Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014July19

Monday, 14 July 2014, was another hot day, and my computer room became unbearably uncomfortable. That meant only one thing - I would have to drive around in my car for some air-conditioning. Spent about four hours cruising the backroads SW of the city, not seeing a whole lot. Went as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, with the intention of doing just a very short walk into the forest. Didn't get that far, though, as there were things to photograph around the edge of the tiny parking lot and just part way along the path that leads to the two short boardwalks. The first thing I saw and heard was a Tennessee Warbler and when I reached it, discovered that there were now several young ones, too. Talk about friendly little birds - not sure that they didn't think I was going to feed them. Interesting to see birds that acted rather like the Black-capped Chickadees - just as fast-moving, too, making it difficult to get even a half-decent photo. The next thing that welcomed me to the park was a beautiful Western Wood Lily. They always almost glow amongst all the greenery. A few other plants that I photographed included Sticky Purple Geranium and Richardson's Geranium, Purple Avens, One-flowered WIntergreen, One-sided Wintergreen, Pink Pyrola, Creamy Peavine, Round-leaved Orchid and this pretty little Twinflower (macro shot). "Linnaea borealis, commonly known as Twinflower (sometimes written twin flower) is a woodland subshrub, treated either in the family Caprifoliaceae, or sometimes in its own family Linnaeaceae." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaea On the way home from Brown-Lowery, I saw a couple of fun things. One was a Wilson's Snipe on a wooden post to which was attached a Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting box. I've never seen one by a nesting box before. The other thing I saw was a Ruffed Grouse female walking along the side of the main road. Didn't realize what it was until I had driven past it. Did a quick U-turn and, rounding a bend, saw not just the adult standing on the road, but also a young one. I pulled over to the edge of the road and very slowly walked a little closer - then I noticed about four other youngsters in the grass. Mom walked very slowly to the middle of the road and one brave little soul took a few very hesitant steps towards her. It wasn't quite sure that it liked being that far out in the open, so started to return to its siblings. This was repeated a few times, with me becoming more anxious that a car was bound to come racing down the road at any minute. Another of the babies tried to take a few brave steps - which is when a vehicle appeared. With Mom and two of her babies on the road, where they'd been for maybe 10 minutes, I just had to signal to the driver, who slowed down, waited a moment, and then got out of her car and loudly clapped her hands. Off they all flew, into the long grass. I suspect she was a country girl - and not a photographer, lol! If only she had scared them off to the side of the road that they had been trying to get to! And so ended my fun experience ..... and I returned to my house, that felt like walking into an oven.

There was a family of several of these beautiful Mourning Doves the other day, 16 July 2014, along one of the gravel roads just within the SW city limits. I've never yet seen one perched on a fence post, but always way up on a high wire. Not as sharp as I would have liked. "A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America. The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Every year hunters harvest more than 20 million, but the Mourning Dove remains one of our most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million. The oldest known Mourning Dove was 31 years 4 months old." From AllABoutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/mourning_dove/lifehistory Temperatures got up to around 32C or 33C three days ago. My desk thermometer said it was 32C in my computer room, so I knew I just had to get out for a while, to enjoy the air-conditioning in my car. The backroads SW of the city come in handy when I don't want to spend too much time on a drive, and I can usually find something of interest to photograph. Didn't see a whole lot this time, though I did see a Swainson's Hawk perched on a high power pole and the gorgeous Wilson's Snipe that I posted the day before yesterday. Think the Hawk must have been the same one that I have photographed before. It was just so laid back, letting me walk past it along the gravel road, so that I wasn't looking into the sun. Now if only it would perch on a fence post instead : ) Today, the sun is shining, but there are some grey clouds up there. I predict rain - the reason is that yesterday, I washed my car for the first time in several months, and after I've done this, it almost always rains (or snows). My arms and shoulders have been just too painful to do this before, but I managed OK yesterday. I have two long drives coming up in the next little while (both of which I've never done before - yikes!), so I wanted to get rid of the awful build-up of dried mud and gravel dust. Driving the gravel backroads, which I love to do, means that I rarely have a clean car :)

This plant is so small that I can never see, with the naked eye, whether an individual flower still has its petals. It's hard enough to notice one of these tiny, thread-like plants as it is. It was growing in an undulating area of such deep, soft moss that's difficult to walk on and especially to kneel down on and then get up again, ha. Photographed at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 14 July 2014. This native plant belongs to the Saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae. It is also called Naked Mitrewort, Bare-stemmed Mitrewort, Common Mitrewort, Miterwort, and Northern Bishop's Cap. There are 5-8 tiny flowers on the upper half of the slender, flowering stems, 7-20cm high. Each exquisite flower has 5 greenish-yellow or white, snow-flake design petals, with ten stamens, 6mm (just under quarter of an inch) across. The seed capsules, 2 - 3 mm long, open widely into shallow cups containing shiny, black seeds that ripen in late-summer. The seeds are very new in this photo - they have yet to darken to black. www.borealforest.org/herbs/herb24.htm Monday, 14 July 2014, was another hot day, and my computer room became unbearably uncomfortable. That meant only one thing - I would have to drive around in my car for some air-conditioning. Spent about four hours cruising the backroads SW of the city, not seeing a whole lot. Went as far as Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, with the intention of doing just a very short walk into the forest. Didn't get that far, though, as there were things to photograph around the edge of the tiny parking lot and just part way along the path that leads to the two short boardwalks. The first thing I saw and heard was a Tennessee Warbler and when I reached it, discovered that there were now several young ones, too. Talk about friendly little birds - not sure that they didn't think I was going to feed them. Interesting to see birds that acted rather like the Black-capped Chickadees - just as fast-moving, too, making it difficult to get even a half-decent photo. The next thing that welcomed me to the park was a beautiful Western Wood Lily. They always almost glow amongst all the greenery. A few other plants that I photographed included Sticky Purple Geranium and Richardson's Geranium, Purple Avens, One-flowered WIntergreen, One-sided Wintergreen, Pink Pyrola, Twin Flower, Creamy Peavine, Round-leaved Orchid and this Bishop's Cap that was already in seed. On the way home from Brown-Lowery, I saw a couple of fun things. One was a Wilson's Snipe on a wooden post to which was attached a Bluebird/Tree Swallow nesting box. I've never seen one by a nesting box before. The other thing I saw was a Ruffed Grouse female walking along the side of the main road. Didn't realize what it was until I had driven past it. Did a quick U-turn and, rounding a bend, saw not just the adult standing on the road, but also a young one. I pulled over to the edge of the road and very slowly walked a little closer - then I noticed about four other youngsters in the grass. Mom walked very slowly to the middle of the road and one brave little soul took a few very hesitant steps towards her. It wasn't quite sure that it liked being that far out in the open, so started to return to its siblings. This was repeated a few times, with me becoming more anxious that a car was bound to come racing down the road at any minute. Another of the babies tried to take a few brave steps - which is when a vehicle appeared. With Mom and two of her babies on the road, where they'd been for maybe 10 minutes, I just had to signal to the driver, who slowed down, waited a moment, and then got out of her car and loudly clapped her hands. Off they all flew, into the long grass. I suspect she was a country girl - and not a photographer, lol! If only she had scared them off to the side of the road that they had been trying to get to! And so ended my fun experience ..... and I returned to my house, that felt like walking into an oven.