Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#441

Another photo from 3 February 2013, when I went with friends for a day of driving the backroads SE of Calgary, in the Blackie area. The road in the photo is, of course, not one of the gravel roads. The mountains appear closer than they really are, thanks to high zoom. It was such perfect weather and the shadows on the snow were a bright blue, just as you see in the photo. This was the day on which we saw 17 owls (12 Snowy Owls and 5 Great Horned Owls). What more could one wish for?

A mushroom that we saw when a few of us spent the day botanizing at Rod Handfield's property, on 17 August 2012. Though there were fewer fungi there this year, we still had a rewarding and most enjoyable day. This is the ID I was given for this (macro) fungus. Please let me know if you disagree with the ID - would be much appreciated! "This attractive mushroom has a cinnabar cap that is covered with mealy granules, and a stem that is distinctively sheathed. It is a saprobe under conifers, helping to decompose needle duff and forest debris. The color of the cap and the habitat under conifers, together with its fairly large size, will separate Cystoderma cinnabarinum from many other species of Cystoderma--but microscopic analysis may be required to separate it from a handful of potentially similar species ... The stem is smooth and whitish to pale cinnamon near the apex, but sheathed with cinnabar granular scales from the base upwards, the sheath terminating in a flimsy ring zone; the granules often wearing away as the mushroom matures, exposing a coarse, whitish surface below." www.mushroomexpert.com/cystoderma_cinnabarinum.html

Laurien and Joe, this one is for you! This is the species of bird that was perched on the wire at Burnsmead this afternoon, though the bird in my photo was taken on Saturday at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre. I still have to download my (very distant) photos to my computer, but I did check, and it was definitely an American Kestrel that we saw. Not sure yet if it was a male (as in my image) or female. Is this more or less how you remember the "orange" colouring that you mentioned? It was so much fun to unexpectedly bump into you both down there! Finally, we've met : )

These are a few distant peaks seen from the Bow Falls parking lot, near Banff, in the Rocky Mountains. Seen yesterday on a day out with friends. We had stopped at the Banff Springs Hotel for an excellent lunch and then had a quick stop here at Bow Falls.