Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014March05

Always better to get a poor quality photo than none at all : ) Gray Partridge, an introduced, non-native species in the Pheasant family, are usually so hard to photograph because they take off in flight immediately or else land in a field way in the distance. Though this shot was barely cropped, it was taken from the car window and I find this so often doesn't work - the warm air from the car rising on a bitterly cold day seems to cause the air to move, resulting in blurry images. Had a great day on 22 December 2013 with friends Cathy and Terry, driving the backroads SE of the city, hoping to see an owl or two. The day started off with a Long-eared Owl and ended with a Short-eared Owl! In total, we saw 5 Snowy Owls, 4 Great Horned Owls, 1 Long-eared Owl and 1 Short-eared Owl. Plus a few other species, including a Northern Shrike, many Grey Partridges (all of which flew before we could take photos, other than a couple of very distant ones including this shot), Horned Larks, Ravens/Crows, owls in barn windows, a beautiful Gyrfalcon and a colourful sunrise. Not a bad day, I think you'll agree : ) The only thing we didn't see, except briefly, was the sun, so we had low light all day, unfortunately! It was so unbearably cold all day, windchill temperature was -30C. A few seconds out of the car and fingers were so painful, despite wearing gloves. Difficult to hold the camera steady when one is shivering, ha. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Partridge www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/gray_partridge/id

Came across a white Lily photo that I hadn't posted before, so thought I'd post it today. It's -18C (windchill -25C) this morning, so, though it has certainly warmed up a little from our recent brutally cold temperatures, it's still cold enough to make ones thoughts turn to the warmer days of spring and summer. This photo was taken on 24 July 2013 at the Reader Rock Garden.