Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014March12

Apologies to anyone who is kind enough to visit my photostream regularly! You will be so sick and tired of the same or very similar description under so many photos. The main reason I do this is to remind myself of just where I was and when, for each photo. After nine days at home, giving my 16 stitches from minor surgery a chance to start healing properly (now healed well and taken out), an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding yesterday 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 difficult to get photos that were sharp. It was one of THOSE days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. to 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. Later, an excellent birding friend, to whom I sent a photo, 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 this 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 and grainy. However, it does show how well-camouflaged these owls are when down on the ground among the dried grasses. The eyes do give it away, but if the head is turned away, it's even harder to spot. We saw this one thanks to Ian, who had noticed it and had pulled over just ahead of us down the road. Also saw a Prairie Falcon and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us. The "heat wave" distortion made it impossible to get anything but rather blurry shots of these, but I did post the "best" one of them yesterday - they are so cute with their tiny "horns".

Apologies to anyone who is kind enough to visit my photostream regularly! You will be so sick and tired of the same or very similar description under so many photos. The main reason I do this is to remind myself of just where I was and when, for each photo. For some weird reason, the words of the old song, "How much is that doggie in the window?", came to my mind late last night when I was getting my "daily three" ready to post this morning. Though the actual shape of the barn (shed?) isn't very photogenic or particularly interesting, we loved the effect of the red, peeling paint and, of course, we LOVED the owl sitting in the window! After nine days at home, giving my 16 stitches from minor surgery a chance to start healing properly, an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding yesterday 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 difficult to get photos that were sharp. It was one of THOSE days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. to 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. Later, an excellent birding friend, to whom I sent a photo, 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 (posted right next to this one) is blurry and grainy. However, it does show how well-camouflaged these owls are when down on the ground. The eyes do give it away, but if the head is turned away, it's even harder to spot. We saw this one thanks to Ian, who had noticed it and had pulled over just ahead of us down the road. The beautiful Great Horned Owl, seen in my top photo, was the highlight of the day for Cathy and myself! Cathy had spotted it from the road but from the opposite side of the distant barn. All she had seen was a tiny head silhouette with what looked like ear tufts : ) We turned a corner and drove just a little way to see if we could get a better view from the other side. How we longed to be able to get a closer look, but the barn was on someone's private property, of course. While we were there, a truck suddenly appeared around the corner and turned into the driveway of the farm. Needless to say, we (thanks, Terry!) couldn't resist the chance to go and ask the owner about his owl and, wonderfully, he allowed us to walk through his farm yard to get a less distant view. So, Justin, you arrived home "just-in" time for us (Terry's humour)! Thanks so much for happily letting us on to your property. It was so much appreciated. We definitely didn't want to risk disturbing the owl or make it fly - the closer photo below was taken at 48x zoom and cropped somewhat. "Just" a Great Horned Owl, but what a delightful and much appreciated sight! Also saw a Prairie Falcon and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us. The "heat wave" distortion made it impossible to get anything but rather blurry shots of these, but I did post the "best" one of them yesterday - they are so cute with their tiny "horns".

There are very few new photos from My Contacts this morning and things seem to be very slow, so maybe my photos aren't showing up on other people's pages, either. Hope this isn't a repeat of the very recent problem, that lasted several days. Another landscape photo taken at Red Rock Coulee in SE Alberta. We left Calgary on Monday morning, 20 September 2013, and had to reach Elkwater in the Cypress Hills (not that far from the Saskatchewan border), several hours' drive away, where we were going to stay in a little rustic cabin for three nights. On the way there, we stopped at Red Rock Coulee, which is just 56 kms (35 mi) southwest of Medicine Hat. Actually, this particular photo was taken on Monday, 23 September 2013, when we called in again, this time walking down the hillside and into one of the coulees. While my friends searched for Lichens, I wandered around, taking photos of the scenery and anything else I came across. These eroded, layered hills are similar to some of those seen in places like Drumheller and DInosaur Provincial Park. The extremely high winds were not pleasant at all, to say the least! In fact, strong winds were everywhere in many parts of SE Alberta. I was expecting a lot of my photos to be very blurry, as I could barely keep my balance or hold my camera. Amazingly, most seem to be OK to use. This is Rattlesnake territory, too, but fortunately we didn't come across any, thank goodness! At least, not here, but one was seen (not by me!) at the Pinhorn Grazing Lease, when we were monitoring the Yucca plants. "The main feature of this natural landscape is the huge red boulders; some measuring 2.5 m across. They are scattered over a relatively small distance. Bedrock is close to the surface in this area, covered by only a thin layer of soil. Water erosion has carved the landscape over time and a badlands topography has formed in places. The bands of colour visible in the exposed bedrock are made of dark gray shales, greenish and gray sandstones, bentonitic clays and thin bands of ironstone. The round reddish boulders are among the largest in the world. The boulders were formed in prehistoric seas as layers of sand, calcite and iron oxide collected around a nucleus formed by shells, leaves or bones. The concretions grew larger as the circulating waters deposited more layers. The reddish colour comes from iron oxide." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rock_Coulee I have an appointment today to go and get my stitches out - not really looking forward to it, as I've been a little concerned about one end of the 3" incision the last two or three days. Guess I'll soon hear what the surgeon thinks - too squeamish to look myself : ) www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/13085588535