Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Blackie area

Ran out of time and energy late last night to find and edit just two shots for this morning : ) Also, posting really early, as I have a long day ahead of me today (unfortunately, on just one and a half hours of sleep). It's going to be a mainly sunny day with temperature of -2C (windchill -5C) this morning, but it's supposed to soar to a balmy +9C (windchill +7C) this afternoon. From my archives, a distant capture of this beautiful Horned Lark, taken SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. Friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, had stopped along one of the roads to look at an old homestead and we heard a bird singing so beautifully. I hadn't seen and photographed a Horned Lark for several years, so I was thrilled to see this handsome, horny male perched on a fence post : ) These birds tend to fly dangerously close along the road in front of ones car. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Horned_Lark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_Lark

This was one of 12 Snowy Owls (in addition to 5 Great Horned Owls) that friends Cathy and Terry and I saw SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. This male Snowy posed like this long enough to get a handful of fully zoomed photos. Unfortunately, the position of the sun made one beautiful, bright yellow eye and the other one more or less black because of the shade. It looked so strange, so I tried to correct this just a little. Now he has one shiny eye and one dull one - but, oh, well : ) He's still such a handsome guy. I know it looks like I might have been standing three feet away, but I can assure you I wasn't, lol!

A somewhat different kind of photo for my photostream, though I love photographing old barns when I'm lucky enough to see them. I thought this old window was interesting - though an owl (of any kind!) sitting in the open window would have been an added bonus : ) Seen SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013.

A heavily cropped capture of this beautiful Horned Lark, taken SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. Friends and I had stopped along one of the backroads to look at an old barn and we heard a bird singing so beautifully. I hadn't seen and photographed a Horned Lark for several years, so I was thrilled to see this handsome, horny male perched on a fence post : ) These birds tend to fly dangerously close along the road in front of ones car. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Horned_Lark/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_Lark I wasn't expecting SNOW again this morning, lol! Which of course makes me think immediately of all those people over in the east (Boston, etc.), who are experiencing dreadful conditions with the huge snowstorm that is hitting that whole area. Really, really feel for those who were hit so hard by Hurricane Sandy just a few months ago and still have not recovered from all the damage ,,,. and now this! So many people dealing with so much hardship - my thoughts are with them. Anyone else finding Flickr extremely slow today?

Another photo taken SE of Calgary in the Blackie area on 3 February 2013, when I spent the day with friends, driving the backroads, hoping to see Snowy Owls - and anything else beautiful. How I love our beautiful Alberta landscapes!

Another photo from 3 February 2013, when I went with friends for a day of driving the backroads SE of Calgary, in the Blackie area. The road in the photo is, of course, not one of the gravel roads. The mountains appear closer than they really are, thanks to high zoom. It was such perfect weather and the shadows on the snow were a bright blue, just as you see in the photo. This was the day on which we saw 17 owls (12 Snowy Owls and 5 Great Horned Owls). What more could one wish for?