Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: perched on fence post

Posting just the one photo today as I got up much too late and have a pile of things that I have to start seeing to. Looks beautiful outside, sunny and plus 7C!! Feels so good to be out of the deep-freeze, when windchills got down to as low as -34C. This is a fully zoomed image, Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm, and cropped very slightly. This is a photo from my archives, taken on 28 March 2013. This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit 'owl deprived', ha, ha, because I'm having no luck finding a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, except on the one day when they were so far away, you could barely even see them. So, last night, I took a look at one of my very old owl folders and picked this photo, to remind myself of just how lucky I have often been, when it comes to owls of any kind : ) The year 2013 was a great year for seeing these magnificent birds. Getting up really early is always so hard for me to do. I'm a night owl with atrocious sleep habits, so getting out of bed at 5:00 a.m. (alarm was set for 4:15 a.m., though!) was not my favourite way to start the day on 28 March 2013. Funny, when I have to meet friends for various early-starting trips, I can do it (but don't like it), but when I go off on my own, there is no deadline to meet, and I just never get round to doing it. I headed out of the city, wanting to see if time of day made any, or much, difference to seeing wildlife. Who really knows? I have seen these beautiful birds of prey at all sorts of times of the day, but of course the light is always different each time. I was also lucky enough to see three other Great Gray Owls, my first Mountain Bluebird of the year (always such a wonderful flash of brilliant blue), a Pileated Woodpecker, and an American Robin (always takes me by surprise when I see a Robin out in the middle of nowhere). A beautiful female Ruffed Grouse helped make my day, too. Guess I can say I was definitely rewarded for getting up so early, even though I might have seen all, or most, of these birds later in the day, too : ) All about luck and timing. "Although the Great Gray Owl is the tallest American owl with the largest wingspan, it is just a ball of feathers. It preys on small mammals and has relatively small feet. Both the Great Horned and Snowy owls weigh half again as much, and have larger feet and talons. The oldest recorded Great Gray Owl was at least 18 years, 9 months old and lived in Alberta." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Gray_Owl/lifehistory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl

This beautiful Great Gray Owl was busy hunting, but every once in a while would give a quick glance in my direction. Seen NW of Calgary, on 28 March 2013. (No cropping, but 48x zoom.)

This photo was taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary, shortly after the sun had risen and when quite a lot of the snow had melted. Today, 14 April 2013, it looks like we are in the middle of winter, once again. It snowed all day yesterday and the snow is falling steadily this morning. My fence is topped with maybe 5" of snow so far. More snow expected tomorrow and then next week, the rain arrives, lol! This Great Gray Owl was the first of four that I was lucky enough to see that morning, two closely and two far more distant.

Doesn't look like a happy Great Gray Owl, but I guess this is the way they usually look, lol! Another shot from the really good owling day that I had on 28 March 2013. I haven't been NW of Calgary for a while now, as the gravel roads will be in bad shape, with the melting snow, I would imagine. It's good, anyway, to give the owls a break from people, to let them have some peace and quiet.

Another photo of the straw-chewing, country-loving Great Gray Owl, taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. This was the second of the four Great Grays I saw that day, the first two quite close, the last two being more distant, but still close enough for photos. In some places, the Great Gray is known as the Phantom of the North. This rather soft image, in snowy surroundings, made me think of that name.

This is a photo of a straw-chewing, country-loving Great Gray Owl, taken on 28 March 2013, NW of Calgary. This was the second of four Great Grays I saw that day, the first two quite close, the last two being more distant, but still close enough for photos. In some places, the Great Gray is known as the Phantom of the North. This rather soft image, in snowy surroundings, made me think of that name.