OK. These birds are seen in suburban areas as well, where they catch House Sparrows.