Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 194th Ave. SE

Another lucky shot of this very distant Long-tailed Weasel, seen on 24 March 2014, while several of us were waiting by our cars at the Pine Creek Sewage Treatment Plant on 194 Ave SE. Thanks so much for spotting this little guy, Wayne! Not easy to see something that is still wearing its white, winter coat against the snow. As you can see, spring is here in name only. It was snowing all day yesterday and again today. So glad I forced myself out the door - I go on so few walks any more - or I would have missed this Weasel sighting. Not a whole lot of birds to be seen on this walk and all were too far away to photograph, but it's good to see that some of the birds are gradually returning: Canada Goose-4000+ AMERICAN WIGEON-6 Mallard-1500 Bufflehead-60 Common Goldeneye-300 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE-1 m Common Merganser-7+ Bald Eagle-3 (2 ad./1 juv.) Ring-billed Gull-2+ California Gull-10+ Northern Flicker-2 Black-billed Magpie-16 American Crow-1 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-3 European Starling-40+ "The long-tailed weasel is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, when northern forests were replaced by open grassland, thus prompting an explosive evolution of small, burrowing rodents. The long-tailed weasel's ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size to exploit the new food source. The long-tailed weasel arose in North America 2 million years ago, shortly before the stoat evolved as its mirror image in Eurasia. The species thrived during the Ice Age, as its small size and long body allowed it to easily operate beneath snow, as well as hunt in burrows. The long-tailed weasel and the stoat remained separated until half a million years ago, when falling sea levels exposed the Bering land bridge, thus allowing the stoat to cross into North America. However, unlike the latter species, the long-tailed weasel never crossed the land bridge, and did not spread into Eurasia." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_weasel

A lucky shot of this very distant Long-tailed Weasel, seen yesterday (24 March 2014) while several of us were waiting by our cars at the Pine Creek Sewage Treatment Plant on 194 Ave SE.. Thanks so much for spotting this little guy, Wayne! Not easy to see something that is still wearing its white, winter coat against the snow. I managed to get a second shot, too, showing the long tail with its white tip, which I'll post sometime. As you can see, spring is here in name only. So glad I forced myself out the door - I go on so few walks any more. Not a whole lot of birds to be seen on this walk and all were too far away to photograph, but it's good to see that some of the birds are gradually returning: Canada Goose-4000+ AMERICAN WIGEON-6 Mallard-1500 Bufflehead-60 Common Goldeneye-300 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE-1 m Common Merganser-7+ Bald Eagle-3 (2 ad./1 juv.) Ring-billed Gull-2+ California Gull-10+ Northern Flicker-2 Black-billed Magpie-16 American Crow-1 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-3 European Starling-40+ "The long-tailed weasel is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, when northern forests were replaced by open grassland, thus prompting an explosive evolution of small, burrowing rodents. The long-tailed weasel's ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size to exploit the new food source. The long-tailed weasel arose in North America 2 million years ago, shortly before the stoat evolved as its mirror image in Eurasia. The species thrived during the Ice Age, as its small size and long body allowed it to easily operate beneath snow, as well as hunt in burrows. The long-tailed weasel and the stoat remained separated until half a million years ago, when falling sea levels exposed the Bering land bridge, thus allowing the stoat to cross into North America. However, unlike the latter species, the long-tailed weasel never crossed the land bridge, and did not spread into Eurasia." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_weasel

Was out on a walk all morning along the Bow River, along 194th Ave. SE. The hoar frost was beautiful and I liked seeing it contrasting with a length of this bright orange, soft, plastic fencing. We were lucky to find the Trumpeter Swans that had been reported, swimming on the Bow River. Unfortunately, I had to take the odd quick shot here and there, otherwise I got left behind by my friends : ) We had car-pooled the last bit of the drive. When I returned to my vehicle, I discovered that it was completely dead! No sound at all when I turned the key in the ignition. As it was, the driver's door lock was frozen shut when I was about to leave home, so had to get in through the passenger's side. Two of our vehicles had left straight away, but thank goodness friend Phil was just backing his truck out of the parking lot. Thanks SO much, Phil, for trying to get my battery recharged and for helping me get hold of the AMA (I don't own a cell-phone). I really hope that the lady whose wires you borrowed never needs to use them for herself, seeing as they didn't work. Fortunately, the AMA guy arrived in about half an hour and got my car started without any trouble. I was so thankful I wasn't out on my own with no phone, along the little backroads somewhere!

We had a fairly good hoar frost again yesterday morning, so was able to take this quick shot of barbed-wire down near the Bow River at 194th Ave, SE.. By the end of our morning's walk, most of the frost had melted.