Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 17 January 2016

On 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seemed ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) Those of us who were out there saw 7 of these Short-eared Owls in this area, though as you might guess from this photo, all the birds were far away, a few just a llittle closer. The owl in my photo was way down this fence line. I did go back to the area the next day, knowing that if I did that drive again straight away, I would start getting a bit more comfortable doing it. That was my main reason for going again, though of course I was also hoping to see an owl (or two). None of the owls on 18 January came close, either. My first visit was on a Sunday, so I knew there would be people out there who had found the owls. The next day's drive was a Monday, so I was expecting far fewer people, as it was a work day. Made no difference! Just down the road, there were 4 other owls who were a little bit closer. None of these birds came to a close post during the time I was there. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched on a curved branch not much above the snow-covered ground. Not a clear view of them, though, and I had to find a small opening in the trees through which to take a few shots. How beautiful these owls are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. People who spend the day, or at least many hours, are far more likely to get the shots they want, but at the risk of stressing the birds. Unfortunately we are seeing, or hearing about, the same thing happening as happened a year ago with the tiny Northern Pygmy-owls in the city. It does make you ask yourself if they didn't come close because there are just too many cars and people. We even noticed footprints in the snow, showing that someone had climbed over the barbed-wire fence to get a closer shot. Unbelievable! I could almost guarantee that it was someone with a huge, long lens, who didn't even need to get closer! Just leaves me shaking my head. If only people would put the well-being of the owls (and any wildlife) before their obsession to try and get a closer shot than anyone else. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I drove a few other backroads, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, with another barn next to it. "A bird of open grasslands, the Short-eared Owl is one of the most widely distributed owls in the world. It is found across North America, South America, and Eurasia, and on many oceanic islands." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-eared_Owl/id

Five days ago, on 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) Those of us who were out there saw 7 of these Short-eared Owls in this area, though as you might guess from this photo, all the birds were far away, a few just a llittle closer. The owl in my photo was way across a field, so this is a heavily cropped image. I did go back to the area the next day, knowing that if I did that drive again straight away, I might start getting a bit more comfortable doing it. That was my main reason for going again, though of course I was also hoping to see an owl (or two). None of the owls on 18 January came close either. My first visit was on a Sunday, so I knew there would be people out there who had found the owls. The next day's drive was a Monday, so I was expecting far fewer people, as it was a work day. Made no difference! None of these birds came to a close post during the time I was there. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched on a curved branch not much above the snow-covered ground (photo posted a few days ago). Not a clear view of them, though, and I had to find a small opening in the trees through which to take a few shots. How beautiful these owls are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. People who spend the day, or at least many hours, are far more likely to get the shots they want, but at the risk of stressing the birds. Unfortunately we are seeing, or hearing about, the same thing happening as happened a year ago with the tiny Northern Pygmy-owls in the city. It does make you ask yourself if these Short-eared Owls didn't come close because there are just too many cars and people. We even noticed footprints in the snow, showing that someone had climbed over the barbed-wire fence to get a closer shot. Unbelievable! I could almost guarantee that it was someone with a huge, long lens, who didn't even need to get closer! Just leaves me shaking my head. Please put the well-being of the owls (and any wildlife) before your obsession to try and get a closer/better shot than anyone else. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I made a turn down a backroad, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, with another barn next to it. "A bird of open grasslands, the Short-eared Owl is one of the most widely distributed owls in the world. It is found across North America, South America, and Eurasia, and on many oceanic islands." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-eared_Owl/id

Four days ago, on 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) Those of us who were out there saw 7 of these Short-eared Owls in this area, though as you might guess from this photo, all the birds were far away, a few just a llittle closer. The owl in my photo was way down this curving fence line, actually with two others who were perched on fence posts some distance apart. I did go back to the area the next day, knowing that if I did that drive again straight away, I would start getting a bit more comfortable doing it. That was my main reason for going again, though of course I was also hoping to see an owl (or two). None of the owls on 18 January came close either. My first visit was on a Sunday, so I knew there would be people out there who had found the owls. The next day's drive was a Monday, so I was expecting far fewer people, as it was a work day. Made no difference! Just down the road, there were 4 other owls who were a little bit closer. None of these birds came to a close post during the time I was there. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched on a curved branch not much above the snow-covered ground (photo posted the other day). Not a clear view of them, though, and I had to find a small opening in the trees through which to take a few shots. How beautiful these owls are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. People who spend the day, or at least many hours, are far more likely to get the shots they want, but at the risk of stressing the birds. Unfortunately we are seeing, or hearing about, the same thing happening as happened a year ago with the tiny Northern Pygmy-owls in the city. It does make you ask yourself if they didn't come close because there are just too many cars and people. We even noticed footprints in the snow, showing that someone had climbed over the barbed-wire fence to get a closer shot. Unbelievable! I could almost guarantee that it was someone with a huge, long lens, who didn't even need to get closer! Just leaves me shaking my head. Please put the well-being of the owls (and any wildlife) before your obsession to try and get a closer shot than anyone else. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I made a turn down a backroad, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, with another barn next to it. "A bird of open grasslands, the Short-eared Owl is one of the most widely distributed owls in the world. It is found across North America, South America, and Eurasia, and on many oceanic islands." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-eared_Owl/id

If it wasn't for the bright yellow of this Short-eared Owl's open eyes, it might not have been spotted at all. Friend, Bonnie, did an amazing job of seeing this bird tucked in amongst the tree trunks and dried grasses yesterday afternoon. People were concentrating on a different individual in the same clump of trees, but Bonnie was quite convinced that she had seen a second owl. Sure enough, she eventually managed to help the rest of us see the owl in this photo. It was quite a distance away and my photo is fully zoomed and cropped. Seen at the original distance, it was almost impossible to find, despite Bonnie's clear directions. I would imagine that this bird was one of the three seen in a photo I posted yesterday. So, yes, yesterday, I made a second trip out east of the city. Two days in a row is most unusual for me to make a drive like this. I had two reasons - now that I had been brave enough to do this drive, I wanted to go again while I could still make myself do it. The more times I go somewhere, the more confident I feel. Secondly, needless to say, I was hoping to see some owls again, maybe even closer. The 'closer' part never happened, at least not in the couple of hours I was out there. People who spend the day, or at least many hours, are far more likely to get the shots they want, but at the risk of stressing the birds. Unfortunately we are seeing, or hearing about, the same thing happening as happened a year ago with the tiny Northern Pygmy-owls. In the short time I've spent there, the owls have never come close and I would guess that that is because there are just too many cars and people. Yesterday, we even noticed footprints in the snow, showing that someone (or more than one) had climbed over the barbed-wire fence to get a closer shot. Unbelievable! I could almost guarantee that it was someone with a huge, long lens, who didn't even need to get closer! Just leaves me shaking my head. Please put the well-being of the owls (and any wildlife) before your obsession to get a closer shot.

I put this photo through a filter in post-processing and preferred this somewhat more detailed result than the original. Unfortunately, the light was fading when I started my drive back to the city and stopped to take a quick couple of shots. This old barn was in the same farmyard as the collapsing barn posted yesterday. Always so sad to see beautiful structures falling into such a bad state of repair, but I'm sure many farmers have more urgent things on which to spend their money. Two days ago, on 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) I was so fortunate to see several beautiful Short-eared Owls. They were way across a field and didn't once come close and perch on a fence post. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched together just before it was time to drag myself away and return home. How beautiful they are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. I will keep hoping, though, for the chance to see one close up on a fence post. An interesting link, with the information below, that answers the question: "WHY ARE BARNS USUALLY PAINTED RED?" home.howstuffworks.com/question635.htm "If you've ever driven through a rural area, it's likely that you've seen the red barns that speckle the farming landscape. There are several theories as to why barns are painted red. Centuries ago, European farmers would seal the wood on their barns with an oil, often linseed oil -- a tawny-colored oil derived from the seed of the flax plant. They would paint their barns with a linseed-oil mixture, often consisting of additions such as milk and lime. The combination produced a long-lasting paint that dried and hardened quickly. (Today, linseed oil is sold in most home-improvement stores as a wood sealant). Now, where does the red come from? In historically accurate terms, "barn red" is not the bright, fire-engine red that we often see today, but more of a burnt-orange red. As to how the oil mixture became traditionally red, there are two predominant theories. One is that wealthy farmers added blood from a recent slaughter to the oil mixture. As the paint dried, it turned from a bright red to a darker, burnt red. The other is that farmers added ferrous oxide, otherwise known as rust, to the oil mixture. Rust was plentiful on farms and is a poison to many fungi, including mold and moss, which were known to grown on barns. These fungi would trap moisture in the wood, increasing decay. Regardless of how the farmer tinted his paint, having a red barn became a fashionable thing. They were a sharp contrast to the traditional white farmhouse. As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up. Today, the color of barns can vary, often depending on how the barns are used."

Yesterday, 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) As you might guess from this photo, all the birds were far away. I didn't crop this any further, as I think some people, when they crop, forget that some people have a larger screen than they do, and that photos on a larger screen look far worse than on a small one : ) These birds were way across a field and didn't once come close and perch on a fence post. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched together like this. How beautiful they are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I made a turn down a backroad, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, seen in my third photo posted this morning, with another barn next to it. "A bird of open grasslands, the Short-eared Owl is one of the most widely distributed owls in the world. It is found across North America, South America, and Eurasia, and on many oceanic islands." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Short-eared_Owl/id

This was such a 'blah' photo that I resorted to adding a 'snow texture" to it. There was no sign of snow yesterday, but the light was fading when I started my drive back to the city. Yesterday, 17 January 2016, I finally got out for a much-needed drive out of the city. It seems ages since I did this, but I had some time, the sun was making its way through the clouds, and I had plucked up the courage to go east from the city. Recently, I was out that way on a birding trip with a group and we had seen a total of 6 extremely distant Short-eared Owls (3 pairs) at different locations. So, I was really hoping that my courage would be rewarded by spotting at least one owl : ) I was so fortunate to see several of these beautiful owls. They were way across a field and didn't once come close and perch on a fence post. However, I can't believe that I was lucky enough to see three of them perched together just before it was time to drag myself away and return home. How beautiful they are. This does seem to be a good winter for this species, which is exciting. Standing in -15C (windchill -22C) weather is NOT fun, trust me! It was SO cold. Fortunately, people were standing right by their cars and could climb back in when the pain became too unbearable. Five minutes occasionally of running the engine was barely enough to keep me going, plus a handwarmer inside my right glove. My feet finally thawed out once I arrived back home. It was all worth it, though, just for the chance to see these beautiful owls. When I left this area, I made a turn down a backroad, as i had noticed a red barn in the distance. Quite a nice old barn with a collapsing roof, with another barn next to it, off to the left of my photo.