Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: cloudy

Tonight, I have just added 8 extra photos of poor quality. They were taken during a walk with friends this morning, 15 September 2018, at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. I just wanted to add them to various albums for the record. The weather was so unpleasant today - cold (just a few degrees above freezing), misty and drizzling. Longjohns, gloves, two fleece jackets and a light shell were all needed. Some people were even wearing their thick, padded winter jackets. The atrocious light was useless for photography. However, I so rarely get to this location and so I wanted to add several sightings that were much appreciated, especially an American Mink that was spotted the far side of the lagoon, a few deer and a very distant Great Blue Heron. After our walk, some of us went for lunch at the Blackfoot Diner. It was cold enough outside to make it feel really good to be able to wrap our fingers round cups of hot coffee, Everyone here is really hoping that we will actually have an autumn this year. Quite a few of the trees have turned yellow, but we have had rain and snow this week and some of the leaves are already on the ground. This is SUMMER! What a crazy summer we have had this year - heat (including breaking an all-time record for here!), slightly cooler days in between, snow and rain accompanied by temperatures that are barely above freezing and windchills that have plunged below 0C. Oh, and weeks of very poor air quality because of the smoke that was blowing in from the Britisih Columbia wildfires. Just when we were thinking that fall has arrived early, along came the snow. Keeping fingers crossed that another week of crummy weather and hopefully fall will return, with much-needed sunshine and warmth.

International Women's Day today, 8 March 2018. Yay for Women! All three photos posted today were taken on 29 May 2015, on a trip way down in southern Alberta. A small group of us spent the day at the Whaleback, climbing the ridges, doing a species count. We had such a great day, finding all sorts of things of interest - plants, mosses, lichens - and in my case, insects, animals and birds, too : ) In fact, anything and everything, lol. The weather was good for walking, not too warm and, up till the last part, dry. We were so lucky that the rain stayed away for most of the day. When I went on this outing in May 2013, it rained all day, though I still managed to get plenty of photos. On 29 May 2015, it was overcast with low cloud, making scenic shots rather unpleasant. Just before taking the turn for the road leading to a place to park, we stopped at a spot down by the river and did a search there. I was thrilled to bits to find three or four Tent Caterpillars on a plant next to a large rock and thought what a way to start the day. After taking a few photos, I walked to the other side of the rock and noticed what almost looked like a circular patch of lichen growing on the rock surface. A closer look revealed a mass of dozens of these writhing caterpillars, with several others climbing up in single file to join the rest. Still makes me itch all over, just thinking about it, lol! Another highlight of the day for me was when I happened to notice a tiny spot of bright red deep inside a distant Early Yellow Locoweed flower. I zoomed in for a photo and thought it looked like it might be a Ladybug. Couldn't count the spots properly, so I very gently parted the petals to get a better look. Unfortunately, it crawled on to my hand and wouldn't return to a petal until after I had taken two or three shots, and then it immediately moved out of sight. I was so happy to find that it was a different kind of Ladybug, though I had seen one a few years ago - it was a Convergent Ladybug. Part way through the day, I stayed behind while the rest of the group climbed to a higher ridge, and I explored the lower ground. It was a place where I knew I wouldn't get lost - but I did have to wait till at least some of the others returned a few hours later, as others were needed to create an opening to climb though the barbed-wire fence again. I found plenty to photograph and it was quite a feeling to be so high up with such an amazing view all around, and to be alone up there. While I sat to eat lunch on a rocky outcrop with a couple of trees, a tiny Sparrow (of some kind) came to visit a couple of times and sing for me. Also, there were maybe half a dozen Brewer's Blackbirds that stayed around the area for much of the time, flying or perched on low bushes. A truly magical time. The rest of the group had a great time, too, and saw Parry's Townsendia flowers and lots of Balsamroot in bloom. Fortunately, I had seen the Townsendia before on a brutal hike to Picklejar Lakes several years ago. Two years before, I had also seen hillsides at the Whaleback covered in the bright yellow Balsamroot flowers. I did manage to find several plants huddled together lower down, so was happy to get a few photos of these bright and cheery flowers. Altogether, a wonderful day in an incredibly beautiful place with great company! Many thanks, Robin and Cedric, for giving me a ride there and back - appreciated it SO much!

These two old sheds/granaries were seen on 12 February 2015, which was spent SE of the city, with friends Cathy and Terry. They picked me up around 7:00 am and I think I was home somewhere around 7:30 pm, after a great day of searching for owls, barns, and anything else that caught our eye. The weather was beautiful, though cloudy part of the day. The temperature reached a brief high of 13C around 1:00 and 2:00 pm, which felt so good, especially for mid-winter. Many of the roads we travelled along were roads that I had driven on myself, some of them many times. A few of the roads were new to me, which was a treat, including a "trail" that was so deeply rutted and snow-covered that I'm amazed that we ever got out of there! This track and another backroad that was new to me led to a few old barns that I really appreciated being shown. It's strange how some fields in the whole area were more or less bare and yet others had a lot of snow covering the stubble, with piles of snow lining the edges of the road. As far as wildlife was concerned, we saw 11 owls - 8 Snowy Owls and 3 Great Horned Owls. The Snowies, other than one perched on a "Wrong Way" sign, were all extremely distant, so my photos are of white specks in a nice setting, ha. Other birds included a flock of Snow Buntings plus two individuals that were actually perched on a fence. Another bird we saw was a beautiful Prairie Falcon perched on an electricity pylon. Also a group of Grey Partridge that suddenly flew before we had noticed them.

I dashed down a few gravel side roads just south of the city three days ago, when the sun finally came out for a short while. This is the kind of scenery you will find around the city and then, as you travel westwards, these rolling fields turn into the Foothills and then eventually into the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. How lucky we are to have such beautiful, endless countryside just a few minutes away from the city. I had hoped it would rain heavily since then, to wash off all the dried mud that now covers my car from these muddy, rutty, gravel roads, but I've been out of luck. Looks like I will have to hit a carwash soon - hopefully before the snow returns, LOL.

A very kind friend invited me to go along with him to search for White-tailed Ptarmigan at Highwood Pass, Kananaskis, today. We have tried a couple of times before to find one, but still no luck : ) The day started out around 7:45 a.m. with a gorgeous sunset mixed with a Chinook arch (see photo that was posted after this one), as we headed south of the city. The colour and light were spectacular! As we drove deeper into the mountains on Highway 40, it started to snow, and when we eventually reached Highwood Pass, there was SO much snow - too much to be able to walk unless one had snowshoes or skis. Fortunately, the highway itself was very good. When we got back to the city, it felt good to see clear ground and gorgeous sunshine : ) I so rarely get to the mountains, and I really appreciate a treat like this!