Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: near High River

On 14 April 2014, my youngest daughter and I spent the day driving some of the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, and others were new territory. This photo was zoomed in, which meant that the Rocky Mountains in the background look closer than they really are. "Heat wave" distortion and haze make the old barn and beyond look blurry (certainly on a 24" monitor), but I thought it was still a nice rural scene. It's 9C this morning, 23 April 2014, getting up to 12C this afternoon. It actually rained yesterday evening, which felt a little strange after getting all our precipitation in the form of snow the last seven months. More rain in the forecast for this afternoon, then a sunny day tomorrow, followed by two days of mixed precipitation or snow. In other words, a typical April here, where we keep thinking that spring may have finally arrived, only to have it snow again. This happens over and over in this month.

Spent the whole day SE of the city again on 13 March 2014, with friends Cathy and Terry. What a slow day it was for much of the time. Took us just over 6 hours to find the first Snowy Owl - just the tiniest, distant white speck on the ground, far across a huge field. We were beginning to wonder if maybe all the Snowies had already left to fly north, so we were happy to see this one, and a second one about four hours later, perched on a distant power pole. No photo opportunities for these owls, but it felt to good to know that there were at least these two owls still in the area. We had no luck at all finding a Short-eared Owl - very different from 7th March, when we saw 8 of them, six in flight and two on the ground. In addition to the 2 Snowies, we did see 9 Great Horned Owls, though, some on nests. Weather was beautiful with some interesting clouds for part of the day, clearing much later. We were just in time to see the last of the pink sunrise colour and light on the distant mountains - always so beautiful - and our day ended with this beautiful sunset sky. I rarely see sunrises or sunsets, as I'm usually home at those times, so to see both on this day was a real treat. Some of the fields looked pretty bare, while others were still covered in snow. The "heat-wave" distortion was really bad all day long, making good, clear shots impossible. Was lucky enough to get down to the same area again yesterday, 15 March 2014. This was one of the annual trips with a bunch of friends, that I always try to go on. Again, no Short-eared Owls or Snowy Owls, but I think the highlight off the day was when we had a flock of European Starlings flying en masse over the fields near us. Various estimates suggested were 5,000 - 10,000 birds. These birds are well known for their spectacular mass aerial displays before roosting for the night and many of you have probably seen various videos of this phenomenon. Different to see a small murmuration in person, so we were really lucky. Two days earlier, I had found two Eurasian Collared Doves in one of the small hamlets in the area, so we went to check it out. With my almost non-existent sense of direction, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to find the same tree, but I did, and then other birders were able to spot about six of these Doves in various trees. Thanks, Andrew, for yet another great day! www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/13192714754

This image was partially zoomed in (full is 48x), so the mountains look closer than they really are. Spent the whole day SE of the city again on 13 March 2014, with friends Cathy and Terry. What a slow day it was for much of the time. Took us just over 6 hours to find the first Snowy Owl - just the tiniest, distant white speck on the ground, far across a huge field. We were beginning to wonder if maybe all the Snowies had already left to fly north, so we were happy to see this one, and a second one about four hours later, perched on a distant power pole. No photo opportunities for these owls, but it felt to good to know that there were at least these two owls still in the area. We had no luck at all finding a Short-eared Owl - very different from 7th March, when we saw 8 of them, six in flight and two on the ground. In addition to the 2 Snowies, we did see 9 Great Horned Owls, though, some on nests. Weather was beautiful with some interesting clouds for part of the day, clearing much later. We were just in time to see the last of the pink sunrise colour and light on the distant mountains - always so beautiful. Some of the fields looked pretty bare, while others were still covered in snow. The "heat-wave" distortion was really bad all day long, making good, clear shots impossible.

This image was fully zoomed in (48x), so the mountains look so much closer than they really are. The barn/shed was as simple a design as you can get, but at least it was RED : ) Spent the whole day SE of the city again yesterday, with friends Cathy and Terry. What a slow day it was for much of the time. Took us just over 6 hours to find the first Snowy Owl - just the tiniest, distant white speck on the ground, far across a huge field. We were beginning to wonder if maybe all the Snowies had already left to fly north, so we were happy to see this one, and a second one about four hours later, perched on a distant power pole. No photo opportunities for these owls, but it felt to good to know that there were at least these two owls still in the area. We had no luck at all finding a Short-eared Owl - very different from 7th March, when we saw 8 of them, six in flight and two on the ground. In addition to the 2 Snowies, we did see 9 Great Horned Owls, though, some on nests. Weather was beautiful with some interesting clouds for part of the day, clearing much later. Some of the fields looked pretty bare, while others were still covered in snow. The "heat-wave" distortion was really bad all day long. Does anyone know if there is a way to overcome this? It makes good, clear shots impossible.

A zoomed-in view of a very distant red barn, taken on 24 December 2013, along one of the backroads fairly near Frank Lake. Obviously the mountains, too, appear closer than they really were. I always love to see sunshine on fields of stubble - they positively glow. Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas Day yesterday! How quickly it's all over with for another year. Some of you may be going off to the stores today, Boxing Day, but I'll be heading in the opposite direction, to the mountains. Lucky enough to have been invited to join friends for a day surrounded by magnificent scenery. To me, that feels more Christmassy than fighting the crowds and standing in line for ages at the shopping mall : )

This photo was taken at 8:34 p.m. yesterday, 19 April 2013, just as it was beginning to get dark. Really no use for photos with my point-and-shoot, but I was determined to try now that I had finally found a Short-eared Owl! (One of these days, I really MUST look up how to change the ISO setting on my camera, though Intelligent Automatic did raise the ISO, lol!!). I was also determined to post one of my shots, lol, and this was the only possible one (after being brightened, sharpened and cropped!). I left home early evening and spent something like two and a half hours driving the whole way round Frank Lake - the very first time I had ever driven it. The sun was shining when I left home and by the time I neared my destination, an enormous black cloud hovered right over where I was going. Actually, that, plus the evening sun that was all around, made for some rather nice light, so I was able to shoot scenery - and a Coot! Not sure where all the birds were, though I did see some very distant birds from the blind at the Lake. Several Coots were hanging about near the blind. I also saw several Tundra Swans on a small slough (pond) towards the end of my drive. I made two "mistakes" on my drive, one of which didn't really matter, but the second one made me drive further than I had intended and my big concern was the approaching darkness and being caught on the gravel backroads unable to see where i was going. Decided to check at my starting point one more time before hitting the highway and to my delight, I found a pair of these beautiful owls. Neither one stayed on their fence post, but flew off into the distance, so it was a case of a few quick shots in semi darkness - and being able to "rescue" just one of them. I was totally, totally drained by the time I got home - but very happy : ) The last time I had seen a Short-eared Owl in the wild was just over six years ago, but east of the city, near Langdon, and very, very distant. In Alberta, this owl species is uncommon to common from March to November and occasionally over-winters. I believe the provincial conservation status is "May Be At Risk". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-eared_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-eared_Owl/id