Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014July03

Photographed this male Brewer's Blackbird a few days ago, on 27 June 2014, when I drove a few of the backroads SW of the city. This is such a busy time for birds, collecting insects to feed to their young. "A bird to be seen in the full sun, the male Brewer’s Blackbird is a glossy, almost liquid combination of black, midnight blue, and metallic green. Females are a staid brown, without the male’s bright eye or the female Red-winged Blackbird’s streaks. Common in towns and open habitats of much of the West, you’ll see these long-legged, ground-foraging birds on sidewalks and city parks as well as chuckling in flocks atop shrubs, trees, and reeds." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brewers_blackbird/id The famous, annual Calgary Stampede begins tomorrow, with the Stampede Parade taking place in the morning. William Shatner (from Star Trek) is our Parade Marshall. No worries about the weather, as it's a beautiful, sunny day today and tomorrow is supposed to be good, too.

I think this particular spot that we stopped at briefly during a mini bus tour of Dinosaur Provincial Park, was my favourite. The eroded hillsides in this spot were more of a light grey than my photo shows, but I just couldn't get the colour right in editing. Love the patterns made by rain water. On 22 June 2014, I was up at 4:00 a.m., to get ready for a long day trip east of Calgary, to Dinosaur Provincial Park. I had only ever once been there before, that I can remember, and it must have been 30+ years ago, so yesterday's bus trip was an absolute treat. 46 people went on this annual outing and when we arrived, we split into two groups. One half went on a mini bus tour in the morning to an area of the park that is kept closed to people in order to protect the landscape. The other half took this tour in the afternoon. The rest of the day, we could go on a walk along one of the trails in the park that are open to the public. I was in the group that walked in the morning. We went on the Cottonwoods Trail, that eventually led to the river - a long walk that was much further than I expected! We saw very few birds, the main one being a Yellow Warbler that had its beak full of soft, white "down" from a Cottonwood tree. When we were almost back at the starting point, a Nighthawk was spotted lying on a very high branch. Well done, Shirley, for spotting this bird that was very difficult to see! A real thrill for me, as I had always wanted to see a perched Nighthawk! I saw three of them flying over the Bow River and over our heads in Bow Valley Provincial Park just a few years ago, but no chance for a photo. Our mini bus tour in one of the Park's buses in the afternoon took us to some spectacular scenery. This photo, taken at one of the stops we made, is an example of the fascinating eroded hills that we saw. Will be posting a few different views in the next little while. As you can see, we had great weather, which was very lucky, as we had had rain for quite a few days before. When wet, the Bentonite clay becomes treacherously slippery, so we did not have to experience that, though in a few places we could feel our feet slipping. I got back home around 6:30 p.m., barely able to move an inch, but it was definitely worth it. Thanks so much, Lynn, for organizing such an enjoyable trip to this fascinating area! A lot of work goes into organizing an event like this and it was much appreciated! Thanks, too, to friends Val and Wendy who took turns to sit with me for the long 2 1/2 hour journey out there and back! Great to catch up with both of you! Video (4.25 minutes in length) about Dinosaur Provincial Park, by Alberta Parks: youtu.be/lww6Y4hlQR4 "Dinosaur Provincial Park is world famous for its dinosaur fossil finds. So much so that UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1979. A mind-boggling number of species have been found here - 40 and counting - but what really puts it over the top is that the bonebeds have yielded more than 300 specimens, which grace museums around the world. The park has also been designated a Natural Preserve to protect the extensive fossil fields and the valley’s fragile environment, an complicated mix of badlands and cottonwood river habitat." travelalberta.com/Places%20to%20Go/Parks/Dinosaur%20Provi...

Something like 15 years ago, someone gave me a single, tiny Purple Geranium plant. A big mistake, as this has spread over the years and now needs to be pulled. The small flowers are quite pretty, but the seedpods look such a mess. I know they should be dead-headed, but that would be too much bending, so it never gets done. Makes a welcome splash of colour, though.

So many of the old wooden barns and homesteads that scatter the prairies are in such a bad state, unfortunately. This one was photographed SE of Calgary, on 14 April 2014, when I went driving the backroads for the day with my youngest daughter. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be (Mossleigh), more or less, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully went away.