Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014April30

On 27 April 2014, I called in to see the family of Great Horned Owls in a local park and finally got to see the two owlets up on the rim of the nesting cavity. The last time I saw them, just their heads were visible inside the nest. Various friends had been posting photos of these youngsters climbing up on top of the broken tree, so I knew that if I didn't go very soon, the owlets would have fledged to a different tree and then would be difficult or impossible to photograph. Two days ago, I had heard from a friend that the older owlet had just fledged that day, so yesterday, I called in to see them again, only to find that both youngsters were gone. One was sitting with Mom on a high branch, and the other was way, way up, almost at the very top of the same tree. It was so disappointing to see that this had happened so quickly - usually, they spend quite some time practising, flapping and exercising their wings while perched on the rim of the nest. Just so thankful that I did go on Sunday and manage to get a few photos of them before they fledged. Unfortunately, there will be quite a few disappointed people.

On 14 April 2014, I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns and anything else that we thought was interesting and/or beautiful. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less Mossleigh and Arrowwood, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos when we got there. It was quite a hazy day, which never helps. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully lessened. We were both happy to come across two of these beautiful Longhorns along one of the backroads. I think I'm right in saying they are Texas Longhorn - I usually just call them Longhorns. "The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to 7 ft (2.1 m) tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and 36 to 80 in (0.91 to 2.03 m) tip to tip for bulls. Similar cattle were imported by Spanish colonists into other parts of North America, including California and Florida. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring. A longhorn can be any color or mix of colors but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant. Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often fetch $40,000 or more at auction with the record of $170,000 in recent history for a cow. Due to their innate gentle disposition and intelligence, Texas Longhorns are increasingly being trained as riding steers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Longhorn