Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: hiding

Happy 4th July to all Americans, wherever in the world you happen to be living! "In the 1970s, canola was created through traditional plant cross-breeding by removing two things found in the rapeseed plant: glucosinolates and erucic acid. Erucic acid was removed because it was believed to be inedible or toxic in high doses. The newly developed plant was renamed "canola" – a combination of "Canadian" and "Oil" (or ola) to make this difference apparent." From the link below. www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-canola-and... I absolutely love the time of year when the fields turn bright yellow with the Canola flowers. Three days ago was the first day I had been out when I saw any fields with the crop fully in bloom. I have to admit that I don't like the smell of Canola, but the colour is so spectacular and pretty. One field had a beautiful visitor, hiding - a Mule Deer, which remained motionless for ages. On Canada Day, 1 July 2017, it was a great day, spent with friend, Pam. I picked her up just after 8:00 am and did a long drive in Southern Alberta. We saw our target bird - a Common Nighthawk, and all sorts of other things including plants and old barns. It took a round trip of 414 km to get the Nighthawks, but it was so worth it! Much further than I normally drive. Towards the end of our day, the rain arrived, accompanied by lightning streaks. This couldn't have been timed more perfectly, to wash off a lot of the dust that covered my car after 12 hours of driving hot, dusty roads! So welcome! We have another hot day today and the forecast is for very hot days for at least the next week. So far, the forecast is 33C for Friday, 35C for Saturday and 31C for Sunday. it was such a thrill to see a Common Nighthawk / Chordeiles minor (a rather strange looking bird), as I had always wanted to see one actually lying on a fence post or wooden railing. People get such amazing photos of them like that, and that is what I was determined to find this summer. Last year, I had driven to this area in Southern Alberta, hoping to find one, but had been out of luck. We were thrilled to see four Nighthawks together. Three of them were lying on a metal railing, but the fourth was on a fence post - not the best angle, but it was still nice to see a fence post perch. How close we came to missing them. I said I wanted to just check the first part of a small side road first, before continuing on the road we were on - and there they were! I had seen a nighthawk on maybe five different occasions over the years, but most were in flight and one was perched very high up in a tree. For Pam, this was the first time she had ever seen one, and she was so happy to see this lifer. "On warm summer evenings, Common Nighthawks roam the skies over treetops, grasslands, and cities. Their sharp, electric peent call is often the first clue they’re overhead. In the dim half-light, these long-winged birds fly in graceful loops, flashing white patches out past the bend of each wing as they chase insects. These fairly common but declining birds make no nest. Their young are so well camouflaged that they’re hard to find, and even the adults seem to vanish as soon as they land." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Nighthawk/id I was so tired after driving such a long distance and it was a hot day - the temperature got up to 30C. I so rarely do such a long drive, and I've barely driven all winter and spring. It felt so good to actually get out on a long drive like this, and we saw all sorts of interesting things that we just had to stop and photograph - of course! Every single time I go out with my camera for a drive, I never forget to be SO thankful to live in a country where I have the freedom and safety to go where I want, and to see such beauty. Thank you, Alberta and Albertans - and Happy 150th Birthday, Canada! Such a young country.

Almost three weeks ago, on 30 June 2016, I just made it in time for a botany visit to our main naturalist leader's home and garden. He and his wife have an amazing double-lot garden, full of so many kinds of flowers, including a good variety of native plants. They also had a little visitor in their front garden, a Jackrabbit, hiding from us all - or at least thinking s/he was hidden. One of my favourite plants is Showy Milkweed - love the cluster of individual flowers and buds growing on a rounded head. These plants have spread over a lot of the front garden. All they need now is for Monarch butterflies to fly a bit further north than they usually do and discover this little bit of butterfly heaven. In 2012, though, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few of these amazing butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a couple of Monarch caterpillars in this garden in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city. "Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately. edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe... ""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation. Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia. Our leader also has a large vegetable garden. One thing that always fascinates me is the Egyptian Walking Onion. Each one seems to take on its own artistic shape and I love to photograph these - both fascinating and quite beautiful. In the afternoon of this day, we experienced a huge rain and hail storm. Fortunately, it cleared up in time to go on Don Stiles' annual evening Bluebird route trip. I always look forward to going with Don on his nest box route, checking on a few of the boxes and finding either Bluebird or Tree Swallow eggs or babies. Don records all the information about numbers and dates, and also demonstrates how he carefully bands the young birds. Thanks, as always, Don, for an enjoyable evening outing and thank you for all the many, many years (must be somewhere around 35?) you have spent helping to preserve our beautiful Bluebirds. We all enjoyed seeing the various other bird species during the evening, too.

This photo was taken on 23 December 2014, when I was out on the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for Drumheller, NE of Calgary. The group of friends I was with, travelling in three cars, covered the NE quadrant of the Count circle plus an extra bit of land S of Highway 9. There were 10 of us in total, including 3 people from Drumheller. Part of our area included a walk along the edge of the Red Deer River. I'd forgotten that we would be doing this walk - too far for me, so I had to turn back just before the far end. When I was with the group, we spotted this little Snowshoe Hare just a few feet away from the path, hiding in the bushes. It was impossible to get a clear shot through the tangle of bear branches. It's unfortunate when these animals have turned white in the winter and there is little or no snow on the ground. This makes them a much easier target for predators. At lunch time, we were all treated to home made hot beef and barley soup and tea/coffee at the home of Jim McCabe, who lives in Drumheller and joined us for the Count, along with the two others. Jim works at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and is the senior preparation technician and lab supervisor there. "The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a Canadian tourist attraction and a centre of palaeontological research noted for its collection of more than 130,000 fossils." (Wikipedia), Located in the Badlands of Alberta, it is known for it's amazing dinosaur finds. I will add the final report of our group's leader (Gus Yaki) below. As far as Snowy Owls are concerned, the driver of the vehicle in which I spent the whole day (another Anne!) and I saw a total of 8 Snowy Owls, including owls seen on the drive to and from the Count area. That makes 18-20 Snowy Owls that I had been lucky enough to see within 4 days (10-12 of them seen when my daughter and I searched E and NE of Calgary three days earlier, on 20 December)! "HORSESHOE Canyon/Drumheller CBC, N side of Red Deer River, 0830-1315; 23Dec2014. Sunny, becoming overcast, calm, -8 to -3 to -10°C. Ring-necked Pheasant-1 m. (at Murrays). Eurasian Collared Dove-2+ Snowy Owl-1 juv. Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-2 Northern Flicker-1+ Blue Jay-4 Black-billed Magpie-9 Common Raven-4 Black-capped Chickadee-20 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-2 House Sparrow-75. Mammals: Coyote-2, Eastern Gray Squirrel-black morph-2 Meadow Vole-1 Snowshoe Hare-1 Mule Deer-1. Feeder Birds at Jim McCabe’s Place, Nacmine, not on our territory. 1315-1400, 23Dec2014. Eurasian Collared-Dove-1 Downy Woodpecker-2 Black-billed Magpie-1 Black-capped Chickadee-5 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-1 Also noted 9 Mule Deer on the Nacmine slope from our territory on the N. side of the Red Deer River. Birds on East Side of Count Circle, Terr #4. 1400-1530, 23Dec2014. Snowy Owl-1 ad m just N of #9, on RR 20.4, just after Jim McC. left us. May have seen it in the morning as well. Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-8 Unidentified small passerine, possible Horned Lark-1, seen flying away. Mammals: Coyote-4 Two people reported Gray Jay-1. Because this is unlikely in the prairie, they have filed a Rare Bird Documentation Form. Gus Yaki" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...

I rarely get out any more for an actual walk, especially in the winter months. This winter has been brutally cold with so much snow, which has now turned to ice, thanks to the comparatively mild weather we've had recently. Today, the forecast is for snow again, sigh. Anyway, I managed to push myself out the front door yesterday (28 January 2014) to go for a walk in Weaselhead with friends. The morning started off unpleasantly cold, but gradually warmed up. The pathways were covered in ice and one person did fall, unfortunately, so I was relieved I had my ice grabbers on my winter boots. We had a few nice sightings, which gave reasonable photo opps, including several House Finches, a Downy Woodpecker, and this beautiful little Snowshoe Hare who was well camouflaged against the snow and was hiding in a tangle of branches. Thanks so much, Phil, for spotting this little guy - a treat for all of us! At the end of the walk, a Coyote was spotted, hunting in the field by the parking lot. A most enjoyable walk in good company : ) "The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), also called the varying hare, or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks. Its feet also have fur on the soles to protect it from freezing temperatures. For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round. The snowshoe hare is also distinguishable by the black tufts of fur on the edge of its ears. Its ears are shorter than those of most other hares. In summer, it feeds on plants such as, grass, ferns and leaves; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and buds from flowers and plants and, similar to the Arctic hare, has been known to steal meat from baited traps. Hares are carnivorous under the availability of dead animals, and have been known to eat dead rodents such as mice due to low availability of protein in an herbivorous diet. It can sometimes be seen feeding in small groups. This animal is mainly active at night and does not hibernate. The snowshoe hare may have up to four litters in a year which average three to eight young. Males compete for females, and females may breed with several males." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe_hare

This Long-eared Owl was the first of two that a group of us saw during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count in the High River area, on 17 December 2013. No idea how the person spotted it as we were driving along the road, it was so well hidden in a tangle of branches.

A friend happened to notice this little Nuttall's Cottontail on Saturday, when several of us drove north east of the city to Alberta's wonderful Badland area. We spent the day botanizing Horseshoe Canyon and this little rabbit was at the canyon bottom, tucked into a "cave" caused by erosion of the hillside. I think perhaps he felt that we couldn't see him? : ) I've only ever seen one of the Rabbits maybe three or four times before, so this was a real treat. Thanks, Susan!

I was trying to "improve" a couple of my photos of this little Long-eared Owl last night for someone who had kindly asked permission to use one of them. I happened to notice that I had uploaded the photo above to a different website (talkabout wildlife) and that I preferred this one over the photo I had posted on Flickr three years ago. Didn't want to simply "replace", so bear with me for posting this second shot. Phil, I picture you half way out your door if you just happened to see this image begin to upload, LOL!!! Sorry for the disappointment : )