Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Panasonic DMC_FZ28

This is just a small part of the large, condominium-style birdhouse that a family built and placed in their garden, east of the city. I was out south and east of the city with a friend for a good part of today and was thrilled to see some of these beautiful birds for the very first time. I had seen and heard reports of Purple Martins being seen, so it was a thrill to finally see some ourselves. The lady to whom this birdhouse belongs was so kind and welcoming to us, which we appreciated greatly. These birds are uncommon in Alberta (May to August). They live in colonies in these fancy birdhouses (will post a photo showing the whole birdhouse another time).

The "surprised" expression on a Long-eared Owl's face always makes me smile : ) It is rare to see one of these here in the wild - have only seen either two or three. The one in my photo lives at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre, near Lethbridge, southern Alberta, along with many other injured species. Taken through a chain link cage wall, hence the faded areas.

It's kind of fun to see if you can find a Red-seeded Dandelion instead of a "regular" one, when you are out on a walk. I seem to remember that they are slightly smaller seedheads. This kind of Dandelion has deeply-lobed leaves with lobes of equal size and stems less than 30 cm tall.

A row of beautiful tulips caught my eye recently in a friend's garden. They were growing at the top of a slight embankment, which meant, for one thing, that I didn't need to kneel or lie on my side to get this shot, LOL. I think I was looking into the sun, but it still worked out OK. Talking of knees, mine are in agony this evening, after a wonderful hike on the border of Kananaskis country, west of Longview. I did far too much kneeling on small rocks in order to get photos of plants, which I am not supposed to do, but ... Thanks, David, for the new-for-me plants today - Scorpionweed and Balsamroot - and for showing us this amazing area that you knew about! What an absolute treat!! LOL, I'm posting late today, because I fell asleep in front of the TV for a couple of hours after all that exercise and fresh air.