Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: north of Calgary

One of those most uninspiring photos that I want to add to a set, and this is the only way to do it : ) Found on a day of botanizing at the Sacred Rocks Sanctuary, a Nature Conservancy area, near Rimbey, Alberta (N of Calgary), on 26 June 2011. I don't have the exact location to add to my map, so have just marked Rimbey, Alberta. "Conocephalum conicum, commonly known as the snake liverwort, is the largest of the thalloid liverworts. Its pale to dark green thallus can grow up to 20 cm long. The dorsal surface of C. conicum is covered with tiny hexagons, which makes the entire thallus seem snake-like. In the centre of each hexagon is a pore, which is actually a break in the epidermis over top of an air chamber. This liverwort is widespread across Canada and it can usually be found on moist rocks or wet inorganic soils." Taken from the website below. www3.botany.ubc.ca/bryophyte/conocephalum.html

Definitely past its prime, but still eye-catching, this cluster of fungi was growing on a rather attractive tree trunk at the Spirit Rocks Sanctuary near Rimbey, north of Calgary. Taken on June 26th. This forest is under The Nature Conservancy of Canada and belongs to Joanne Susut. Joanne inherited this land, which she has named Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, from her parents and has donated it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was about two and a half hours' drive north of Calgary, to near Rimbey.

Ha, sorry for the disappointment! This was such a very tiny lichen (or fungus?), growing on a tree trunk in the forest at the Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, near Rimbey, north of Calgary. Found, if I remember correctly, by friend Doug (dougwaylett) with his eagle eyes (or should I say lichen eyes?) on June 26th. This very small, collected (with a collecting permit) sample was resting on my hand for a macro shot. Doug, if you happen to see this image, I checked your photostream last night, but couldn't find any photos of this. Maybe I missed it, somehow, but did you ever find an ID for it? Thanks. Spirit Rocks Sanctuary near Rimbey, Alberta, is a forest north of the city, that is under The Nature Conservancy of Canada and belongs to Joanne Susut. Joanne inherited this land, which she has named Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, from her parents and has donated it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was about two and a half hours' drive north of Calgary, to near Rimbey. The day started off with rain and ended with rain, but luckily not a drop fell while we were walking.

Photographed at The Nature Conservancy, near Rimbey, Alberta, on June 26th, when we were on a botanizing trip to Spirit Rocks Sanctuary. This is a forest north of the city, that is under The Nature Conservancy of Canada and belongs to Joanne Susut. Joanne inherited this land, which she has named Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, from her parents and has donated it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was about two and a half hours' drive north of Calgary, to near Rimbey. The day started off with rain and ended with rain, but luckily not a drop fell while we were walking. I don't have the exact location to add to my map, so have just marked Rimbey, Alberta. There are two varieties of this orchid: Small Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) and Large Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium pubescens var. pubescens). When you find this orchid, do not disturb it. Do not transplant it - it will likely not survive. It is a wildflower and should stay where it is, also for other people to enjoy. I think I'm correct in saying that my photo shows the Small Lady's-slipper. Thanks Papa Ellis for the confirmation!

This was such a tiny caterpillar-like larva, I don't know how I ever happened to notice it, lol! It was clinging to a thin grass stalk and appeared as just the slightest thickening on the stalk. Needless to say, this is a macro! And it's the only photo of this insect that came out - the rest have been deleted : ) So glad I decided to check it out just in case it was something. Wonder if this is some kind of Sawfly larva? Photographed at the Medicine River WIldlife Centre on a wonderful botanizing day yesterday.

The month of August is the peak of the fungi season here in Alberta, but I've barely seen any yet and August is almost here. Most of the few I've seen have not been photogenic at all, so I haven't bothered with them. However, this little cluster, maybe an inch and a half tall, was growing inside the top of a broken tree stump, just above my head level. Photographed on July 24th on a wonderful day of botanizing at the Medicine River Wildlife Centre, north of Calgary.

..... especially when August, which is supposed to be the peak of fungi season, has arrived, but you've barely seen a fungus of any kind anywhere. Just a few very unphotogenic specimens, along with some Boletes and maybe three or so beautiful individuals. So, we were happy to see this large cluster growing on a tree trunk while we were botanizing the land around the Medicine River Wildlife Centre (north of Calgary), July 19th.

HAPPY CANADA DAY, everyone! One of my favourite wildflowers, the uncommon Mitella nuda, Naked Mitrewort or Bishop's-cap is extremely tiny and barely visible in the forest. You really need to know what you are looking for. Stems are 3 - 20 cm tall, and (in my eyes) look like a short, thin strand of thread, almost invisible amongst the other plants in the forest. The fringed petals resemble a snowflake. The seed capsules, 2 - 3 mm long, open widely into shallow cups containing shiny, black seeds that ripen in late-summer. Needless to say, this is a supermacro : ) Photographed (with GREAT difficulty, lol!) at Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, near Rimbey (north of Calgary), Alberta. www.em.ca/garden/native/nat_mitella_nuda.html

It was so lucky that a friend discovered this tiny orange fungus (macro shot) when we were on a botanizing trip to Spirit Rocks Sanctuary near Rimbey, Alberta, on June 26th. This is a forest north of the city, that is under The Nature Conservancy of Canada and belongs to Joanne Susut. Joanne inherited this land, which she has named Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, from her parents and has donated it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It was about two and a half hours' drive north of Calgary, to near Rimbey. The day started off with rain and ended with rain, but luckily not a drop fell while we were walking. Four of us went from Calgary and we met up with three delightful and very knowledgable ladies there. Thanks so much, Joanne, for letting us explore your land - we appreciated it greatly and enjoyed spending this time with you and your friends. I have seen several mushrooms at various places, but not the photogenic kind, at all! I guess it is still fairly early in July and the peak of the fungi season isn't till August. Even so, I would have thought that we'd have seen a few more than we have seen by now. There was a day trip today to one of my favourite forests, but I decided I wouldn't even bother to go to the meeting place, as no one else turned up yesterday, apparently, for a botanizing day to another of my favourite places - neither of which I can drive to, and even if I could, I know I'd never find my way out of the forest back to my car, ha!

It took a lot of photos of Northern Comandra to get anything worth posting : ) this is just a very small plant, whose leaves get lost amongst all the other plants in the forest. Once located, it is only then that you can find the tiny, greenish flowers growing from the leaf axils. They are so "insignificant", but really quite pretty little gems when you do manage to find them. Photographed these tiny beauties in the forest at Sacred Rocks Sanctuary, near Rimbey, Alberta, on June 26th. "Flowers are in slender-stalked, 2 to 4 flowered clusters from leaf axils; usually the centre flower is female and outer flowers male; petal-like sepals 1 - 1.5 mm long, greenish purple, inconspicuous.; appearing mid-summer." From borealforest.org bolt.lakeheadu.ca/~borfor/herbs/herb17.htm

This is as far as the Purple Avens flower opens. An unusual flower and really, quite beautiful. Photographed at Spirit Rocks Sanctuary, near Rimbey, Alberta, on 26th June.

One of the lovely fungi we came across yesterday, when a handful of us botanized the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary, west of Sundre. These ones are Oyster mushrooms, growing from an old, rotting log. They almost glow in the dark of the forest.

I don't think any of us would have noticed this tiny Wood Frog at the base of this tree if we hadn't happened to have been watching it jump in the grass. Seen yesterday, when a handful of us went to the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre. A good part of the day (I left home about 6:45 a.m. and got back around 7:00 p.m.) was spent exploring a forested area, recording all the flora and fauna of the location. In between, we would walk closer to the small lake through a bog area that was VERY wet - LOL, I had soaking wet feet for about nine hours of the day! However, we had seen from the road, at the start of our full day, that there were some yellow Pondlilies growing on the lake surface, and nothing would have stopped me from reaching them to get a few shots of this new (to me) flower! They are absoutely beautiful, and I was torn as to whether to upload a close shot of this or the little red mushroom. The mushroom won : ) The following link goes to a short, fascinating video on YouTube, about how Wood Frogs freeze solid in the winter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjr3A_kfspM

I was thrilled to bits yesterday when friends called me over to see this beautiful, red mushroom! We don't usually see a sight like this, so it was an extra special surprise when we were exploring and botanizing the forest at the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre. And, yes, in case you are wondering, this really IS its colour : )

I felt so lucky to see another Police Car Moth when we spent all Thursday botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area (north of Calgary and west of Sundre). Perhaps unfortunate that its right wing tip is damaged, but it is still beautiful. It was resting on a branch and then friend David put his finger by it and the Moth climbed on to it. In large size (if you have time to take a peek), you can really see those feathery antennae (that belong to moths, not butterflies).

Two days later, I am STILL on a natural high after seeing these gorgeous, wild Yellow Pondlilies for the very first time. We spent a full day on Thursday botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre, and these Yellow Pondlilies were growing near the edge of the lake. To get to them from the forest where we were exploring, we had to make our way through a very watery bog, LOL. Apart from one small mishap that left one friend soaked to his upper thighs, we managed it with only soaking wet feet. This native, aquatic member of the Water-lily family grows in lakes and ponds June to August. The yellow flower is 4-7 cm across, has 6 yellow, petal-like sepals and several small, inconspicuous petals. Today, I was out with five friends, exploring and botanizing (recording all flora and fauna seen) the forest of Bragg Creek Provincial Park, west of Calgary. A perfect day weatherwise as well as far as enjoyment and sightings were concerned. Lots of mushrooms - though no brilliant red ones today, LOL!

This is a greatly enlarged photo of this Marsh Cinquefoil flower. The actual reddish purple flowers are 15-35 mm across. My plant book says that there are 5 purple sepals and 5 reddish petals, but my flower puzzles me as to just what is what : ) This native wildflower grows in marshes, bogs and shorelines, July-August. This one was seen in a bog by the lake at Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre.

This little male Downy Woodpecker was one of five that we saw on the Snakeshead (near Sundre, north of Calgary) Bird Count yesterday (part of the 109th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count). This little guy was at a feeder in someone's garden on a farm. My group of four people saw the following 16 species: Rock Pigeon-1 Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Blue Jay-20 Black-billed Magpie-16 Common Raven-33 Black-capped Chickadee-67 Boreal Chickadee-6 Red-breasted Nuthatch-3 White-breasted Nuthatch-5 Brown Creeper-1 American Tree Sparrow-3 Dark-eyed Junco-1 Pine Grosbeak-17 Common Redpoll-9 House Sparrow-16 We travelled 97 km by car, 2 km by foot, 5 hrs by car, 1 hr by foot, 1 hr. feeder watching. Snow depth was 10-12" and the weather was sunny, -30C all morning, warming to -13C in pm. Light wsw wind. We also saw Coyote-1, Red Squirrel-2, Mule Deer-18. Also 2 Bald Eagles and 1 Rough-legged Hawk outside our territory.