Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: hairs

Will have to add descriptions, etc. later, as I have a dental appointment to get to. Later. Yesterday, 2 August 2019, was a day of a little bit of everything, which was fun. I only decided around noon to go for an afternoon drive west of the city. It was hot and there was a haze over the mountains. Both cameras took photos with rather blown out skies - because of the haze? My destination was Forgetmenot Pond, out past Bragg Creek. Forget-me-not is the name of a flower. This weekend is a long weekend for a Civic Holiday on Monday, so I thought there might be far fewer people yesterday, Thursday. A lot of people seemed to have the same idea as me! There was a good variety of wildflowers, some of which I will have to leave unidentified and post simply as "pretty pictures". So nice to find Prairie Gentians, which I haven't seen for a long time. A few others were Grass-of-Parnassus, Elephant's Head Lousewort, different Paintbrush, Alpine Bistort, and beautiful Yellow Mountain-avens. Love the small flowers of the latter and their beautifully twisted seedheads. The only birds I saw in the area were Barn Swallows who were nesting, and a calling Spotted Sandpiper, perched on a piece of driftwood the far side of the river. After walking around the lake, I started on my return drive. Before long, I decided to take a quick look in a forested area, to see if there were any mushrooms, but only found the ones seen in one of today's photos. While I was there, cows were the furthest thing from my mind. I guess they are let loose in that area of forest, so they do a good job of fertilizing everything. When I spotted the two mushrooms, I was excited and didn't realize that my left shoe ended up in something that felt very soft and a little slippery! Sigh! Maclean Pond was the only other place I stopped, just briefly, during my mountain drive, until I was closer to home. Thought I would drive along one of the roads that had given me a good variety of birds fairly recently. This time, absolutely nothing. I discovered that one road was blocked (maybe part of the major road construction going on for the Ring Road around the city?), Instead, I came back along a road I hadn't been along for quite a while - and what an amazing sight I saw. Way down the road, I could see some large brown animals on the road. My first thought was 'cows'. However, I pulled over and zoomed right in to check, discovering that they were Elk. Maybe two or three hundred of them - they just kept coming and when you thought they would be no more, another group appeared on the hillside. They were all constantly calling, which you can hear on the little bit of video I took. Will post another short, somewhat closer bit of video later. There were males, females and young ones. Fortunately, no other vehicles came along the road while I was there. An amazing thing to witness.

Most unusual for me, I was so desperately tired two evenings ago, that I couldn't even stay awake to find and edit three photos to post to Flickr yesterday morning! It was a long day of birding on 28 May 2017, for the May Species Count, and it completely knocked me out for the following day. Tiredness seems to be my constant companion, but not so tired that I can't fight it. So, no photos from me yesterday! I always love to see the hairy bud of a Poppy revealing the beauty within. This one was blooming in a greenhouse at the Saskatoon Farm. Yesterday, 30 May 2017, I was out for the day south of the city with my Daughter (a belated day out for my birthday and Mother's Day), to Nanton and a few roads nearby, then making our way north to Frank Lake and finally ending up at the Saskatoon Farm, where we were just in time to have a meal. A hot day, but nice and sunny. It takes about 45 minutes to drive south to the town of Nanton. Though I had been quite a few times over the years when carpooling with various friends, I had never driven quite that far south and through the town. My daughter wanted to walk round two or three of the antique shops there and we both wanted to take a few photos of the grain elevators. Once that was all done, we drove westwards from the town. Though the scenery is beautiful, we did not enjoy being on a main road with no shoulder to pull over to. We did stop once in a small pull-off, to get a few scenic shots. This was where we saw the metal cut-out of a cowboy riding his horse, with a bird perched on top of his hat (third photo I posted today). I can't decide if the distant bird is a Common Grackle or a Brewer's Blackbird, or something else? We decided to turn around and cross over to the other side of the main highway (#2) and drive north to Frank Lake, hoping to find a few things to photograph along the backroads. A handful of barns and a very few distant birds were enough to make the drive worthwhile. Frank Lake was deserted when we arrived there, though a couple of other people turned up shortly. Not many bird species, either. The water was quite choppy thanks to the wind, and there was just one Coot, a pair of Ruddy Ducks, a Barn Swallow and one Eared Grebe. I managed to get just the one shot (posted this morning) of the latter. Saw two American Avocets, a Killdeer and a pair of Phalaropes. Franklin's Gulls were their usual noisy selves. Not a single White-faced Ibis to be seen, and only one or two Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. When we had been on the road south of the lake, we had seen a Black-crowned Night-Heron perched on a distant fence, being harassed by several smaller birds - Brown-headed Cowbirds? I was so happy to see the Heron, as I so rarely see them. We had also seen a shorebird in a field of stubble and I need to check if this was a Long-billed Curlew. On our way home, we called in at the Saskatoon Farm and were just in time to order a meal before they closed. A quick wander round gave me the chance to grab a shot or two of a very loud Rooster and the male Wild Turkey. My favourite kind of day, so thank you, Rachel, as always!!

I can never remember the name of this small flower - all I can remember is that I have such difficulty in getting a really sharp photo of it, for some strange reason. Photographed in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo on 25 September 2012.

This is such a fascinating, carnivorous plant! Much smaller than my photo shows, of course, as this is a macro shot (taken in my kitchen, by the way!). "The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Flytrap David Attenborough looks at how this well known carnivorous plant captures its prey. This short video is from the BBC. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIGVtKdgwo

This leaf tip was maybe three quarter's of an inch across when open, as in my image. "The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted within twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Flytrap David Attenborough looks at how this well known carnivorous plant captures its prey. This short video is from the BBC. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIGVtKdgwo I felt very honoured to be asked if I would give permission to have this image (and two others) displayed on the Harvard University's website, ARKive (May 2011). "A vast treasury of wildlife images has been steadily accumulating over the past century, yet no one has known its full extent - or indeed its gaps - and no one has had a comprehensive way of gaining access to it. ARKive will put that right, and it will be an invaluable tool for all concerned with the well-being of the natural world." Sir David AttenboroughWildscreen Patron www.arkive.org/venus-flytrap/dionaea-muscipula/image-G112... www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/potd/2014/02/dionaea-muscipula.php

These tiny Eyelash fungi were growing on the end of a broken branch lying on the forest floor at Rod Handfield's acreage, near Millarville, south of Calgary. Actually this one was a fair size for an Eyelash fungus, maybe an eigth of an inch - even so, this is a macro shot. "These eyelashes are the most distinctive feature and are easily visible with a magnifying glass. The species is common in North America and Europe, and has been recorded on every continent." I love anything that is bright orange and grows deep in the forest : ) Finally managed to squeeze in a very short visit to the Zoo this afternoon - can't believe how hard it has been to find a free bit of time when the sun has also been shining. Actually, big mistake, really, as the sun was much too bright (or maybe that's only because we've barely seen it this summer!). Also windy when I got there, not to mention that the place was packed. The butterfly room was crazy with kids everywhere, all trying to catch the poor butterflies (hmm!). Came home with a lot of blown-out, blurry shots plus just a few that are uploadable, LOL. Back-to-school can't be far away? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutellinia_scutellata

A beautiful Sunflower seen in a friend's garden on 26th August last year. I just liked the twists and curves of petals and bracts and, of course, the colour. I even got a blurred background, which sure doesn't always happen : )

One of the very last Poppies at the Reader Rock Garden when I was there recently. I love Poppies in all their stages, including the white-haired buds. I find it fascinating to see how those gorgeous orange petals are so cleverly folded into that small space. And then I noticed the little Seven-spotted Ladybug tucked in there as well, surrounded by her luxurious "satin sheets" : )

Not the best of photos - much too blurry for my liking - but it's a bit different from the other, more "usual" photos of Prairie Crocuses that I took yesterday. It was a very overcast afternoon and quite windy - not good for photographing thousands of tiny, gold hairs, LOL. However, I had just been to get my Taxes done and this location was nearby, so I wanted to at least try and find a few of these wildflowers. So great to have them finally in bloom! Oh, and by the way, I placed something dark behind the flower head to make it show up against all the tangle of dried grass in the background. I'll post one of those "messy" photos another day : )

Yellow Clematis is a non-native plant, introduced from Japan, and it has unfortunately become a very invasive weed, killing native plants and even climbing and strangling large Spruce trees! A shame, as the yellow flower and the attractive seedheads are both very pretty.

This insect was on Blue Clematis seed heads. These fine "hairs" shine so beautifully when the sun shines.