Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: stretching

This youngster (?) had a quick leg and wing stretch before lying down and making itself comfortable. I was quite amused to see it bending its 'knees' (or is it "heels"?) in the process. Yesterday, 6 September 2018, turned out to be a much longer day than I had planned! In the very early hours of the morning, I happened to check the weather forecast just out of interest, and saw that rain is expected on about six of the coming days (if it actually happens). Decided then and there that I had better get out for a drive, just in case. My intention had been to just drive some of the roads east of the city, getting out there via 22X, which is definitely not a drive I like to do. On a previous trip, I had made two mistakes along this complcated highway, and ended up on Stoney Trail going north and, on the return trip, I was in the wrong lane and ended up heading far, far south of the city on the worst major highway. The latter happened again yesterday and, like on the previous drive, I ended up going to the Saskatoon Farm. Fortunately, I was in time to get an afternoon meal there and have a wander around the grounds taking photos. I love this place. There were certain things I wanted to go and see again, including a few old barns and sheds. I was also hoping that I might just come across a beautiful hawk or two within camera reach. I even finally got to take photos of a few shorebirds. Throw in a butterfly or two and the odd flower, and I was happy. On this trip, I really wanted to make myself use the Nikon P900 a lot. I always take a few of the same photos with my Panasonic and Canon point-and-shoots, too, as I am not yet used to the P900. One of my concerns about the latter is that it seems to blow out the white in an image, from what I have seen in quite a few other people's photos - didn''t seem too bad yesterday. My other - and main - concern is focus. I still have not been able to stand in front of a flower/something small at various distances, and zoom in. All I see in the viewfinder is a coloured blur. The other cameras don't do this, and I've been doing it easily for many years. Hope I can sort this out! I guess it's just a case of experimenting. So far, I think I am liking how the P900 takes photos.

When I went along to check on the two new Great Horned Owl owlets in a local park, I walked through the trees to say "Hi" to Dad. He sits in a tree across from the nesting tree and "keeps guard" - i.e. he sleeps all day, LOL! However, I did catch him preening a little and giving a big stretch. Doug (Waylett), now we can finally see the colour of the underwings of a Great Horned Owl - pretty pale, aren't they? I think it must have been a Long-eared Owl that you saw. This does look better in large size - which I can't say for all/most of my images : )

This is the older of the two Great Horned Owlets at Burnsmead. Yesterday, when we arrived at the park and did a bit of searching, we found Junior on this branch, her younger brother (?) on the branch below (at my eye level), and Mom was in the next tree. Junior just had to show off her wing power : )

Dad on the left having a quick stretch and Mom in the background holding a larva of some kind ready to feed to her young ones in the nearby nesting box. These Mountain Bluebirds are so beautiful, especially when spring finally arrives and you catch sight of a brilliant splash of blue after months and months of snow. Seen near Priddis, southern Alberta. Me? I was sitting down in the ditch, LOL!

This is one of the two Northern Hawk Owls that a friend and I saw on Monday, N of Cochrane (i.e. NW of Calgary). I happened to catch it having a good stretch, very high up in a tall tree. I did remove a thin branch that cut across the tail, as I just found it extremely distracting and annoying. Yes, I admit it, I altered an image, LOL! Then, as if the thrill of Monday wasn't enough, I was invited by another friend to go back to the very same area this afternoon!! The sky was as blue as can be (just like on Monday) and we found THREE of these owls in the area. Unbelievable! The icing on the cake was yet to come, as we soon found out. A few moments later, on our way out of the area, there was a female Moose in a wooded field. To these two friends who enabled me to get out of the city (where I won't drive for the most part) and see these incredible sights - thank you SO much!