Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Ann & Sandy Cross

Taken at the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area, SW of Calgary, on August 19th. Unfortunately, Creeping Thistle (also called Canada Thistle) is intensely invasive. Status in Alberta is Noxious.

This very uninspiring photo was all I've ended up with from my walk with a friend this afternoon. Bitterly cold, windy with blowing snow. Converted, it equals -36F, windchill -32.8F! We went to the beautiful Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation area south of Calgary. A lovely place - in summer, it is full of wildflowers and butterflies. We saw very little today - a few Ravens, a Hairy Woodpecker (which was nice to see) and a hawk that was "wind-hovering", flapping its wings to maintain a stationary position while facing upwind. Not sure if one of my photos, taken for ID purposes, will be fit to upload. I think it could be a Rough-legged Hawk. After two hours of walking, mainly uphill climbing in quite a few inches of snow, I really felt that I could have gone absolutely no further by the time we had climbed the last hill back to the parking lot : ). How on earth the early Pioneers ever survived, amazes me - of course, not all of them did survive. Thank goodness for central heating!!!