Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014September11

Today, 10 September 2014, I am doing what Marmots like to do - stay in their burrow. The late summer SNOWSTORM continues today and is doing tremendous damage to all the trees in the city. Yesterday, they said that 5,000 trees in the city had been damaged, and today is far, far worse. I have a short length of hedge that grows against a fence. Yesterday, the hedge was overgrown by about three feet above the top of the fence. When I peered through my blinds when I got up, my hedge had almost disappeared, bent down so that it's now about three feet lower than the fence. I so hope it stays like that once the snow has melted, but most likely not! I suspect there are going to be quite a few people without power today, like yesterday. The little guy/gal in this photo was the cutest thing. It's a young Yellow-bellied Marmot that was peering out of a hole by some metal pipes. Friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, had been watching these animals for some time, through the car windows. Eventually, we got out and took a slow walk down the road and back. Almost back at the car, I noticed that this youngster was still half way out and when I approached a little way, very slowly, he was quite curious and stayed right where he was. Young Marmots are born in May and we saw this one on 28 August 2014. The Yellow-bellied Marmot is classified as Secure in the current General Status of Alberta Wild Species report. "Yellow-bellied marmots usually weigh from 1.6 to 5.2 kilograms (3.5 to 11.5 lb) when fully grown, though males typically weigh more than females. Adult males typically weigh between 3 to 5 kilograms (6.6 to 11.0 lb); females typically weigh between 1.6 to 4 kilograms (3.5 to 8.8 lb). They get fatter in the autumn just before hibernating. Their territory is about 4 to 7 acres (2 to 3 ha) around a number of summer burrows. Marmots choose to dig burrows under rocks because predators are less likely to see their burrow. Predators include wolves, foxes, coyotes, dogs and eagles. Yellow-bellied marmots spend about 80% of their life in their burrow, 60% of which is spent hibernating. They often spend mid-day and night in a burrow as well. These burrows are usually constructed on a slope, such as a hill, mountain, or cliff. The hibernation burrows can be up to 5 to 7 metres (16 to 23 ft) deep, but the burrows constructed for daily use are usually only 1 metre (3.3 ft) deep. Their hibernation period varies on elevation, but it is typically from September to May. Yellow-bellied marmots are diurnal. The marmot is also an omnivore, eating grass, grains, leaves, flowers, legumes, fruit, grasshoppers, and bird eggs." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-bellied_marmot During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014) with these friends, we saw so many things, including breathtaking scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer (including several that we saw in the town of Waterton, where we stayed for two nights at the clean and friendly Bear Mountain Motel), Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including the endangered Burrowing Owls (way east of Waterton, on our last day), a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse that are uncommon in the park. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators. Oh, and we got caught in a storm like nothing we'd ever seen before - a mesocyclone, apparently.

My power went off for about two seconds, thanks to the dreadful late summer snowstorm that we are having. Just long enough to lose the description that I had almost finished here, ha. This time, I think I will save it a bit at a time. This photo was taken on the second day of a three-day trip I was lucky enough to go on with friends, Cathy and Terry. The first two days, 26 and 27 August 2014, were spent in Waterton Lakes National Park. Within the park, there are four different drives one can do. They are the short Bison Paddock Loop, Red Rock Parkway, Chief Mountain HIghway, and Akamina Parkway. The last one leads to Cameron Lake, where I took this photo. Our third day was spent driving eastwards across part of southern Alberta and then doing the long drive back to Calgary. An incredible three days!

Judging by the wispy feathers, this looks like it was the young bird that was on the tree right by Mom or Dad. It's not the best quality, but it's difficult to get decent shots deep in the forest and of birds that don't stay still for a second and keep travelling further and further up the tall trees. These Three-toed Woodpeckers are rare here, so I sometimes hang on to photos that are far from good. The weather forecast was promising rain and mixed precipitation for 7 and 8 September 2014, and there were a couple of places that I thought I had better get to before the bad weather arrived. The first one was Brown-Lowery, to check if there were any mushrooms. I was there recently, and only found a couple of things. This last visit was a little more rewarding and I found several large clusters of tiny mushrooms growing on tree stumps or at the base of trees. Also found several patches of bright orange Coral Fungi. Quite a few people were in the park, so I felt safer going a very short way in. Far enough, as it turned out, to watch this adult and juvenile Three-toed Woodpecker, feeding together on a tree trunk. The young one was copying Mom or Dad, but its soft squeaking sound resulted in the adult feeding it, too. You can tell this tree has been used by the Three-toed Woodpeckers, as much of the bark has been stripped, leaving the orange/brown wood below. This Woodpecker species seems to be reasonably tolerant of people. These are rare birds here, so I feel very lucky to have seen these two and any others in the past. birdsofalberta.com/List/detail.php?id=226 www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Three-toed_Woodpecke... On that day, little did any of us know that we were in for a major, late summer, snowstorm! Yesterday and today, 9 and 10 September (today), we've had heavy, wet snow that is causing tremendous damage to so many trees in the city. Yesterday, it was said that 5,000 trees had been damaged, and today, conditions are far, far worse. And the snow keeps falling ....