Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: innocence

Let me introduce you to one of the two Great Horned owlets at Burnsmead, Fish Creek Park! Presumably, this is the older one, and s/he has now left the nest and ventured up the branch to higher "ground". Adorable to watch and always amusing when they lift up a foot and appear to examine their talons, as if wondering what it is, LOL. Would love to have been there when this large baby climbed upwards for the very first time. Balance still needs to be worked on, ha, ha.

Yes, these two little things live in captivity with quite a few others, at the Calgary Zoo. They look rather like Richardson's Ground Squirrels that are wild in Alberta, but these are in fact Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. 'They are found in the Great Plains of North America from about the USA-Canada border to the USA-Mexico border. Black-tailed prairie dogs are frequently exterminated from ranchland, being labelled as a pest. Their habitat has been fragmented, and their numbers have been greatly reduced. Additionally, black-tailed prairie dogs are remarkably susceptible to plague." From Wikipedia. Their Conservation Status is Least Concern. "Canada’s remaining population of black-tailed prairie dogs can only be found in southwest Saskatchewan around Grasslands National Park." (Calgary Zoo info).

A somewhat different kind of Black-capped Chickadee photo from what I usually post. I liked the Spruce branch on which it's perched and also the bokeh.

She was the dearest little thing, lying curled around in the deep snow this morning. When we stopped to admire her, she got up and eventually, very hesitatingly came towards us. Her face and expression were so gentle. "The white-tailed deer is Alberta's most abundant cloven-hoofed animal. Its coloration changes from reddish-brown in summer to greyish brown in winter. White-tailed deer are slightly smaller than mule deer. White-tails possess excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing. They are extremely wary, and when alarmed they move rapidly, bounding away in smooth, graceful leaps." From www.srd.gov.ab.ca/fishwildlife .