Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Erik Butters

This is the dreaded Goat's-beard, a highly invasive, non-native plant that has spread (and keeps spreading, despite attempts to control it) in our natural areas in the city and beyond. Too bad, because both the beautiful flower and huge Dandelion-like seedhead are most attractive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_dubius On 26 June 2016, a fair-sized group of people spent the morning on a walk led by Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of Calgary. This land consists of 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.

JELLYFIELDS - warning! A few days ago, I did a Google search to see what blogs have used my photos. Many of them asked permission before hand, but, needless to say, others did not. If you post photos anywhere on the Internet, that is unfortunately just a fact of life. I just scrolled down, clicking on each one in turn. When I clicked on one website in the search result list, I discovered that not only were a lot of my photos being displayed, but they were also mixed in with a pile of pornographic videos and photos. According to someone on the Flickr Help Forum, these photos were probably taken from the Jellyfields website before they disabled right-click. Not impressed one bit, I contacted Jellyfields and asked for all my photos to be removed from their site. James was in touch with me immediately and, after getting me to confirm that the displayed photos were mine, said they will remove my photos as requested. He was surprised that nature/wildlife photos would be stolen and added to a porn site, but that is exactly what has happened. Haven't yet found a way to contact the porn site, Tumview.com to demand my photos be removed. I should add that Jellyfields does refer photos back to Flickr, saying to check what the copyright is for each photo. Who needs all this hassle?!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This morning, 17 November 2016, the temperature is -3C (windchill -8C) with light snow. Sounded like a good day on which to post a bright, colourful flower image. On 26 June 2016, a fair-sized group of people spent the morning on a walk led by Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of Calgary. This land consists of 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. While we were sitting outside, I couldn't resist taking a quick shot of this beautiful flower growing near their house. 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.

This is the dreaded Goat's-beard, a highly invasive, non-native plant that has spread (and keeps spreading, despite attempts to control it) in our natural areas in the city and beyond. Too bad, because both the beautiful flower and huge Dandelion-like seedhead are most attractive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_dubius On 26 June 2016, a fair-sized group of people spent the morning on a walk led by Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of Calgary. This land consists of 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.

I have searched and searched for the ID for this Ladybug, but have not (yet) been able to find it. Maybe it's not a Ladybug after all? It was the tiniest thing (4-5 mm) on a small piece of fallen bark at the edge of a wooded area, in Benchlands, out past Cochrane. A few of us went to botanize this land that belongs to Erik Butters - very generous of him to lead a walk for us. Amazing that I even noticed such a tiny insect in an area of fallen logs and natural debris, but I am SO glad I did. As you can see from this much enlarged shot, it really is quite beautiful. "This attractive Three-banded Ladybug is yellow during the summer of its birth. After the first hibernation, the elytra turn a deep red, and the bands are highlighted with a cream-colored halo." From canada-gardens.com/2ladybugs. People in the US are being asked to watch out for some "most wanted" ladybugs that have nearly disappeared in the United States. The three ladybugs are: 1) Coccinella novemnotata, also known as the nine-spotted ladybug or C-9; 2) Adalia bipunctata, the two-spotted ladybug; 3) C. trifasciata, the three-banded ladybug. I don't know if the Three-banded Ladybug is more common in Canada.

Yesterday, I went on the annual Ghost River Watershed Alliance hike, held in the Benchlands area, NW of Cochrane (which is NW of Calgary). Erik Butters holds this very enjoyable day, taking us through the forest and meadows on his private land. Because spring was so late in arriving this year, there weren't that many wildflowers in bloom, but friend Darlene did a wonderful job of finding several mushrooms for me to photograph, including the little cluster of three in my next photo. Each cap was maybe quarter of an inch across : ) Other things we saw included a pair of noisy Red-tailed Hawks, quite a few beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterflies (seen in image above), and Black Bear scat (that looked very recent to me!) and a Grizzly Bear footprint in mud along our path, that had been made sometime after a 4-wheeler went up the trail the previous night - i.e. very recent footprint : ) We also came across Coyote scat on our trail. When we got back to Eric's home afterwards, he had a delicious BBQ meal waiting for us. This is always such an enjoyable end to the event and is much appreciated by one and all (and the turnout this year was 60+ people). Amazingly, the sun shone and there was no rain, temperatures 12C up to 19C, so we were very fortunate. Thanks so much for the ride, Sandy! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday, I went on the annual Ghost River Watershed Alliance hike, held in the Benchlands area, NW of Cochrane (which is NW of Calgary). Erik Butters holds this very enjoyable day, taking us through the forest and meadows on his private land. Because spring was so late in arriving this year, there weren't that many wildflowers in bloom, but friend Darlene did a wonderful job of finding several mushrooms for me to photograph, including the little cluster of three in my photo. Each cap was maybe quarter of an inch across : ) Other things we saw included a pair of noisy Red-tailed Hawks, quite a few beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterflies (posting a photo of one of them today, too), Black Bear scat (that looked very recent to me!) and a Grizzly Bear footprint in mud along our path, that had been made sometime after a 4-wheeler went up the trail the previous night - i.e. very recent footprint : ) We also came across Coyote scat on our trail. When we got back to Eric's home afterwards, he had a delicious BBQ meal waiting for us. This is always such an enjoyable end to the event and is much appreciated by one and all (and the turnout this year was 60+ people). Amazingly, the sun shone and there was no rain, temperatures 12C up to 19C, so we were very fortunate. Thanks so much for the ride, Sandy!

A handful of us spent the morning walking on the Ranch property belonging to Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of the city. The plants that were growing there were recorded, as were the birds that were seen or heard. This photo shows what Erik's land is like - rolling, open hills covered in wildflowers and areas of woodland, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Around noon, Erik and his partner provided a great BBQ for us and for the people who had joined us from elsewhere. The food was delicious! Thank you so much, both of you!

A handful of us spent the morning walking on the Ranch property belonging to Erik Butters, out past Cochrane, NW of the city. The plants that were growing there were recorded, as were the birds that were seen or heard. The photo that I uploaded after this one shows what Erik's land is like - rolling, open hills covered in wildflowers and areas of woodland. There were quite a lot of Death Camas growing, shown in this photo. So enjoyable to explore a beautiful place like this. Around noon, Erik and his partner provided a great BBQ for us and for the people who had joined us from elsewhere. The food was delicious! Thank you so much, both of you!