Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: sharp

For maybe a week, I have been having a problem getting my photos to be bright enough. So weird - I never had this happen before. They seem to look OK when I edit them the night before, then, when I post them on Flickr the following morning, they almost always look too dark. Yesterday morning, 9 April 2016, friends Dorothy and Stephen led a group of us on a birding walk at Carburn Park. Most enjoyable, except for the very strong winds! Down by the river, especially, we were almost blown off our feet. Amazing that any bird can deal with that, but we still ended up seeing a good number of species, including a little House Sparrow busy preparing a tree cavity for a nest. The House Sparrow is an introduced species here. Fairly near the start of our walk, past the lagoon, I spotted something orange in the low fork of a tree. My first thought was, ooh, a fungus of some kind. When I started walking towards it, I suddenly thought that maybe it was an Easter egg that had been hidden on a family outing, that hadn't been found. Closer to the tree, I realized it was an orange fishing float, along with this hooked fly, caught in the tree by a length of fishing line. My immediate thought was that this should never have been left in the tree, as a bird or maybe a Squirrel could easily get themselves caught by it. After I removed it, one of the birders said he would take the fly home for his Grandson to use. I always remember seeing a beautiful Northern Flickr a few years ago, hanging upside down high up in a tree. It had a lot of discarded fishing line wrapped around its body. I will add our leaders' final list of species: Birding for Beginners, Saturday 9 April, 2016. Carburn Park. 9:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Sunny, N.Wind 49 kph. 7-10 degrees C. 22 participants. 1. Canada Goose – 20 2. Common Goldeneye – 10 3. Mallard – 10 4. Common Merganser – 4 5. Hooded Merganser – 1 6. Ring-billed Gull – 34 7. Franklin Gull – 2 8. Bald Eagle – 1 9. Bohemian Waxwings – 12 10. Black-capped Chickadees – 11 11. American Crow – 6 12. Northern Flicker – 6 12. House Finch – 4 13. Magpie – 6 14. Merlin – 1 15. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3 16. Raven – 10 17. American Robin – 15 18. Starling – 2 19. House Sparrow – 4 20. Tree Swallow – 9 21. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1 22. Downy Woodpecker – 5 White-tailed Deer – 6 Black Squirrel – 6 Leaders: Bernie Diebolt, Dorothy & Stephen Spring Many thanks, Dorothy and Stephen, for giving up a Saturday morning for us all. As always, the trip to Tim Hortons for coffee and lunch after the walk was great.

Last night, when choosing three photos to post this morning, I happened to come across this old shot from my archives. It was taken at the Calgary Zoo on 2 May 2011, when a pair of Snowy Owls was in a small enclosure near the Tigers. SInce then, the only Snowies at the Zoo are over in the Aviary. It has been too long to remember for sure, but I think this was most likely the female rather than a juvenile bird. With so many people now going outside the city to look for, and photograph, these amazing birds of prey that have moved south in search of food, I thought this photo might be a good reminder of yet another reason to keep ones distance, lol. Those talons mean business! I sometimes think I must be the only person who isn't out to get photos of these owls in flight! Please don't deliberately flush them - they are already tired and stressed enough. Of course, they sometimes fly simply because they want to, in their search for yet another rodent. Actually, I was lucky enough to see two very, very distant Snowy Owls yesterday, when I went with a group of 7 friends to take part in the first annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count of the season. This is one of my favourite counts, mainly because our small group covers one of my favourite areas, SE of the city.

On 1 April 2014, I arrived home from an appointment and running a few errands, and this is what I saw when I looked up at my bedroom window. These delicate icicles made a fringe all around my roof, and they looked so pretty. Just had to get my camera : ) For a day or two, something similar was happening along the bottom edge of my car, too, lol! Yesterday and today have been more like spring - sunshine, blue sky and a few degrees warmer. The snow has been melting quite nicely, which feels so good, after six months of snow and ice on the ground. Maybe spring is here to stay?? This morning, the temperature is -2C (windchill -6C), but it's supposed to get up to 10C this afternoon. Monday and Tuesday are forecast to get up to 14C, followed by slightly cooler days.

I arrived home yesterday (1 April 2014) from an appointment and running a few errands, and this is what I saw when I looked up at my bedroom window. These delicate icicles made a fringe all around my roof, and they looked so pretty. Just had to get my camera - not sure which setting I had it on, but it's not just a regular image. The last few days, something similar was happening along the bottom edge of my car, too, lol! Temperature this morning is -3C (windchill is also -3C). A few flurries are in the forecast for this afternoon and evening, but at least we should be getting sun for the next few days, which will feel so good! Is it just me, or maybe a temporary glitch, but the Sets that a photo is in on Flickr seem to now be above the Groups that it's in? If this is a "permanent" (ha, ha) change, that's great!