Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Highway 8

A photo form my archives. I finally got out with friends for an almost three-hour botany walk in the afternoon of 11 August 2015, at Griffith Woods. There were certain "target" plants on the list, including three species of wild Gentian and one species of Orchid (Rattlesnake Plantain). We had success with all four, which made for a great outing. There was also a patch of these beautiful wild Sunflowers, which I always enjoy seeing year after year. They are sometimes called Common Tall Sunflower, as well as Nuttall's Sunflower. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus_nuttallii sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/our-garden/our-plants/comm... So many of the plants were finished already, after blooming two weeks early this year. Whenever I see Asters, I know that our flowering season is coming to an end, which is always depressing. The growing season in Alberta is so very short.

I finally got out with friends for an almost three-hour botany walk in the afternoon of 11 August 2015, at Griffith Woods. There were certain "target" plants on the list, including three species of wild Gentian and one species of Orchid (Rattlesnake Plantain). We had success with all four, which made for a successful outing. There was also a patch of beautiful wild Sunflowers, which I always enjoy seeing year after year. They are sometimes called Common Tall Sunflower, as well as Nuttall's Sunflower. Also this Umbulate Hawkweed, which, I find, can be easily confused with Sowthiste flowers. For this year, wildflowers are now finished - always a depressing thought.

Happy first day of FALL! Where did the summer go?? There HAS to be a problem with Flickr today. So little activity, so I just looked at the Flickr Test and see that Farm 6 East has no green check mark. No idea what effect that has, but maybe that is what is causing this. I finally got out with friends for an almost three-hour botany walk in the afternoon of 11 August 2015, at Griffith Woods. There were certain "target" plants on the list, including three species of wild Gentian and one species of Orchid (Rattlesnake Plantain). We had success with all four, which made for a successful outing. There was also a patch of these beautiful wild Sunflowers, which I always enjoy seeing year after year. They are sometimes called Common Tall Sunflower, as well as Nuttall's Sunflower. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus_nuttallii So many of the plants were finished already, after blooming two weeks early this year. Whenever I see Asters, I know that our flowering season is coming to an end, which is always depressing. The growing season in Alberta is so very short.

I finally got out with friends for an almost three-hour botany walk in the afternoon of 11 August 2015, at Griffith Woods. There were certain "target" plants on the list, including three species of wild Gentian and one species of Orchid (Rattlesnake Plantain). We had success with all four, which made for a successful outing. So many of the plants are finished already, after blooming two weeks early this year. Whenever I see Asters, I know that the end of our flowering season is coming to an end, which is always depressing. The growing season in Alberta is so very short. I was happy to notice this small mushroom growing from a rotting log. The cap was something like an inch across. I have seen so few fungi this season, after our hot, dry summer.

I finally got out with friends for an almost three-hour botany walk yesterday afternoon, 11 August 2015, at Griffith Woods. There were certain "target" plants on the list, including three species of wild Gentian (one of which is seen in this photo), and one species of Orchid (Rattlesnake Plantain). We had success with all four, which made for a successful outing. So many of the plants are finished already, after blooming two weeks early this year. Whenever I see Asters, I know that the end of our flowering season is coming to an end, which is always depressing. The growing season in Alberta is so very short. The colour of these flowers almost makes one gasp! They are beautiful and look rather like they should be growing in a garden, not in the wild. The petals seem to vary - some plants have plain blue petals, while others, as in this photo, are spotted. This particular plant was a beauty.

On a birding walk yesterday morning, 21 January 2013, at Griffith Woods, we saw some quite interesting ice crystals/frost. This was a branch that was lying in the creek. Will post a photo of a different frost/ice formation another day - a formation that I'd never seen before.

This rather beautiful and unusual (to us) frost/ice formation was found along the edge of the water at Griffith Woods on Monday, 21 January 2013. In some places, the crystals looked rather like a pile of feathers that had been tossed on to the water's edge - you can get an idea from the blurry foreground.

A rather messy photo, but I wanted it as a record of the feathery ice/frost crystals that were growing at the edge of a small creek in Griffith Woods natural area yesterday. There was a lot of vegetation growing beneath the surface of the open water, and an American Diipper was seen a few times here this week. Taken on 26 January 2013.

I rather liked this fence that we saw by the Community Centre at Elbow Valley Estates (off Highway 8), when we spent a few hours botanizing the surrounding forest on 10 August 2012. The flowers are pink and white Yarrow.

Just too tired to think of a different title for this image, so "Mushrooms" it is : ) Seen growing from the end of an up-tilted fallen tree in Clearwater Park, off Highway 8, on September 4th.

Four of us went for a walk at Clearwater Park this, morning - had only been there once, a long time ago. This is a relatively new park, off Highway 8, the road that goes from Sarcee Trail near Westhills shopping area, to the Bragg Creek Road. This young Brown-headed Cowbird posed for a while.

A female Red-winged Blackbird at the Elbow Constructed Wetlands. Too bad only one leg can be seen :)

We discovered this gorgeous flower in a new natural park. The most common form of Gaillardia does not have the trumpet-like petals, so perhaps this was an escapee from someone's garden? The highest this photo got in Explore was #284 on 28th November 2006.