Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: shade

Crazy, crazy weather! We have only just come out of an awful deep-freeze that lasted for many weeks. "The chance for some 20 degree weather extends across southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan early next week including the city of Calgary, where some daily temperature records are in jeopardy. The record to beat on Monday and Tuesday is 18.3°C and 18.9°C, which were both set on March 18 and 19 back in 1928." From the Weather Network on 16 March 2019. I am going to be taking a break from posting photos on ipernity and Flickr soon - might or might not post anything after today. Will return when I don't have to keep going into my archives. As I have been doing the last few days, I will add the description that I added under a previously posted photo from the same day. "What a day I had with friends on 7 December 2014, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink - this is always such an amazing sight to see. There was very low cloud lingering in some places, too, which I always love to see. This was one of the many photos I took through the windshield, that actually came out OK, other than having to remove a lot of dark spots from the dirty windshield, that were visible in the sky area. Not sure if the colour was affected - could be - but the light was absolutely amazing. I always think you need the sun on the mountains, to bring them to life. Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter and very early spring months, to protect the wildlife) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day! My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose, and on this day they did really well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a youngish male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the sides of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they walked by the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance : ) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free car wash, anyone?? I should add that caution must always be kept in mind and respect given to an animal - any wildlife can be unpredictable, and Moose can cause a lot of damage if they become aggressive.. Most of the time, the female was in the shade, which made taking photos a bit of a challenge. What a difference in the colour of her coat when she occasionally moved into the sun. We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow at the edge of some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around, either. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. Of course, just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me." “The moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with adendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly reduced it over the years. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are wolves, bears, and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing for a female. The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9,770 kcal (40.9 MJ) per day to maintain its body weight. Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

What a day I had with friends, Cathy and Terry, on 7 December 2014, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink - this is always such an amazing sight to see. There was very low cloud lingering in some places, too, which I always love to see. This was one of the many photos I took through the windshield, that actually came out OK, other than having to remove a lot of dark spots from the dirty windshield, that were visible in the sky area. Not sure if the colour was affected - could be - but the light was absolutely amazing. I always think you need the sun on the mountains, to bring them to life. Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter and very early spring months, to protect the wildlife) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day! My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose, and on this day they did really well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a youngish male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the sides of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they walked by the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance : ) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free car wash, anyone?? I should add that caution must always be kept in mind and respect given to an animal - any wildlife can be unpredictable, and Moose can cause a lot of damage if they become aggressive.. Most of the time, the female was in the shade, which made taking photos a bit of a challenge. What a difference in the colour of her coat when she occasionally moved into the sun. We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow at the edge of some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around, either. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. Of course, just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me. “The moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with adendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly reduced it over the years. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are wolves, bears, and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing for a female. The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9,770 kcal (40.9 MJ) per day to maintain its body weight. Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

Just posting two photos again today, 13 January 2017, both grabbed from my archives. I finally got out to run a few important errands yesterday, after being home for 7 or 8 days. Our deep-freeze is finally breaking and tomorrow is forecast to get up to -1C! What a day I had with friends on 7 December 2014, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink - this is always such an amazing sight to see. There was very low cloud lingering in some places, too, which I always love to see. I think this was one of the many photos I took through the windshield, that actually came out OK. Not sure if the colour was affected - could be - but the light was absolutely amazing. Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day! My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose, and on this day they did really well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a youngish male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the sides of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they walked by the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance :) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free car wash, anyone?? I should add that caution must always be kept in mind and respect given to an animal - any wildlife can be unpredictable. Most of the time, the female was in the shade, which made taking photos a bit of a challenge. What a difference in the colour of her coat when she occasionally moved into the sun. We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow at the edge of some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around either. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. Of course, just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me. “The moose (North America) or Eurasian elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with adendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly reduced it over the years. Moose have been reintroduced to some of their former habitats. Currently, most moose are found in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Their diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose predators are wolves, bears, and humans. Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing for a female. The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9,770 kcal (40.9 MJ) per day to maintain its body weight. Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.” From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

This photo was taken on 7 December 2014, in the Kananaskis area of the mountains for the day with friends, Cathy and Terry. It was one of the many drive-by photos I took that day, the snow-covered scenery was just so beautiful. Taken through the windshield, The mountains do look dark when they are in the shade and look completely different when they are in bright sunshine. We drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail. This gravel road, south of Canmore, travels through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, which is one of the wildest areas in Kananaskis. It was a day of mixed cloud and bright sunshine, resulting in rather spectacular light at times. The scenery was incredibly beautiful, especially the areas of Kananaskis where the snow was still clinging to the coniferous trees. As well as mountain scenery, we were also lucky enough to find two Moose to watch and photograph. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to stay a while and watch the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see.

This photo was taken on 7 December 2014, on the way to the Kananaskis area of the mountains for the day with friends, Cathy and Terry. It was one of the many drive-by photos I took that day, the snow-covered scenery was just so beautiful. Taken through the windshield, the photo came out with a most unpleasant greenish blue tinge, that I tried to get rid of. Not sure if I brightened the photo enough - looks darker this morning than it did when I edited it late last night. The mountains do look dark when they are in the shade and look completely different when they are in bright sunshine. We drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail. This gravel road, south of Canmore, travels through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, which is one of the wildest areas in Kananaskis. It was a day of mixed cloud and bright sunshine, resulting in rather spectacular light at times. The scenery was incredibly beautiful, especially the areas of Kananaskis where the snow was still clinging to the coniferous trees. As well as mountain scenery, we were also lucky enough to find two Moose to watch and photograph. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to stay a while and watch the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. Today, 5 April 2015, I woke up to a winter scene - snowed overnight. I'm really, really hoping that a drive with friends will still take place today.

This was the lighting and colouring early yesterday morning, 18 October 2014, when I joined a group of friends for a few hours of birding. We started off at Frank Lake but didn't go to the blind area at all, for safety reasons. We just drove along the short road that goes from half way down the east side of the lake to near the edge of the lake. The last half of this backroad is so very deeply rutted that it's impossible to drive, so we had to walk the last part. This is where I took the photo above. It's a zoomed-in shot, hence the heat distortion. Also, our beautiful mountains look much closer than they really are. It's hunting season and we could hear the shots being fired. We were totally disgusted by the hundreds of empty shells that littered the ground!!! Too bad the hunters don't have such a huge sense of guilt at killing these beautiful birds, that they end up picking up their empty shells out of a sense of guilt! Yeah, right! From Frank Lake, we drove (carpooled) north to Carseland and stopped at the Reservoir, where we saw a beautiful Double-crested Cormorant with wings spread out to dry. Also spotted a Loon way out in the water and several Grey Partridges on a distant slope. The rest of the day was spent driving the backroads east of the city. We called in at Eagle Lake and another lake - I never drive to this whole area, so I'm not sure exactly where we saw what. Leader Andrew Hart's detailed list will provide me with the answers - am adding the link to his very detailed account and list here, but will also add the actual info here, just as a reminder to myself. He always does a superb job of his reports, as well as taking us all out on a very enjoyable day. Weather-wise, it couldn't have been more perfect. Thanks so much, Andrew! Link to Andrew's very detailed account and list: groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Albertabird/conversations/mes... Actual account of the day: "Fifteen participants set off on this trip. The weather was beautiful. The temperature rose from about 10 deg C to 20 deg C by the middle of the afternoon. Sunny all day. Generally light breezes but extremely windy at Chestermere Lake. The original plan was to spend most of the day in the Frank Lake area. But I had not accounted for the impact of the hunting season. Under the auspices of the Alberta Conservation Association 17,000 pheasants are released at approximately 60 sites in Alberta during October. One of those sites (and the only one in its immediate area) is, of course, Frank Lake. The advertized release dates for Frank Lake are October 15 to November 12. So the scene at the parking area near the blind today featured far more vehicles than usual and many hunters with dogs, all wearing red fluorescent safety gear, and systematically moving to flush pheasants, and whistling as they went. So a couple of problems if you are birdwatching. First you sure need to have your own highly visible safety clothing, second the large number of hunters, dogs, and gunshots tends to scare off the birds. Just, to be clear, I recognize that the hunting community probably contributes much more to the upkeep of areas like Frank Lake then the birding community does. On my scouting trip yesterday I spent some time in fascinating and educational discussions with some of the hunters. But there are just some days when the two do not mix. So we headed off down to the SE corner of Basin 2. No hunters in immediate evidence, but dozens of spent shotgun cartridges on the ground. We did see some duck hunters, who do not wear fluorescent safety gear, and heard several shotgun blasts. The hunters employed several decoys (both audible and visible), but they had little impact on the majority of birds on the lake. The highlight here was three late Marsh Wrens found and photographed by Jan Roeseneder. Next we headed to Carseland, spotting two Rough Legged Hawks en route. At Carseland we parked above the weir. The campsite is still closed but we could see several boats across at the boat launch area. From there we went to the SW corner of Eagle Lake and had lunch. Looking further east we saw several hundred (at least) Greater White-fronted and Snow Geese, which appeared to have been flushed by some wind surfers. So we headed one RR east and went down to the lakeshore there. There were about four wind surfers having a great time, no geese in sight. The windsurfers only occupied a very small area of the lake. Ken Burton spotted a female White-winged Scoter flying across the lake. Our next stop was Alkali Lake where we were hoping to see the large flock of Snow Geese reported yesterday by Bill Walker. We stopped at another slough about half a km short and saw a huge cloud of Snow Geese rising from Alkali Lake and flying away. As far as we could tell there were no blue geese and no Ross's Geese in the flock. They did not come back! We went on to the lake anyway and saw the reason why. There were at least two hunters in and around the lake, who had presumably fired at the geese. Our final stops were along the east side of Chestermere Lake. We were unsuccessful in locating the Red Throated Loon. We were the "other group of birders" that Mark Conboy mentioned the Little Gull sighting to. After meeting Mark we looked carefully at the the gulls, but could only identify Ring Billed, Franklin's and Bonaparte's. The wind at Chestermere was really strong making solid ids challenging on many of the far off water birds. Apart from the Great Horned Owls, Harriers and the Rough Legged Hawk, we did not see any raptors. And we did not see any of the 17,000 pheasants that are being released! This did spare us the ethical challenge of deciding whether or not they were countable. The closest we came was some Gray Partridges at Carseland. However, a very enjoyable day. The complete checklists, which likely underestimate most of the waterfowl numbers, are summarized below. Number of Checklists: 6 Number of Species: 49 Checklists included in this summary: (1): Frank Lake--Basin 2 (Southeast Corner) Date: Oct 18, 2014, 9:15 AM (2): Carseland Weir Date: Oct 18, 2014, 11:15 AM (3): Blackie Date: Oct 18, 2014, 10:45 AM (4): Eagle Lake SW corner RR 250 Date: Oct 18, 2014, 12:20 PM (5): Alkali Lake Date: Oct 18, 2014, 2:20 PM (6): Chestermere Lake Date: Oct 18, 2014, 3:25 PM 750 Greater White-fronted Goose -- (4) 2750 Snow Goose -- (4),(5) 21 Canada Goose -- (1),(6) 4 Trumpeter Swan -- (1) 40 Tundra Swan -- (1),(4) 10 Trumpeter/Tundra Swan -- (5) 43 Gadwall -- (1),(2),(4),(5) 150 American Wigeon -- (1),(4),(5) 129 Mallard -- (1),(2),(4) 1 Blue-winged Teal -- (1) 11 Northern Shoveler -- (1),(4) 28 Northern Pintail -- (1),(4) 6 Green-winged Teal -- (5) 302 Canvasback -- (1),(4) 100 Redhead -- (1) 2 Ring-necked Duck -- (1) 32 Lesser Scaup -- (4),(5) 1 White-winged Scoter -- (4) 50 Bufflehead -- (4),(6) 55 Common Goldeneye -- (2),(4),(6) 1 Hooded Merganser -- (2) 82 Common Merganser -- (2),(6) 180 Ruddy Duck -- (1),(4) 15 Gray Partridge -- (2) 5 Common Loon -- (1),(2),(6) 4 Horned Grebe -- (1),(4) 6 Eared Grebe -- (1),(4) 9 Western Grebe -- (1),(6) 1 Double-crested Cormorant -- (2) 6 Great Blue Heron -- (2),(4) 3 Northern Harrier -- (1),(4) 1 Rough-legged Hawk -- (3) 350 American Coot -- (1),(4) 13 Killdeer -- (1) 1 Greater Yellowlegs -- (2) 3 Wilson's Snipe -- (1) 106 Bonaparte's Gull -- (1),(4),(6) 1 Franklin's Gull -- (6) 1333 Ring-billed Gull -- (2),(5),(6) 23 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (1),(2) 2 Great Horned Owl -- (1) 13 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(5) 1 Common Raven -- (1) 3 Marsh Wren -- (1) 12 European Starling -- (1) 20 American Pipit -- (1) 13 Lapland Longspur -- (1),(5) 12 American Tree Sparrow -- (1) 10 House Sparrow -- (1)" Andrew Hart ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not sure what I did in the last two or three days, but the very painful inflammation of the rotator cuffs in my shoulders is back in full force. I can barely lift my right arm even an inch, which makes it impossible to do most things, once again. All I can think of is that I went food shopping and finally bought a pack of bottled water (12 small bottles?), I had avoided doing this for months, because of the weight. I always like to have one pack in the house in case of "emergency". Hard to believe that just this one heavier thing would be enough to end me right back at the beginning with many months of healing ahead, though, but I can't think of anything else that might be the cause. Once the snow arrives, I'm not going to be able to clear the snow off my vehicle, which is one of my biggest concerns. Last winter, I had to stay home and miss so many things for the same reason. Argh!!!