Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014February17

I took this photo at the Calgary Zoo on 6 May 2009 and came across it when I was doing a bit of tidying up on my hard drive last night, ready for the dreaded day (i.e. tomorrow!) when I have to get all the data transferred to a new computer. I think these birds have such gorgeous feathers. Photographed at the Calgary Zoo. "The Vulturine Guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) is the largest extant species of guineafowl. Systematically, it is only distantly related to other guineafowl genera. Its closest living relative, the White Breasted Guineafowl, Agelastes meleagrides inhabit primary forests in Central Africa. It is a member of the bird family Numididae, and is the only member of the genus Acryllium. It is a resident breeder in northeast Africa, from southern Ethiopia through Kenya and just into northern Tanzania. The Vulturine Guineafowl is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about 25 birds. This species' food is seeds and small invertebrates. This guineafowl is terrestrial, and will run rather than fly when alarmed. Despite the open habitat, it tends to keep to cover, and roosts in trees." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulturine_Guineafowl www.arkive.org/vulturine-guineafowl/acryllium-vulturinum

A very distant, heavily cropped shot of this beautiful Great Horned Owl, seen on 25 January 2014, when I spent an amazing day with friends Cathy and Terry, SE of Calgary. I had found an e-mail on my computer around 12:45 a.m., just as I was about to turn off my computer for the night. Did I want to go birding tomorrow and, if so, to meet at 8:00 a.m.? A full day of excitement and enjoyment left me tired out, but so happy. I had been missing being out and taking photos, feeling lethargic and extremely tired, so this invite was welcomed with open arms. The crazy weather soared to a balmy 11C, though a lot of the day was colder, with a strong wind! Can you believe that we saw 16 owls that day? SIXTEEN! We saw 8 Snowy Owls and 8 Great Horned Owls. The closest Snowy Owl was seen when it was early evening and the light had gone, and my photos are all blurry. The other owls were little more than a tiny speck in the far, far distance, but I still managed to get some kind of shot of some of them, using 48x zoom plus cropping. Perhaps I should add that maybe 15 of the owls that were seen would never have been seen by less experienced birders (and I include myself in that category!). My friends have brilliant eyes when it comes to spotting these owls! Just left me shaking my head each time they found one! I'm not too bad at finding owls, but not at that distance!