Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014April26

As you can tell by the sky, the weather was not good when I took this photo on 23 April 2014. In fact, it started to rain soon after it was taken. I was still lucky that this adult female Great Horned Owl (i.e. "Mom") was perched on the edge of the nest cavity, rather than sitting inside. I didn't stay long, and there was no activity from the two owlets behind and below her. Talking of weather, I've just glanced through my window - and it's snowing! Very unfortunately, the weather forecast was right this time. Later: it has been snowing lightly a good part of the day.

Not as sharp as it should have been, but last night I wanted to quickly find a vibrant shot to post today. The weather forecast called for rain and mixed precipitation for later today and light snow for tomorrow. This beautiful Hibiscus flower was growing at the Calgary Zoo on 25 September 2012. They have quite spectacular flower centres, especially when photographed more sharply than this one (at least when viewed on a 24" monitor), lol! "Hibiscus (/hɨˈbɪskəs/[2] or /haɪˈbɪskəs/[3]) is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species are often noted for their showy flowers and are commonly known simply as hibiscus, or less widely known as rose mallow. The tea made of hibiscus flowers is known by many names in many countries around the world and is served both hot and cold. The beverage is well known for its color, tanginess and flavor." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus