Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: 3 January 2017

Argh, yet another Blue Screen of Death when I was adding the description to this image. I tend to get too many of these. This photo came out very blurry, so it was a case of either deleting it or adding a filter in post processing. Obviously, I chose the latter. On 3 January 2017, on the spur of the moment, I decided to drive SE of the city and see if I could find a Snowy Owl or possibly even a Short-eared Owl. The temperature was -11C, windchill -20C. The sun was shining, which makes all the difference. I had no idea what the winter roads would be like and quickly found out that on the main highway south, there was enough snow left on the road, for much of the drive, to hide the lines showing the different lanes - something that I never like. Once I reached the area I wanted to start looking, each side road looked too snow-covered for my liking. Not the most rewarding of drives, but at least I got out for a while.

Well, today, 20 January 2017, is certainly an historic day, not just for the US, but for the whole world! I watched every moment of the US Presidential Inauguration, until the luncheon - and then posted my photos for today : ) I was very impressed with everything I saw, especially the classy way in which President Donald Trump and Former President Barak Obama dealt with each other. I wish the new President all the best in his endeavours for the American people, and definitely wish the highly popular Obama family all the very best in their new life. Though I am Canadian, I will miss the Obamas, who set such an inspirational example of love of family and each other. A truly delightful family. Good luck, everyone! On 3 January 2017, on the spur of the moment, I decided to drive out of the city and see if I could find a Snowy Owl or possibly even a Short-eared Owl. I had no idea what the winter roads would be like and quickly found out that on the main highway south, there was enough snow left on the road for much of the drive to hide the lines showing the different lanes - something that I never like. Once I reached the area I wanted to start looking, each side road looked too snow-covered for my liking, so I avoided most of them - seeing nothing but a barn and a shed or two. I had seen and photographed the barn in this photo before and I had also recently seen a photo of it with a Great Horned Owl perched on it, posted by a friend. I had not set out to drive quite this far, as Snowy Owls were what I had really wanted to search for. Also, experience told me that just because an owl is seen in a place by one person, it doesn't mean that the owl will be there again on a different day. I was certainly lucky this time! The barn is quite a distance from the road and from that far away, to anyone driving by, the owl would look just like a piece of wood sticking up. "With its long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyed stare, and deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. This powerful predator can take down birds and mammals even larger than itself, but it also dines on daintier fare such as tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs. It’s one of the most common owls in North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/id

Two afternoons ago, on 3 January 2017, on the spur of the moment, I decided to drive SE of the city and see if I could find a Snowy Owl or possibly even a Short-eared Owl. The temperature was -11C, windchill -20C. The sun was shining, which makes all the difference. I had no idea what the winter roads would be like and quickly found out that on the main highway south, there was enough snow left on the road, for much of the drive, to hide the lines showing the different lanes - something that I never like. Once I reached the area I wanted to start looking, each side road looked too snow-covered for my liking, so I ended up staying on two of the main roads - seeing nothing but a barn and a shed or two - and a Great Horned Owl (photo posted yesterday)! I had seen and photographed the owl barn (not the one in this photo) before and I had also recently seen a photo of it with a Great Horned Owl perched on it, posted by a friend. I had not set out to drive quite that far, as Snowy Owls were what I had really wanted to search for. Also, experience told me that just because an owl (or any bird) is seen in a place by one person, it doesn't mean that it will be there again on a different day. I was certainly lucky this time! From that far away, to anyone driving by, the owl looked just like part of the barn. So, a short, limited drive, but the owl was a highlight. More snow is forecast on quite a few of the coming days, so I'm not sure when I will be brave enough to try another drive, especially along any backroads. "Bitter cold ahead for Alberta in January" is what the weather network says. Getting stuck in the middle of nowhere in spring or summer is one thing, but to get stuck when the temperature is in the -20's is something very different.

This morning, 4 January 2017, the temperature is -11C, windchill -20C. The sun is shining, which makes all the difference. However, a glance at the forecast for the next week, shows tiny snowlfake (ha, ha, I meant to type "snowflake!) icons on almost every day. Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, I decided to drive SE of the city and see if I could find a Snowy Owl or possibly even a Short-eared Owl. I had no idea what the winter roads would be like and quickly found out that on the main highway south, there was enough snow left on the road for much of the drive to hide the lines showing the different lanes - something that I never like. Once I reached the area I wanted to start looking, each side road looked too snow-covered for my liking, so I ended up staying on two of the main roads - seeing nothing but a barn and a shed or two. I had seen and photographed the barn in this photo before and I had also recently seen a photo of it with a Great Horned Owl perched on it, posted by a friend. I had not set out to drive quite this far, as Snowy Owls were what I had really wanted to search for. Also, experience told me that just because an owl is seen in a place by one person, it doesn't mean that the owl will be there again on a different day. I was certainly lucky this time! The owl had just been preening and its feathers were still fluffed up. The barn is quite a distance from the road and this is a fully zoomed image, Focal Length (35mm format) - 1140 mm. From that far away, to anyone driving by, the owl looked just like a piece of wood sticking up. "With its long, earlike tufts, intimidating yellow-eyed stare, and deep hooting voice, the Great Horned Owl is the quintessential owl of storybooks. This powerful predator can take down birds and mammals even larger than itself, but it also dines on daintier fare such as tiny scorpions, mice, and frogs. It’s one of the most common owls in North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/id