Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: SpecNature

Sorry, but I can't resist uploading my rather dull and simple House Sparrow photos! They are all a little bit different, but I just love the pattern of their feathers, seen more easily when fluffed up against the cold. Not exactly the best angle : )

A pair of Trumpter Swans lives in the winter months in the owl aviary at the Calgary Zoo. There are two small, heated ponds in there. When I was in the aviary yesterday, the Swans came out of the water and walked down the walk-through path right up to me. They'd never done this before, so it took me by surprise. One of them decided to lie down on the path by the heavy, metal gate, face to face with the Snowy owl with one eye (either a female or a young one). Almost like it wanted to visit : ) I was talking with a very enthusiastic, knowledgeable gentleman in there and he noticed the small, Long-eared Owl that tends to hide away very well. I have only ever twice seen this owl in there. I have seen Trumpeter Swans in the wild, but never this close.

Yesterday, a group of us went south of Calgary to near Nanton, to visit the old homestead belonging to Jim Coutts. He is trying to convert his land back to its original, natural grassland, almost literally one little grass "plug" at a time. He has the most amazing garden, including brilliantly coloured flowersbeds and an area that grows a lot of different native grasses. This one flower caught my attention, contrasting beautifully with the background colour.

A pair of these beautiful Trumpeter Swans lives in the aviary at the Calgary Zoo, along with the Great Gray Owls, two Snowy Owls and Barred Owls. Today, though, I noticed a new owl that I had never seen in there before. I think they have added a Long-eared Owl! I have seen Trumpeter Swans in the wild here, but they are either flying high overhead or are too far away on a slough. "The Trumpeter Swan was hunted almost to extinction for its feathers and meat in the early 20th century. Although their breeding numbers in Alberta are not up to pre-colonial levels, biologists are now growing concerned about overcrowding of Trumpeter Swans on their southern wintering areas. Their voice is a loud, resonant "bugle"." From Birds of Alberta by Fisher and Acorn.

We saw this handsome male Hairy Woodpecker when we were on a walk in Fish Creek Park this morning, in the Sikome/Hull's Wood area.

LARGE SIZE shows the fine details better, if you have time! Thanks, Synapped! Oh, boy, please bear with me!! 'Tis the season of greys and whites, and this season is going to be a long five or six months. Like last winter, many of my photos will be colourless, except when I visit the Zoo in sheer desperation for some COLOUR! It was -23C with the wind chill factor this morning and it was COLD on my walk. I was supposed to go on a bird walk across the city, but 40 minutes after leaving home, I was still just down the road. Road conditions were atrocious and traffic was barely moving. So, rather than try to reach my original destination, I decided I would go locally and check on "my" Great Horned Owls (saw two of them again, but they were in separate locations). There were so many hungry Chickadees, but I had no seeds with me as you can get a large fine if you are seen feeding these little friendly birds in the parks. Some of these little guys would land on my frozen index finger that was ready to press the shutter button! Chickadees darting in every possible direction are impossible to photograph - this was just a very lucky shot : )! It was grey and gloomy out, really bad for taking photos : )

OK, I need to break myself into winter slowly here! One grey and white winter bird shot is all I can take without a splash of colour before I post the next grey and white shot, LOL. This is a shot in the Butterfly House at the Calgary Zoo. I noticed that a lot of the plants are beginning to die in there - this will be a sad season, but hopefully I'll be able to find some bright flowers in bloom in the Conservatory over the winter months. A very "cluttered" photo, but I like the detail on the butterfly. Next time ....

This beautiful Bald Eagle was taking a long, long bath just the other side of the wire mesh fence from where I was standing. I was SO lucky that day, as these birds are usually up in one of the tall trees when I visit!

When I was at the Calgary Zoo recently, a Peacock was strutting fairly close by. He gave a bit of a shake and I saw this small, rather downy feather flutter to the ground. Me being me, I couldn't resist bringing it home and photographing it, LOL!

Very few leaves left on the trees here now. I would imagine that this little Silver Maple tree, in Bowness Park, is completely bare, from people removing the gorgeous red leaves to take home, or by Mother Nature herself.

Love the bright purple stems of the Ornamental Kale. When the leaves fall off (or are pulled off), they leave a rather wide, heart-shaped mark on the stem.

This was another insect that was pretty much intact in my 25-year-old bug collection! This is just a wooden tray with a mix of loose legs, wings and antennae, with the very occasional insect that is reasonably whole. About 25 years ago, I was doing a lot of enrichment work as a volunteer teacher with elementary school children. One of the things I did was to use hand lenses with dead insects! My small collection was finally unearthed from my basement recently. I was very pleasantly surprised to see this particular beetle - I've never seen one alive. It is about an inch long.

Took this photo a few months ago in the aviary at the Calgary Zoo. Yes, Tanya, I know - disappointing to find out that it was seen at the Zoo, not in the wild! It is such an amazing experience to have these large owls flying around you, with nothing between them and you.

Another strange photo. I used the following explanation for a previously uploaded photo of a Clearwing Moth on an orange Sunflower: "About 25 years ago, I was doing a lot of enrichment work as a volunteer teacher with elementary school children. One of the things I did was to use hand lenses with dead insects! My small collection was finally unearthed from my basement recently and when I peered into the tray, the very first thing I saw was a small Clearwing Moth." Today, I had another look amongst all the debris of loose wings, legs and heads, and found this dragonfly. Thought I'd use it, too, on one of the sunflowers.

These large yellow wildflowers always brighten up any natural area.

These beautifully delicate flowers are called Crocus, but I believe they are not true crocuses. Seemed so strange to see them in bloom amongst the fall leaves. Such a pretty colour.

Others have mentioned thatthese Tulips look like rippled ice-cream and so on. To me, they make me think of the pink and white striped rock candy that we used to buy at the seaside in England when I was a young girl.

Amethyst taken from another angle. Love those flat, shiny, triangular crystal sides.