Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014March22

Ha, when I opened this photo this morning, I can see why I had never posted it before - too blurry for my liking! Taken at the Calgary Zoo on 16 April 2013. Not sure which two tigers these are - maybe Mom and one of her three cubs? Born on March 30, 2012, the two male cubs were almost full grown when they were moved to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, on a recommendation from the Species Survival Plan (SSP), based on the genetics of these Endangered animals for future breeding. "The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Amur tiger, is a tiger subspecies inhabiting mainly the Sikhote Alin mountain region with a small population in southwest Primorye province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Amur tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population had been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_tiger

Another shot of the beautiful Great Gray Owl that some of us saw at Griffith Woods, in hunting mode. I was lucky enough to see it on 10 January 2014 and again in February. Normally, we don't get Great Gray Owls in Calgary, so this was such a treat. I haven't seen or heard any reports or photos of it since then, so maybe it has moved on. A few days after I saw the owl, friend Bonnie sent me the following information that she had received from Gus Yaki, a well-known Naturalist in the city. This owl hadn't been seen for three days, so maybe it had moved on. When asked about the possibility of the food supply having run out, he did not think the owl was feeding well because it was hunting during mid-day. It should have been hunting at dawn and dusk and sleeping during the day. He said they have excellent hearing. Also, he said he has not seen many small mammal tracks at this location and apparently the Meadow Voles have to surface to allow carbon dioxide to exit from their tunnels. He also said the owls see in ultraviolet which causes mouse urine to shine so they would see that. "These birds wait, listen, and watch for prey, then swoop down; they also may fly low through open areas in search of prey. Their large facial disks, also known as "ruffs", focus sound, and the asymmetrical placement of their ears assists them in locating prey, because of the lack of light during the late and early hours in which they hunt. On the nesting grounds, they mainly hunt at night and near dawn and dusk; at other times, they are active mostly during the night. They have excellent hearing, and may locate (and then capture) prey moving beneath 60 cm (2.0 ft) of snow in a series of tunnels solely with that sense. They then can crash to a snow depth roughly equal to their own body size to grab their prey. Only this species and, more infrequently, other fairly large owls from the Strix genus are known to "snow-plunge" for prey, a habit that is thought to require superb hearing not possessed by all types of owls." From Wikipedia. The first link shows a cross-section of a Great Gray Owl, showing the small size of the skeleton compared to the bulk of the plumage: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Strix_n... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Grey_Owl www.flickr.com/photos/annkelliott/13311735493

A photo from deep within my archives, taken on 14 July 2009. After yesterday's unwelcome snowfall, we need colour. Red would have been better, but I happened to come across this photo late last night, when I was browsing some files. I solved the most frustrating issue I've come across with Windows 7, at least as far as today's "daily three" are concerned, by adding the numbers 1, 2, 3, in front of the titles. This arranged the photos in the order I wanted. Doesn't solve the much bigger issue of not being able to arrange any photos in the order you want. Why Microsoft decided to take away this option must have an awful lot of people just shaking their head, not to mention extremely frustrated and very annoyed! After getting to bed between 3:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. the last three nights, trying to get various things to work on my new computer, I ended up sleeping in late this morning and posting my photos later than usual, ha. I'm loving the extra speed I'm getting, after finally changing from Lite Speed to High Speed 25 Internet yesterday.