Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: secretive

The Long-eared Owl is nocturnal and roosts in trees during the daytime, which is exactly where this one was when I first saw it. Though these owls are secretive, this one was so easy to find because of the huge crowd of photographers who, unfortunately, were already there. "The Long-eared Owl has erect blackish ear-tufts, which are positioned in the centre of the head. The ear-tufts are used to make the owl appear larger to other owls while perched. The female is larger in size and darker in colouration than the male." From Wikipedia.

127 comments under the Facebook posting, to a province-wide group, of a photo that a photographer took of three people, one of them myself - angry, rude, critical, judgemental comments, by people who don't even know me or my ethics, including when they relate to photography! Last night, I found the posting again and took a long time going through all 127 comments. Made me feel sick to the stomach. This can't be right, though I know this kind of thing does happen on Facebook. I want the photo removed or for the photographer, whom I don't know, to at the very least completely blur me out of the shot. Though his comment, when he first posted his photo, was about people staying safe when taking photos, he has allowed the posting to develop into an endless bashing. I wasn't going to post this again, but I have changed my mind after reading all those comments. I sent the man a link to one of my owl photos that has this long description with it, asking him to read, when he has time, what I have written. The link was sent only two or three days ago, so he may not have seen it yet. "I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals - including the day before yesterday. These owls are very secretive and many birders go years between sightings. It is so important not to give the location of this species. Be careful that there is nothing in your photos that gives away the location. Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary" (totally untrue!), so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Two days ago, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. It was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for today. Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Others follow ebird religiously, dashing out to see every more 'special' bird that is reported and location given. I don't post many photos on Facebook and I certainly don't post the same photo to three groups. It gets so very boring to see the same photos everywhere. These people flood their own Facebook pages and the groups! The only reason I can see is to get as many Likes as possible. Anyway, most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day. So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset (devastated, actually) I am to have been told (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. As they said, my "goody two-shoes" image was gone. They both know I have very high ethics, including when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a provincial birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view of the owl, so out I got and caught up with them. To prove that I was not planning on getting out of my car this trip, I was wearing just my thin summer jacket (over fleece) in a windchill in the minus 20C's. Two minutes later, I was back in my car! Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. Have barely slept the last two nights! The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)! That day, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos. I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get lots of likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try? PS: I rarely allow people (i.e. friends) to photograph me. Not sure what right this man thinks he has, to take my photo and especially to then post it on a very popular Facebook group page. I want it removed from Facebook, or at the very least, to have myself totally blurred out of the image. When this sort of thing happens, it can totally destroy a person's joy of photography! Actually, on a more serious note, something that I'm sure most people don't think of. You really need to be careful about taking a photo of someone and then posting it (without signing a consent form). For various security reasons, doing this could actually put someone in danger. For example, a woman (or vice versa) might not want their photo being advertised in this way, not wanting an abusive spouse/partner to know where they go sometimes or what they do. Just something to keep in mind."

Today, just realized that it is 1 March 2019, our temperature is -21C (windchill -31C). Awoke to find that we had had snow overnight. I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals (see my Album) - including the day before yesterday. These owls are very secretive and many birders go years between sightings. It is so important not to give the location of this species. Be careful that there is nothing in your photos that gives away the location. Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary" (totally untrue!), so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Two days ago, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. It was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for today. Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Others follow ebird religiously, dashing out to see every more 'special' bird that is reported and location given. I don't post many photos on Facebook and I certainly don't post the same photo to three groups. It gets so very boring to see the same photos everywhere. These people flood their own Facebook pages and the groups! The only reason I can see is to get as many Likes as possible. Anyway, most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day. So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset (devastated, actually) I am to have been told (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. As they said, my "goody two-shoes" image was gone. They both know I have very high ethics, including when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a provincial birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view of the owl, so out I got and caught up with them. To prove that I was not planning on getting out of my car this trip, I was wearing just my thin summer jacket (over fleece) in a windchill in the minus 20C's. Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. Have barely slept the last two nights! The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)! That day, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos. Sorry for the rant, but I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get lots of likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try? PS: I rarely allow people (i.e. friends) to photograph me. Not sure what right this man thinks he has, to take my photo and especially to then post it on a very popular Facebook group page. I would like it removed from Facebook, or at the very least, to have myself totally blurred out of the image. When this sort of thing happens, it can totally destroy a person's joy of photography! Actually, on a more serious note, something that I'm sure most people don't think of. You really need to be careful about taking a photo of someone and then posting it (without signing a consent form). For various security reasons, doing this could actually put someone in danger. For example, a woman (or vice versa) might not want their photo being advertised in this way, not wanting an abusive spouse/partner to know where they go sometimes or what they do. Just something to keep in mind.

Needless to say, this is not the kind of photo I like taking, but this is all I could get of this distant little Le Conte's Sparrow. I only have two old photos of a Le Conte’s Sparrow on my photostream, as this is a bird I don’t usually see – and then, on 28 May 2016, during our May Species Count in Fish Creek Park (my group covered the Votier’s Flats and Shaw’s Meadow area), we saw the Sparrow in this photo. A very nice bird to include in our list of species. “A small, orange-faced sparrow of wet grasslands and grassy meadows, the Le Conte's Sparrow is difficult to see because of its secretive nature. On the breeding grounds it usually sings from concealed perches and in the winter it rarely remains in the open for more than a second.” From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Le_Contes_Sparrow/id “It is a very secretive bird that prefers to spend most of its time on the ground under the cover of tall grasses. They are typically very difficult to flush, often only flushing at a distance of 1–3 m as they prefer to run across the ground. When they do emerge they rarely fly more than a foot or two above the grass and often descend again within a few meters. Because it is so rarely seen, there are still many gaps in knowledge about the Le Conte’s sparrow. Nests are often very hard to find, and individuals are more often identified by sound than by sight.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Conte%27s_sparrow I will add the final list from our Leader, Gus Yaki. Some of the group (myself included) only did the Count in the morning (4 hours of walking) and three people continued in the afternoon. FFCPPSoc. Birding, May species count, Terr. #2, Votier’s Flats, FCPP, from Macleod Tr to Bridge #6, SW Calgary, 0800-1400, Sat. 28May2016. 8 km. Mostly sunny, becoming overcast at noon, light sprinkle, calm, becoming windy from N, 10 kph. 6 to 13°C. 1.Canada Goose-17 2.Gadwall-2 3.American Wigeon-2 4.Mallard-36. 5.Blue-winged Teal-3 6.Redhead-2 7.Bufflehead-1 8.Common Goldeneye-2 9.Common Merganser-1 10.Ring-necked Pheasant-3 11.American White Pelican-27 12.Great Blue Heron-1 (cw) 13.Turkey Vulture-1 (cw) 14.Osprey-2 15.Cooper’s Hawk-1 (cw) 16.Swainson’s Hawk-3 17.Red-tailed Hawk-2 18.Sora-1 19.Killdeer-1 (cw) 20.Spotted Sandpiper-12 21.Franklin’s Gull-78 22.Rock Pigeon-2 23.Northern Saw-whet Owl-1, seen by Jordan Peshev. 24.Belted Kingfisher-2 25.Downy Woodpecker-2 26.Northern Flicker-5. 27.Least Flycatcher-3 28.Red-eyed Vireo-1 29.Black-billed Magpie-4 30.American Crow-4 31.Common Raven-6 32.Tree Swallow-15 33.Northern Rough-winged Swallow-5 34.Bank Swallow-204 35.Black-capped Chickadee-11 36.Red-breasted Nuthatch-4 37.White-breasted Nuthatch-2 38.House Wren-4 39.American Robin-35 40.Gray Catbird-2 41.European Starling-8 42.Tennessee Warbler-2 43.Yellow Warbler-24 44.Chipping Sparrow-4 (cw) 45.Clay-coloured Sparrow-18 46.Savannah Sparrow-3 47.Le Conte’s Sparrow-1 48.Song Sparrow-1 49.Lincoln’s Sparrow-1 (cw) 50.White-throated Sparrow-7 51.Rose-breasted Grosbeak-2 (cw) 52.Red-winged Blackbird-78 53.Yellow-headed Blackbird-2 54.Brown-headed Cowbird-19 55.Baltimore Oriole-2 (cw) 56.House Finch-7 57.Pine Siskin-1 58.American Goldfinch-7 59.House Sparrow-3 Red Squirrel-4 Muskrat-2 Mule Deer-1 Spring Azure butterfly-3 Red-disked Alpine-3

This young Sora was, I would guess, somewhere between a week and 10 days old? Such a funny little thing - I'd never seen a young one before. Just like its parents, it wasn't easy to photograph in amongst the Cattails and other water plants. Managed to shoot this photo just in time to get the whole bird without any stem across its little body. They move constantly - and fast! Photo taken on 28 July 2014, when I drove SE of the city, mainly to escape from the heat of my house for a few hours. Frank Lake was my first stop and then I drove around the lake and further eastwards. Saw quite a few birds on this trip, including quite a nice look at a single White-faced Ibis in a small slough. It was interesting to watch it feeding in amongst a family of American Avocets. Other birds seen that afternoon/evening included a Western Kingbird (yet again, couldn't get a decent shot), a Western Meadowlark, a couple of Swainson's Hawks perched on tall power lines, Black-necked Stilts too far away, Phalaropes, a couple of Eared Grebes, Barn Swallow, and a Gray Partridge that quickly disappeared into the tall grasses. "A small, secretive bird of freshwater marshes, the Sora is the most common and widely distributed rail in North America. Its distinctive descending whinny call can be easily heard from the depths of the cattails, but actually seeing the little marsh-walker is much more difficult." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/sora/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sora_ (bird)

A terrible quality of photo, but usually you never see a Sora, only hear them! We were very lucky that this one was walking through the water and grasses near the edge of the road when we were south west of Calgary two days ago. We were doing the annual May Species Count in the Priddis area, on a dull, overcast day. "A small, secretive bird of freshwater marshes, the Sora is the most common and widely distributed rail in North America. Its distinctive descending whinny call can be easily heard from the depths of the cattails, but actually seeing the little marsh-walker is much more difficult." From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sora/lifehistory