Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: female?

This morning started off overcast and now, unexpectedly, it has started to snow. I'm sure snow was not in the forecast. Ha, five minutes later, and the snow has stopped. I'm posting three less-than-inspiring images this morning, mainly as a record of a very enjoyable day out. Yesterday, 21 February 2018, I spent the day with two friends, driving the back roads NW of the city, especially hoping for any owls. No luck with Great Gray Owls, but my friends did an amazing job of spotting two extremely distant Short-eared Owls. I would never even have noticed the birds and, if I had, I would simply have thought 'Ravens'. They were way across a valley, barely visible, seen flying and, for a moment, perched on top of a distant tree. The photo I managed to get when one owl took off from the tree top is not even 'good' enough to post. Just four or five seconds out of the car and it was so unbearably cold for some reason, even though the temperature was not unusually low. Along one of the roads, we passed an outdoor enclosure full of domestic birds that looked like Pheasants/Grouse. Last night, I tried to find the ID for the bird in this photo, but was unsuccessful. One friend thought it might be a Chukar, but I don't think it is. At another location, we stopped to take a look at 'something' that was lying at the side of the gravel road. I posted a rather unpleasant photo of it today, hoping that maybe someone might recognize what it is. To me, the legs and feet look like a Turkey, but there were white feathers scattered everywhere. I don't know if anyone in the area has domestic Turkeys, but I don't think Wild Turkeys have any white feathers. Maybe it died and the owner tossed the bird so that wildlife could feed on it? With Coyotes and various Owls in the area, it may have been prey. Wildlife seen during the day included a morning treat of a huge flock of an estimated 5,000 Snow Buntings, mainly in flight like a swarm of insects, but also picking up gravel (?) from the road way ahead of us. Such a beautiful sight, especially when in flight. When they land in a field, it is so impressive to see the ground covered in these small, white birds. Unfortunately, a couple of unidentified Falcons flew in and scattered them. Other wildlife included a couple of distant Coyotes together, and two Rough-legged Hawks. Everything seen yesterday was much too far away, even with a reasonable zoom, but each and every sighting was much appreciated, especially the Short-eared Owls and the Buntings. Thanks so much, guys, for inviting me!

This beautiful owl was perched very high up in a Spruce tree in Fish Creek Park and could be seen only from a rather poor angle. I think this is a female, and she was such a sleepy owl - so maybe it was a male, after all.

I overslept this morning, so I will have to finish my descriptions and tags later this afternoon. I'm going to have to post and run. Yesterday, 26 November 2016, friends and I were so very lucky. On a walk in Fish Creek Park, we found not only an owl, but two owls, and different species - this Great Horned Owl and a teeny, popcan-sized Northern Pygmy-owl. It had been almost two years since I last saw a Northern Pygmy-owl. That one, also, had been seen in Fish Creek Park. Yesterday, it was near the top of a very tall tree, so my photo (3rd photo posted today) was fully zoomed and cropped and posted just for the record. The Great Horned Owl, however, was seen nice and low and out in the open. The bird was large and fairly pale, so we think it was probably a female. After taking a few photos through the trees, we continued our walk and I was able to get a few shots from a different angle, just before she closed her eyes and went to sleep. Will add our leader's list of bird species seen, in a comment box below. We split into two groups, so not everyone saw everything on the list. My group only saw one Northern Pygmy-owl, not two.