Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: horns

Thank you so much, Shirley, for inviting us all out to visit you yesterday (25 August 2018) while you were out again at your summer trailer at Eagle Lake for the weekend! It was a fairly cool day, which was great, but the smoke is still being blown in from the wildfires in British Columbia. I was just reading an article this morning about the awful air quality in Seattle and theirs has been roughly the same as ours. They reckon the very poor air quality is equivalent to smoking seven cigarettes a day. It was such a pleasure to see some of "your" birds that you enjoy so much. Compared to our visit on 17 June 2017, there were fewer species to be seen, but enough to keep us happy. I think the highlight for me was a Western Kingbird that posed so beautifully on a tangle of metal pipes down near the edge of the water. I also loved taking a couple of quick shots of this cute goat just as we were leaving. We had stopped so that one of us could get out and buy several food items from a Hutterite stand that was in the trailer campground. I got out to get a bottle of water from my backpack in the back of the car and a friend in the car behind caught my attention and pointed out this animal posing so nicely. Great to see everyone who went, and we all enjoyed an array of delicious salads and desserts that left me feeling full till the early evening. We also enjoyed meeting your two Grandchildren, Shirley, who happened to be staying with you for the weekend. So good to see them both making lists of the bird species seen. Many thanks, Anne B, for driving some of us us east across the prairies. Hugely appreciated, as always!

Gentle or aggressive? It seems to depend on which website one is searching. Wikipedia (below) says Longhorns are gentle, but last night I read that they are aggressive. Standing there on the road, I know I felt glad that there was a fence between them and us! I stood in the road to take this shot, as two of these cattle were lying down and I didn't want to force them to stand up and move away, they looked so comfortable. "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn On 26 June 2016, a fair-sized group of people spent the morning on a walk with Erik Butters, out past Cochrane and near Waiporous, NW of Calgary. This land is rolling, open hills and areas of woodland, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. This event was the 8th Annual Flora & Fauna Fundraising for Ghost River Watershed Outing. Fortunately, I knew how to drive to this distant location, so I was able to pick up friend Dorothy and off we went together. We allowed plenty of time to get there, just in case of heavy traffic or else we saw something interesting en route. This meant that there was time for me to stop and take a few photos of a Llama in someone's field, a couple of beautiful Longhorn cattle lying down and a small herd of maybe half a dozen Elk that we saw way off in the distance. I think everyone was more than ready for lunch by the time our hike was over! Going to our destination was all uphill, which I normally avoid at all cost. Coming down used less energy, but painful knees felt every step on the way down : ) Around 1:00 pm, Erik and his partner provided a great BBQ for those of us from Calgary and for the people who had joined us from elsewhere. As always, the food was delicious! Thank you so much, both of you! Amazingly, the sun shone and there was no rain, despite the weather forecast.

Judging by the quality of this photo, this area of the mountains and highway must have been in the shade. Always fun to see Bighorn Sheep on any outing to Kananaskis. This ram was alone with just one female, licking salt off the highway, when we came across them. Yesterday, 29 November 2016, I was fortunate enough to have a third trip into the mountains to look for and photograph the wonderful White-tailed Ptarmigan. Friend, Shirley, had been out there before, but just missed seeing them. She asked if I wanted to go with her, and I jumped at the chance. I knew several other people who were planning to go, so felt a little more confident that we would probably be able to find these birds. Find them, we did - but, oh, what we had to go through in order to see them! Unlike the other two times I had been, on 22nd and 23rd November, this time the birds were not near the main road area but, instead, were first spotted way across the valley, low down on the mountainside. A few years ago, I had done a short walk along this valley in deep, deep snow and vowed I would never be so foolish to do it again. You need snowshoes and, even then, the going is difficult. Of course, I don't have snowshoes, nor did a few of my friends. When i heard that some people ahead of us had seen a few of the birds closer than the mountainside, I decided I would at least start 'walking' and see how far I got. The first short distance through the snow was flat, but then we had to climb upwards through knee-deep snow. I almost had to give up, but thanks to friend, Tony, who basically dragged me up some of the most difficult parts, I was able to plough my way to where the closest Ptarmigan were. A few other helping hands, too, made this climb possible. Several of the birds were in the sunshine, either resting or taking a few short steps. These birds almost look as if they have a small light under their body, lighting up the lowest feathers and making the bird glow. So different compared to seeing and photographing them on a cloudy, gloomy day. These birds tend to walk around in just a small area, feeding on the Willow buds, and then the group lies down, some of them burrowing till just the head and neck are visible, or some will burrow till they disappear completely under the snow. Every now and then, you can hear the little sounds they make. After resting, they repeat the feeding process and then rest again. A turn of the head so that a bird is looking away from you, and all that remains is something that looks like one of the many lumps of snow everywhere. "The smallest grouse in North America, the White-tailed Ptarmigan inhabits alpine regions from Alaska to New Mexico. It has numerous adaptations to its severe habitat, including feathered toes, highly cryptic plumage, and an energy-conserving daily regime." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-tailed_Ptarmigan/id "The white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura), also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is a permanent resident of high altitudes on or above the tree line and is native to Alaska and the mountainous parts of Canada and the western United States. It has also been introduced into the Sierra Nevada in California, the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon and the Uinta Mountains in Utah. Its plumage is cryptic and varies at different times of the year. In the summer it is speckled in gray, brown and white whereas in winter it is wholly white. At all times of year the wings, belly and tail are white. The white-tailed ptarmigan has a diet of buds, leaves, flowers and seeds. The nest is a simple depression in the ground in which up to eight eggs are laid. After hatching, the chicks soon leave the nest. At first they eat insects but later move on to an adult diet, their mother using vocalisations to help them find suitable plant food. The population seems to be stable and the IUCN lists this species as being of "Least Concern". From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_ptarmigan Eventually, it was time to head back down and along to the cars, repeating the difficult process of 'step and plunge' through the snow. It felt so good to finally reach the car! Shirley and I had left the city and travelled south via Turner Valley, but came back to the city via Barrier Lake and Highway 1. While driving out to Highway 40 in the morning, we had stopped to watch a beautiful female Moose along the road from Turner Valley and then later, we stopped to watch a couple of Bighorn Sheep on Highway 40. Other than that, there was no sign of other wildlife. From now onward, the north and south winter gates will be closed across Highway 40, so these birds will be left in peace for the rest of the winter, until 14 June 2017. All the wildlife in the area will be free of human presence while they have their young ones in the spring. Thanks so much for a great day, Shirley! I'm so glad you were finally able to see a few of these beautiful Ptarmigan in their winter white. It was very unfortunate that at least one person was not able to do the difficult walk and so will have to wait till next fall to hopefully get a 'lifer'. Most people I know have/had never seen this species, so I'm feeling extremely lucky! Of course, even if one doesn't find the Ptarmigan, the scenery alone is just breathtaking.

Gentle or aggressive? It seems to depend on which website one is searching. Wikipedia says Longhorns are gentle, but I have also read that they are aggressive. Standing there, I know I felt glad that there was a fence between them and us! "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn Just over a month ago, on 26 June 2016, a fair-sized group of people spent the morning on a walk with Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of Calgary. This land is rolling, open hills and areas of woodland, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. This event was the 8th Annual Flora & Fauna Fundraising for Ghost River Watershed Outing. Fortunately, I knew how to drive to this distant location, so I was able to pick up friend Dorothy and off we went together. We allowed plenty of time to get there, just in case of heavy traffic or else we saw something interesting en route. This meant that there was time for me to stop and take a few photos of a Llama in someone's field, a couple of beautiful Longhorn cattle lying down and a small herd of maybe half a dozen Elk that we saw way off in the distance. I think everyone was more than ready for lunch by the time our hike was over! Going to our destination was all uphill, which I normally avoid at all cost. Coming down used less energy, but painful knees felt every step on the way down : ) Around 1:00 pm, Erik and his partner provided a great BBQ for those of us from Calgary and for the people who had joined us from elsewhere. As always, the food was delicious! Thank you so much, both of you! Amazingly, the sun shone and there was no rain, despite the weather forecast.

Gentle or aggressive? It seems to depend on which website one is searching. Wikipedia (below) says Longhorns are gentle, but last night I read that they are aggressive. Standing there on the road, I know I felt glad that there was a fence between them and us! I stood in the road to take this shot, as two of these cattle were lying down and I didn't want to force them to stand up and move away, they looked so comfortable. I did remove three strands of barbed-wire that ran across the width of the image : ) "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn This beautiful Longhorn was lying down in a field along Highway 40 yesterday morning, 17 June 2016, when two friends and I travelled to the meeting place for a day's walk in the Benchlands area, NW of Cochrane. The walk was in the Meadow Creek area, Ghost River Watershed, and our leaders were Heinz Unger (from Benchlands) and Gus Yaki. Just remembered that my two friends and I spotted a Red Fox at the meeting place, while we were waitng for everyone else to arrive! "Benchlands is a hamlet in Alberta within the Municipal District of Bighorn No. 8.[ The Ghost River is located on the hamlet's south side, while Highway 40 borders the north side." From Wikipedia. The trail took us through forest and across open meadows, with a wonderful view of the distant mountains the closer we got to our destination. I only took a few photos, including of Spotted Coralroot, a beautiful wild orchid that has tiny flowers and grows mostly in montane woodlands. I think this was the highlight for me, as I rarely get to see it. Another interesting thing that was pointed out to us was a bear 'rubbing tree', with a few strands of hair still caught in the bark. A relief that there was no bear to be seen! Thanks so much for the ride, Sandy - glad you were able to come at the last minute. Also glad that the weather was kind to us, starting off rather chilly in the morning, but gradually warming up to around 21C later in the day. Thanks so much, Heinz, for arranging for us to explore this private land and accompanying us on the hike - always a treat.

Ran out of time and energy late last night to find and edit just two shots for this morning : ) Also, posting really early, as I have a long day ahead of me today (unfortunately, on just one and a half hours of sleep). It's going to be a mainly sunny day with temperature of -2C (windchill -5C) this morning, but it's supposed to soar to a balmy +9C (windchill +7C) this afternoon. From my archives, a distant capture of this beautiful Horned Lark, taken SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. Friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, had stopped along one of the roads to look at an old homestead and we heard a bird singing so beautifully. I hadn't seen and photographed a Horned Lark for several years, so I was thrilled to see this handsome, horny male perched on a fence post : ) These birds tend to fly dangerously close along the road in front of ones car. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Horned_Lark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_Lark

Gentle or aggressive? It seems to depend on which website one is searching. Wikipedia (below) says Longhorns are gentle, but last night I read that they are aggressive. Standing there on the road, I know I felt glad that there was a fence between them and us! On 14 April 2014, I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns and anything else that we thought was interesting and/or beautiful. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less Mossleigh and Arrowwood, though it was disappointing that the heat distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos when we got there. It was quite a hazy day, which never helps. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully lessened. We were both happy to come across two of these beautiful Longhorns along one of the backroads. I think I'm right in saying they are Texas Longhorn - I usually just call them Longhorns. "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn

On 14 April 2014, I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns and anything else that we thought was interesting and/or beautiful. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less Mossleigh and Arrowwood, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos when we got there. It was quite a hazy day, which never helps. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully lessened. We were both happy to come across two of these beautiful Longhorns along one of the backroads. I think I'm right in saying they are Texas Longhorn - I usually just call them Longhorns. "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn

A heavily cropped capture of this beautiful Horned Lark, taken SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. Friends and I had stopped along one of the backroads to look at an old barn and we heard a bird singing so beautifully. I hadn't seen and photographed a Horned Lark for several years, so I was thrilled to see this handsome, horny male perched on a fence post : ) These birds tend to fly dangerously close along the road in front of ones car. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Horned_Lark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_Lark I wasn't expecting SNOW again this morning, lol! Which of course makes me think immediately of all those people over in the east (Boston, etc.), who are experiencing dreadful conditions with the huge snowstorm that is hitting that whole area. Really, really feel for those who were hit so hard by Hurricane Sandy just a few months ago and still have not recovered from all the damage ,,,. and now this! So many people dealing with so much hardship - my thoughts are with them. Anyone else finding Flickr extremely slow today?

Mountain Sheep at Lake Minnewanka, near Banff, taken on May 20th. "The bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to 30 pounds (14 kg), while the sheep themselves weigh up to 300 pounds (140 kg). Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae. Sheep originally crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge from Siberia: the population in North America peaked in the millions, and the bighorn sheep entered into the mythology of Native Americans. However, by 1900 the population had crashed to several thousand. Conservation efforts (in part by the Boy Scouts) have restored the population. ..... The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep is the provincial mammal of Alberta and the state animal of Colorado and as such is incorporated into the symbol for the Colorado Division of Wildlife." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bighorn_sheep YouTube link for the latest video of the three beautiful, endangered Amur Tiger cubs at the Calgary Zoo. How they have grown! Posted on YouTube on May 30th 2012. youtu.be/c4fSvtRHLBM

I swear this handsome guy poses deliberately each time I go to the Calgary Zoo and stop by the Mountain Sheep area : ) Looks almost as if he's slightly smiling, too. Of course, I prefer taking photos of these Mountain Sheep in the wild, but still take a quick shot when I'm at the Zoo, too. "The bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to 30 pounds (14 kg), while the sheep themselves weigh up to 300 pounds (140 kg). The population in North America peaked in the millions, and the bighorn sheep entered into the mythology of Native Americans. However, by 1900 the population had crashed to several thousand. Conservation efforts (in part by the Boy Scouts - more info on Wikipedia) have restored the population." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bighorn_sheep

Rather harsh lighting, but we were lucky to see several Mountain Sheep on August 1st, when Flickr friends Ron and Trish invited me to go with them for a wonderful drive as far as Field, B.C. (British Columbia). This was taken out of the car window - no steep mountain sides for me to climb on this day, just the luxury of being driven and a few short walks : )

We encountered this 10-year-old Mountain Sheep on Highway 40, going through Kananaskis. It was very unsteady on its feet, and we were concerned that it might get hit by some vehicle coming round the corner. A ranger happened to come by and she told us that she knew about this particular animal. The average life-span is 7-8 years.