Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: standing on snow

Another photo of the female Spruce Grouse that I saw NW of Calgary on March 29th. This one let me get out of my car and walk very slowly till I was within maybe 10' or 12' of it. It gave me various "poses" and then it just calmly walked off into the trees. "The Spruce Grouse or Canada Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) is a medium-sized grouse closely associated with the coniferous boreal forests or taiga of North America. It is one of the most arboreal grouse, fairly well adapted to perching and moving about in trees. When approached by a predator, it relies on camouflage and immobility to an amazing degree, for example letting people come to within a few feet before finally taking flight, a behavior that has earned it the moniker "fool hen". Spruce Grouse are 38-43 cm long (15-17 inches); males weigh 550-650 g (19-23 ounces) and females 450-550 g (16-19 ounces). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_Grouse

To say that I lucked out with timing yesterday is an understatement! I was so very lucky to come across two of these beautiful Grouse on a snow embankment along the gravel road I drive on to see the owls. One of them was going into the trees, but this beautiful female stayed where she was and made a few different poses for me : ) This was the first time I'd ever seen a Spruce Grouse and, though a male would have been amazing, I'm very happy to have seen this female. Oh, and I saw my very first Mountain Bluebirds of the year yesterday, too! Always such a thrill to see the very first flash of brilliant blue after the winter months. And we saw about 30 very distant Swans on a slough, too - again, my first of the year. Too far to tell if Tundra or Trumpeter, but most likely to be Tundra. My drive yesterday was about 225 km, and I was exhausted by the time I got home. Just noticed some great news from the Calgary Zoo. "Between approximately 4:30am and 7:00am today three Amur tiger cubs were born to female Katja; father is Baikal. The birth of these tiny cubs, each weighing an estimated 750 grams is potentially great news for this highly-endangered species." High mortality rates are common in tiger births, so hopefully some or all of these new cubs will survive.