Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: specanimal

This little male Red-breasted Nuthatch was flitting from tree to tree this morning. Just happened to catch a lucky shot, though the lighting in the park was rather poor.

Another photo of this male Hairy Woodpecker that we saw on a walk the other day, in the Sikome/Boat Launch area of Fish Creek Park. I never tire of seeing the smart black and white with a splash of brilliant red. Hairy Woodpeckers are uncommon to common year-round in Alberta. You don't see them as often as the smaller Downy Woodpeckers. The bill is about as long as the head is wide, whereas the Downy Woodpecker has a much shorter bill.

I took this photo with my old Olympus C750 UZ (held together with an elastic band, LOL) and I will put a link to my other Bald Eagle close-up below here, taken on my newer Canon S3 IS (which isn't working properly, LOL). I'm not sure which colour is more accurate. I will have to replace my Canon most likely with the recent model, but I'd love to hear what anyone, who has a few moments of time to spare, thinks about the comparison between the two camera photo qualities. I usually reckon that the Canon has nicer colour, but I wish I could remember which is closest to the actual colour of the Bald Eagle's beak. On a Google image search, I found photos displaying both shades of yellow for the beaks, so that didn't help! I think the detail is a little better on the Canon photo below. I spent a wonderful day yesterday with a friend who had asked if I'd like to go to the Coaldale Birds of Prey Centre, near Lethbridge, southern Alberta. It was just over a two-hour drive there and the temperature down south was 37C (roughly 106F)! This Centre is "Canada’s largest birds of prey facility. Situated on a 70-acre wetland area site, the centre is a celebration of nature featuring the hawks, falcons, eagles and owls of Alberta. Throughout the site and along the pathways, a number of birds of prey are sitting on their perches only feet away from visitors. These birds are all in various stages of training and receive lots of exercise in the daily flying programs. At the centre, they have one of North America's largest captive breeding populations for the endangered Burrowing Owl." This beautiful Bald Eagle was quite a few feet away from us, but I zoomed in as much as I could. What majestic birds they are! I had dreamed of being able to take reasonably close photos of one of these birds for a long time and today was THE day! We often see Bald Eagles flying wild in Calgary, but I had never seen one this close before. If you view it in large size, you can see the feather details much better.

I came across a family of White-tailed Deer this afternoon when I went for a walk in a local park. Just before seeing them, I had come across an area in amongst the trees where the grass seemed to have been flattened and there were quite a few clumps of coarse white fur/hair on the ground. I think this must be where the deer rest in a family group. Came across $2.50 in coins there, too!

I was thrilled to bits this afternoon in Weaselhead when a couple of Gray Jays flew down to the bushes near where I was standing. These made my day! The highest this photo got in Explore was #141 on 16th January 2007.

Taken on my walk today. Went around noon instead of mid to late afternoon, and there were fewer birds around.

I was so excited that I had seen this little Long-tailed Weasel that I didn't take the time to go through all the photos I took of it before chosing and posting my favourites. Thought I would post these four extra images, as they all show different behaviour and poses. It kept disappearing into burrows and then would pop up again and take another look at me. The cutest little thing. Also, I may never seen it again, so I'd better make the most of it. We have had a little more snow since this sighting and when I went to the park again this afternoon, I thought how difficult it would be to spot this animal in its winter coat against the snow.