Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: near Frank Lake

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 : )

It only looks a little foggy in my photo, though I did make the colour stronger and brighter, but yesterday morning (6 April 2013) was a little foggy when I left Calgary to drive southwards. A walk at Frank Lake had been mentioned, and this sounded really appealing, especially as I have only been brave enough to drive down there since maybe three weeks ago. Shortly after leaving the city behind me, the fog worsened and visiblity was extremely low. Wondering why on earth I was crazy enough to do this, I wasn't sure where I could turn around anyway, as there was a median between the two directions of traffic on this main highway. Also, images of a Short-eared Owl perched on a near fencepost kept popping into my mind - and so I continued on : ) I was the only person to turn up (I wonder why!!!). The result was that I was given three great, information-filled hours of being driven all the way round Frank Lake. Most enjoyable, and priceless as far as giving me more confidence to go back again on my own and do the same drive. Thanks SO much, Greg! Oh, and did we see any Short-eared Owls? No, I guess Greg forgot to tell them that we were coming, lol! However, we did see a slough (small pond) full of gorgeous Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, with various ducks mingled in with them. The weather today? Overcast, dreary and snowing - again. Where am I going? Nowhere! (Note: I have not marked the exact location for the Swans, but instead have marked Frank Lake itself. The Swans were NW of the lake.)