Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014March11

I'm sure that most people consider these pylons a real eyesore, but actually I kind of like to see them - even more so when one is lucky enough to notice a Snowy Owl perched on one of the very top points (not this day). I like them at sunset, as seen in this image. The heavy bank of distant cloud hid the mountains completely from us all day long. After nine days at home, giving my stitches from minor surgery a chance to heal, an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding on 7 March 2014 was welcomed with open arms - as it always is! What a great day we had, searching SE of the city, and finding some really neat birds. Most were impossible to photograph because of distance, but also because we had "heat wave" distortion all day long, making it impossible to get photos that were sharp. It was one of those amazing days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. till about 8:15 in the evening. By the end of the day, we had seen a total count of 19 owls, from three species - 8 Short-eared Owls, 8 Snowy Owls, 2 Great Horned Owls and one mystery owl. We couldn't decide if the latter was a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, as it was perched on top of a metal silo, way off in the distance. I sent a very poor photo of it to a very experienced birder friend and he identified it as a Snowy Owl. We missed a good photo opp with one of the Short-eared Owls, when we were pulled over, further down the road than several other photographers. We did see one down on the ground near the edge of the road in a different place, hiding in the dried grasses, but, again, my photo is blurry. Also saw a Prairie Falcon perched on top of a metal silo and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us or near the edge of a field. Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for another rewarding day (which had started off rather slowly down in that area). Lots of fun!

From my archives, a beautiful Great Horned Owl seen at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre, near Lethbridge, on 16 May 2009. I had a different owl of this species sit on my hand - the most amazing feeling! I was also lucky enough to hold a tiny Burrowing Owl, and a Barn Owl on a different visit. It's so much fun photographing the birds at this Centre, but of course there is nothing like photographing them in the wild. We are very fortunate to have so many Great Horned Owls in Calgary, LOL! No wonder it was chosen as the Provincial Bird. This Centre is "Canada’s largest birds of prey facility. Situated on a 70-acre wetland area site, the centre is a celebration of nature featuring the hawks, falcons, eagles and owls of Alberta. Throughout the site and along the pathways, a number of birds of prey are sitting on their perches only feet away from visitors. These birds are all in various stages of training and receive lots of exercise in the daily flying programs. At the centre, they have one of North America's largest captive breeding populations for the endangered Burrowing Owl." This morning, 10 March 2014, the temperature is 1C, and it looks like wet flurries could be expected for later this afternoon and scattered flurries this evening. Yesterday's wonderfully mild weather melted a fair bit of our accumulated snow.