Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: SearchTheBest

After spending just half an hour gardening a couple of days ago, I had to stop, as I was getting really painful. I tend to spend just a couple of hours a year in my little square patch - just too overwhelming to deal with. After digging and tugging and twisting about eight of these invasive fern plants out of the soil, I reckoned the very least I could do was to take a photo of the bright green coils. That was the more pleasant part - the rest of the "work" was not enjoyed at all, LOL! By the way, the white background resulted from shooting towards my light grey siding, which was really blown out because of the very bright sunlight: )

A Rose from Safeway, bought last month when our weather was bitterly cold and snowy.

This photo is perhaps a little misleading, as this beautiful Northern Flickr was hard at work making a cavity in the tree trunk. This resulted in most of my captures having a very blurry head - oh, the joys of trying to photograph Woodpeckers, of any kind : ) Photographed this beauty down at Sikome, Fish Creek Park, on April 26th. Quite a dark little spot, in amongst the trees. Good morning, Jim (Garnite) and Linda! Hope you had a restful night (both of you) and that Jim's body was able to rest and grow a little stronger, ready for that wonderful moment when he will wake up and open his eyes. So many people are waiting for this good news! Thinking of you both!

I took this photo more than a year ago and I remember it well : ) I think it was something like 1:00 in the morning and I was about to go to bed, when I happened to notice this tiny, Two-spotted Ladybug climbing all over one of the flowers in my kitchen. So, out came the camera and I tried to get a few photos of it, unfortunately in atrocious light and through tired, blurry eyes. (Talking of which, I drove across the city this afternoon to get my glasses, which had been brought back from Canmore to Calgary last weekend, after the Christmas Bird Count there - thanks so much Christine!). These Ladybugs are smaller than the more common Seven-Spotted, and are native to Alberta, unlike the Seven-spotted. You'll never think of milk and cookies for Santa in the same way if you watch this funny little video from JibJab. Would never have seen it, but my son, Steven, posted it on his Facebook page. Thanks for the laugh, Steven! sendables.jibjab.com/holidays/sendables/203532/from_the_f...

Another in my series of photos of this rare to uncommon (in Alberta) Northern Pygmy-owl, found in Fish Creek Park. I think I have three or four photos of it left to upload - I don't like flooding my photostream with photos of one thing, so I've been spreading them out. This tiny, fist-sized, popcan-sized owl is proving to be impossible to spot in the park. We have seen it once, I think, since I took these photos, but it was far, far away. Various people keep trying to find it, but so far have been unsuccessful, so I feel very lucky to have seen it, and reasonably close up. It's such a beautiful - but vicious! - little bird of prey. Has anyone seen this video from YouTube? I laugh every time I take a look at it. Some of you will relate to it quite well, LOL! I've just posted this link - after 34 of you left a kind comment, so will post the link again tomorrow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLOk_ELt2A

I didn't even notice this Harvestman (Daddy Long-legs) sprawled over a Poppy seedhead, until I got home and downloaded my photos : ) Seen at the Reader Rock Garden on 14th July. By the way, a Harvestman is neither a spider nor an insect. Holy smokes, 4:15 p.m. and we are in the middle of a huge thunder, rain and hail storm!!! SO glad I didn't follow through with my plan to go to the forest this afternoon. It's taken just a few minutes to turn the ground white! Incredible. talkaboutwildlife.ca/profile/?s=1494

I love seeing this plant with it's beautiful bright berries. Just love the mix of orangy red, green and black. This one was growing in the forest in Bragg Creek Natural Area, east of Kananaskis and west of Calgary, when we went there to botanize the area on 3rd September. Those who are unfamiliar with wild plants may confuse this plant with the False Solomon's-seal, as the leaves are similar.

Friend, Robin, happened to notice these two gorgeous moths when we were on a botanizing hike yesterday near Mt. Yamnuska, right on the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Never seen these moths before - they really are quite spectacular. For some reason, most of my shots (of anything) taken yesterday were disappointing - maybe the light was worse than I realized when we were there. Thanks so much for finding these moths for us, Robin! bugguide.net/node/view/29651

A photo of this gorgeous Peacock specially for all those of you who are sick and tired of all my wildflower postings, LOL! Trust me, if I posted all the wildflowers that I want/need to post, I'd have no Contacts left, ha! Taken, obviously, at the Calgary Zoo, on 20th May. Just got home from a long day out at the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, west of Innisfail, Alberta (north west of Calgary). Had to set my alarm clock for just after 4:30 a.m. (though I overslept by almost an hour!) and got home around 6:15 this evening. We were lucky that the rain kept away all morning. What a great place this centre is, rehabilitating wildlife (and releasing whenever possible) and also in its education programs. The Centre believes that "without the public being educated on what is injuring our wildlife, the hospital is merely a "band-aid" solution." The animals/birds that are unable to be released "stay onsite and act as foster parents for orphans or play an important role on the education programs." We went there not just to see the centre itself but also to botanize the land around the Centre. Judy, our guide, spent much of the day with us, which we really appreciated. Hopefully, in return, we have shown her a few new plants, etc.. One of the highlights was seeing a pair of Sandhill Cranes in the grassland, along with a young one : ) I was also thrilled to see a Tiger Beetle - not sure if it's the same species as the few I've seen here in the city. Thanks so much, Judy, for such an enjoyable, exciting, interesting day!! Thank you, Stephen and Dorothy, for driving all the way there and back - greatly appreciated, as always! And now I feel totally exhausted! www.medicineriverwildlifecentre.ca/ Hope all my friends/Contacts had a great weekend - Canada Day for fellow Canadians and Happy 4th July today to all my American friends/Contacts.

Let me introduce you to Keti, the newest addition to the Red Panda family at the Calgary Zoo. Isn't she absolutely adorable? She was born on 4th June 2009 to five-year-old mother Malikha. On 25th September, she was seen by the public for the first time, so when I saw her on 6th October, she was still getting used to her outdoor surroundings and trying to keep her balance when climbing up to the playhouse and down again: ) She has such a long, bushy tail, a tiny bit of which you can see here : ) "Every time a red panda is born, and particularly every time the cub is raised by its mother, it's an important achievement, because the mortality rate for red panda cubs is as high as 74 per cent. Since 1994, nine red cub pandas have been born at the Calgary Zoo. "It is important to continue to support conservation and protection of red pandas so that some day we see a natural increase in their populations," said Tim Sinclair-Smith, curator of the zoo's Eurasia section. "There is still a long way to go to this end, but this new birth will have a positive impact on captive population growth and genetic diversity of the species." It's estimated there are fewer than 10,000 mature red pandas in the world. They're classified as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List." From CBC News, Calgary.

You would never guess that this photo was taken through filthy glass! I had to remove more than a few spot marks from the image - worth it, I think, as the main part of the face was clear and un-spotty in the original. Not sure if this was Mom or Dad Colobus Monkey, actually. After leaning next to the huge glass "wall" for quite a while, s/he got up and went to lie down in the grassy area, to give the other parent a break. Within a split second, Junior was bouncing on him/her and having a wonderful (hyper!) time. So like a human family - very endearing! "At one time the colobus was hunted excessively for its beautiful fur, leading to its extermination in some areas. Its skin has been used to make dance costumes, hats and capes. Today, the greatest threat to its continued existence comes from loss of habitat as forests are cut down." From www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/colobusmonkey .

These brilliant yellow flowers are always a delight to photograph - taken in a friend's garden a few days ago. I'm posting really early (for me) today, as I am planning on driving west into the mountains a little way (once I get off my computer and start getting ready). I haven't yet had a chance to get to the place I want to reach this year, even though it doesn't take all that long to drive there. I know I will be fighting to keep my eyes open by the time I get back home, so thought I'd better post my "daily three" before I go. I'm also hoping to give my shoulders a break from the keyboard, too - one is very painful from struggling to get into my backpack for many months, and the other is, I suspect, from too much mouse-clicking : (

This handsome male posed so nicely for me - a lovely sideways pose to show off his little patch of red and his long beak. This was taken in a local park, where someone always puts some mixed seeds on this wooden post. As park regulations forbid the feeding of birds, this means I can take a few shots without any guilt that I've done something "wrong".

We were watching this pair of Great Horned Owls in Fish Creek Park yesterday morning. Before seeing these owls, we had just been watching another pair of the same species ("my" owls) a few minutes away. I'm pretty sure that the female is on the left and the smaller, darker male is on the right. They think that this species mates for life.

I liked the strong contrast between the red and green of this plant. Don't know what it is yet. Growing in the Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. I suspect I'm becoming addicted to this place, LOL! Of course, my camera lens fogs up the moment I step inside the hot building after coming in from the cold air outside, but the Zoo is an amazing place for having a few thoroughly enjoyable hours plus getting a fair bit of much-needed exercise!

Another Zoo photo, I'm afraid - just not seeing much in the way of wild birds over the summer! Will post a photo later of the glorious bright blue, black and white striped body of this stunning bird. At one stage, it flew to the railing I was leaning against and continued walking towards me and my camera until it was only a few inches away from my face. Too much for my camera to deal with, LOL! Also, that beak looked as though it could do some damage!

Hooray - a different coloured rose for a change! Bought a bunch of six of these gorgeous white roses yesterday - thank you, Safeway store! I wasn't expecting a white flower to photograph properly, but I think the slightly pink/yellow centres helped. Jan (Janoid), if you happen to see this, yesterday's photos were to make sure I didn't fall into one of those dreaded photographic "slumps", LOL!

Thanks for everyone's patience as I post a photo of yet another Rose!! June is the wettest month of the year for us here, so I might just have to resort to buying another bunch or two of flowers if we continue to get rain. Yesterday, Calgary had dreadful flooding. Our average total precipitation for the month of June is something like 76 mm and yesterday 98.6 mm fell in just 18 hours!! Felt a little too much like the major flooding of June 2005 for everyone's liking.