Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: velvet

This handsome Elk bull was quite a distance away, but thanks to 48x zoom (focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm), it almost looks like we were standing next to each other : ) My friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, had left Calgary early morning on Wednesday (14 May 2014) and I think it was around 12:15 a.m. midnight (Thursday, 15 May 2014), that they dropped me off at home after two long, wonderful days in the Rocky Mountains, west of the city. Wednesday night was spent in a spotless motel, in a place that had so many Mountain Sheep roaming the streets, lol! Though we were hoping to see at least one Bear, I knew I would be happy as can be to see absolutely anything beautiful : ) At one point, we drove past a site that had quite a few wooden cabins. A large, Elk-shaped object caught my eye in the far distance, among the cabins. At first, I wondered if the owners of the site had added a sculpture for interest. However, when we went to check, this is what we found : ) This huge Elk bull was wandering in between the cabins, happily feeding. Unfortunate, really, when wildlife becomes this accustomed to humans, but it did give us a chance to see one of these impressive wild animals at closer quarters. The whole time we watched, I was very aware of the huge size of this wild animal and never forgot for a moment that wildlife can be unpredictable! The only thing that was not good on this trip was that I was in absolute agony - the rotator cuffs in both shoulders were inflamed and the excruciating pain spread down to my lower back, making it difficult to even walk. Three months later, my shoulders are not as bad as they were, but it's taking a long, long time. So many things require the use of ones shoulders, so it's impossible to rest them for a long period. It was certainly bad timing for this trip, ha! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk

This handsome Elk bull was quite a distance away, but thanks to 48x zoom (focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm), it almost looks like we were standing next to each other : ) My friends, Cathy and Terry, and I, had left Calgary early morning on Wednesday (14 May 2014) and I think it was around 12:15 a.m. midnight (Thursday, 15 May 2014), that they dropped me off at home after two long, wonderful days in the Rocky Mountains, west of the city. Wednesday night was spent in a spotless motel, in a place that had so many Mountain Sheep roaming the streets, lol! Though we were hoping to see at least one Bear, I knew I would be happy as can be to see absolutely anything beautiful : ) At one point, we drove past a site that had quite a few wooden cabins. A large, Elk-shaped object caught my eye in the far distance, among the cabins. At first, I wondered if the owners of the site had added a sculpture for interest. However, when we went to check, this is what we found : ) This huge Elk buck was wandering in between the cabins, happily feeding. Unfortunate, really, when wildlife becomes this accustomed to humans, but it did give us a chance to see one of these impressive wild animals at closer quarters. The whole time we watched, I was very aware of the huge size of this wild animal and never forgot for a moment that wildlife can be unpredictable! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk I'm posting much later today, thanks to oversleeping because of the muscle relaxant pills that I'm having to take for my inflamed rotator cuffs in my shoulders. This is going to be a real nuisance for the next month - might have to miss an occasional pill when I know I have to be up and out at some unearthly hour the following morning.

Not sure what went "wrong" with my photos yesterday, when I went for just a short walk in a local park. I came across a small group of beautiful White-tailed females and just a minute later, came across a number of bucks. The bucks were standing at the edge of the trees, so maybe the light was worse than I thought. The setting that I use for most of my photos (because the regular setting gives me such awful, washed out images, that I can't use it), resulted in really bad photos. I think this was the only one that was usable. A shame, as the males gave me such a great chance for photos. What amazing animals they were! So glad that I finally pushed myself out for a walk after all. I'm already having to miss most walks and trips because my lower back makes walking too painful, so I decided yesterday that I just have to make myself start with very short walks on my own. I took my camera with me, knowing that I had to limit myself to just a handful of shots, if any, because of my painful arms and shoulders. My poor old body, lol! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer

Another photo of a handsome male Elk in captivity at the Calgary Zoo Ranch, just south of the city. The velvet on his antlers was in beautiful condition. Much as I would much prefer to photograph them in the wild, of course, I've only ever had maybe a couple of chances to be in places where they were seen.