Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Bubo

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

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

Happy New Year, everyone! Will have to finish off my descriptions and tags later, as I have to leave in half an hour for the 27th annual Fish Creek Park New Year's Day Bird Count. It snowed overnight, so I have to clear the snow off my car. The temperature is -12C (windchill -20C), so three hours of walking is going to feel like a long time, I suspect! Later ... Some years, the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton is held late in December. Other years, it ends up being held early January, sometimes delayed because of really bad weather. The Count for 2016 was held two days ago, on 30 December. We drove through such beautiful scenery when we were covering the SW quadrant of the Christmas Bird Count circle that centered on the town of Nanton. A landscape over which the occasional Golden Eagle soars and in which, some years, numerous Sharp-tailed Grouse wander on the ground or perch in trees. Last year, the highlight for me was seeing Pine Grosbeaks nice and close. This Count, I think the highlights were the stunning winter scenery, and a Great Horned Owl. I absolutely love this area SW of Nanton! Some of these backroads are extremely steep and almost look vertical when seen from a distance. Some years, the whole area is white, covered in deep snow, so that you can't tell where the roadside ends and the ditch begins. This Count, it wasn't too bad, thank goodness, though I might have felt differently if I had been one of the two drivers for our group! After driving (being driven, for me, which is always pure luxury) the backroads from about 8:00 a.m. till around 3:30 p.m., we returned to the wonderful home of the Truch family. Not only do Bill and Leah Truch and their son, Mike, always welcome everyone with open arms, they also provide a much-appreciated breakfast snack for us and then, at the end of the day, a delicious supper. Have to say that I love travelling these scenic backroads (though I've never driven them myself), but I also really enjoy getting together with everyone afterwards. This is one of my favourite Bird Counts, and perhaps the most favourite. Thanks so much for doing all the driving, Tony and Andrew, and thanks, Leah, Bill and Mike for all the effort and time you put into your wonderfully warm welcome! It was another well-organized Count, Mike, as usual - thank you! I will add Andrew Hart's eBird report for this trip, in a comment box below.

After nine days at home, making sure my stitches from minor surgery healed properly, an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding the day before yesterday (7 March 2014) was welcomed with open arms - as it always is! What a great day we had, searching SE of the city, and finding some really neat birds. Most were impossible to photograph because of distance, but also because we had "heat wave" distortion all day long, making it difficult to get photos that were sharp. It was one of THOSE amazing days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. till about 8:15 in the evening. By the end of the day, we had seen a total owl count of 19, from three species - 8 Short-eared Owls, 8 Snowy Owls, 2 Great Horned Owls and one mystery owl. We couldn't decide if the latter was a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, as it was perched on top of a metal silo, way off in the distance. In fact, this silo can be seen in my next image - the coloured spots from the sunburst leading ones eye to it. We missed a good photo opp with one of the Short-eared Owls, when we were pulled over, further down the road than several other photographers. We did see one down on the ground near the edge of the road in a different place, hiding in the dried grasses, but, again, my photo is blurry. The Snowy Owl in the photo above was the closest Snowy we saw. We were driving past a small backroad that had been cleared and, like all the roads, had snowbanks along both sides. These are very uneven, with all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes on the top. Just past the entrance to this road, I looked back slightly and wondered if one of the shapes was in fact an owl. We decided to turn back and check it out, just in case. Sure enough, there was this beautiful, pure white male! Funny, I had even jokingly said that we should find a couple of black pebbles or bits of wood and add it to the snow shape - and then we realized that this "snowman" shape had eyes of its very own, ha! Also saw a Gyrfalcon and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us. The "heat wave" distortion made it impossible to get anything but rather blurry shots of these, but I might be able to slightly improve one of them enough to post later. As you will no doubt agree, it was an amazing day! Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for another rewarding day (which had started off rather slowly down in that area). Lots of fun! Wow, it's supposed to get up to 14C this afternoon! Meanwhile, it is 10C. Temperatures for this coming week are expected to be between +4C and +10C. The following week, the forecast so far is for temperatures just above 0C - with snow.

I fall so far behind with posting photos - and most of the photos I want/need to post never see the light of day, believe it or not, seeing as I have still posted so many photos on Flickr, lol. Didn't have to dig too far into my archives for this one, though, taken E of the city on 28 February 2013. Couldn't get those beautiful yellow eyes, but I did get a tall, wooden pole instead of the more usual insulator of an electricity pole. And no, I wasn't standing two feet away from it - you have to love zoom! A Snowy Owl was seen in the last few days, but most (if not all by now) will have left and migrated north, so we have many months to wait before we see these magnificent birds of prey again. They were here in Alberta in great numbers this year, but maybe next year there will be far fewer of them. All depends on the Leming population up north.

We had just enough time to take several shots of this handsome Snowy Owl before he decided to take off over the fields, looking for his next snack. Though it looks like I was standing very near to him, he was, in fact, down the road. Fully zoomed and cropped. Privileged to see him east of the city on 28 February 2013.

This was one of 12 Snowy Owls (in addition to 5 Great Horned Owls) that friends Cathy and Terry and I saw SE of Calgary on 3 February 2013. This male Snowy posed like this long enough to get a handful of fully zoomed photos. Unfortunately, the position of the sun made one beautiful, bright yellow eye and the other one more or less black because of the shade. It looked so strange, so I tried to correct this just a little. Now he has one shiny eye and one dull one - but, oh, well : ) He's still such a handsome guy. I know it looks like I might have been standing three feet away, but I can assure you I wasn't, lol!

I've had such a problem trying to adjust the colour of this image - and now I give up. Looking up into an overcast sky just never seems to work for me and my camera. I just can't do justice to this magnificent Snowy Owl female (or juvenile?) that we saw yesterday afternoon, east of the city. In the morning, a few of us had got together with owl bander, Richard Chamberland, who had come down to Calgary. He very generously invited a few of us to go looking for a certain Northern Hawk Owl, which we didn't manage to find. From there, we drove south and then east of the city, hoping to be able to find and band a Snowy Owl. One was seen, far in the distance, on the ground. It flew to a couple of very high poles, but stayed there. After Richard had had to leave to do other things, three friends and I continued to travel the backroads, coming across this beautiful female in a place where they had seen her before. She posed for us on an aerial of some sort as well as a couple of very tall poles. This particular one was wooden, which made a welcome change. From my photo, you would think that she was around eye-level and close, but no such luck, ha. The best view for marvelling at this owl's wonderfully dark feather pattern was when we saw her from the side - will post those photos over the next little while. Thanks so much, Richard, for giving up your morning for us - it was good to see you again - and thanks, Phil and Rob, for the ride around the Prairies and for showing Bonnie and me this beautiful bird. Much appreciated! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_Owl

Last Saturday, 16 February 2013, several of us spent the morning with owl-bander, Richard Chamberland, who was down in Calgary and had invited us to join him to go and look for a particular Northern Hawk Owl SW of the city and to then see if we could find a Snowy Owl to band. There was no sign of the Hawk Owl and we only had time to find one Snowy, which unfortunately was way across a field and didn't come close enough. Richard had to be elsewhere at noon, but three friends and I continued to drive the backroads east of the city, finding this beautiful female. She had such dark markings - couldn't have been more beautiful. This is the same owl I posted two days ago. That photo was taken when she had flown to a very tall, wooden pole at the edge of the road. An overcast day, so not the best light. Thanks for this opportunity, everyone!

Yesterday afternoon, I made myself (plus my driving phobia!) try the drive east of Calgary again. The only other time I had driven so far out that way was on 18 January, when I managed to get my car stuck in snow on a backroad that Google Maps shows as being a road that goes "straight through". A nearby farmer very kindly came and dug me out. When I got to the first Snowy Owl yesterday, I found that friends Phil and Rob were out there too, which was great, as I was feeling totally stressed out and panicky, wondering how on earth I'd ever find my way home again. I had also left home a few hours later than I would have liked, so had visions of still being out there, trying to find my way home in the dark or else spending a very cold night in my car! On the way home, I was able to follow my friends and they found two other Snowy Owls, the one in my photo being the second owl of the three. What could possibly be better than a handsome male perched on a fence post??? Though it looks like I was standing just opposite the owl, it was quite a way down the road, so the image is 48x zoomed : ) Have to admit that I drove right past him, without noticing him - which shows how focussed I was on my driving and making sure I kept up with my friends - and trying to drive in the middle of the road that was wet, muddy gravel that made the car slide a little. I was SO relieved to get home, my arms painful from gripping the steering wheel so tightly for 3+ hours, but what an afternoon it was! Need to keep an eye on my 14-year-old vehicle, though, as it was acting a little strangely yesterday, both on the drive out and returning home. Round trip was 187 kms and I was out for about three and a half hours. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_Owl www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/snowy_owl/id

Isn't she beautiful? Not only did I see this gorgeous Snowy Oowl, but I also found friends, Phil and Rob, at the very same spot when I drove east of the city on 28 February 2013. I lightened her plumage a little so that I could see the yellow of her eyes, but in reality, her pattern was quite a dark brown. Hope everyone isn't getting too fed up of Snowy Owl photos : ) Got to head out this morning to meet birding friends part way across the city. Not sure how far I will get, as winter returned with a vengeance yesterday, bringing a heavy snow storm. Everyone in southern Alberta was told to stay off the roads yesterday, so I'm really hoping they will be driveable this morning. Not my favourite thing to do, but ....

This photo was taken just as the sun was going down, but I thought I would try it anyway. I lightened the very dark image, but it was quite blurry. Better than nothing, though : ) This was the last of the Snowy Owls that we saw on Friday, 4 January 2013, on our way back to Calgary after a long day of searching for birds for the Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count. This was the last Count I took part in - the very last one was the following day. Our territory (section of the huge circle) for the Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Bird Count was on the north side of the Red Deer River, including the Tyrrell Museum area. This is Dinosaur country, the wonderful Badlands of Alberta! We drove some of the residential alleys looking for birds at feeders as well as in trees, and walked along the edge of the river at McMullen Island (it only becomes an island when the river level rises). The Red Deer River was completely frozen; 12 inches of snow cover. The day started off cloudy, clearing to beautiful sunshine, calm and a temperature of -14C soaring to 6C (yes, that's +6C!). Left my house at 5:40 a.m. and got home maybe 7:45 p.m. (?) Total kms-73; Total kms by car-68; Total kms on foot-5. Total hours-7; Total by car-4.5; Total on foot-2hrs; In cafe-0.5 hrs.. Just in case anyone is interested in what species the four of us found, this is the list for the day: Rock Pigeon-1 Eurasian Collared Dove-24 Great Horned Owl-1 Snowy Owl-1 Downy Woodpecker-5, Hairy Woodpecker-4 Northern Flicker-4 Pileated Woodpecker-1 Blue Jay-4 Black-billed Magpie-38 Black-capped Chickadee-17 White-breasted Nuthatch 3. Bohemian Waxwing-96 White-winged Crossbill-2 Common Redpoll-139 House Sparrow-42 We actually saw a total of six Snowy Owls, but only one actually in our Count area. As far as photos for the day are concerned, all I managed bird-wise was a Eurasian Collared Dove, a Red Crossbill and a couple of Snowy Owl photos. However, the scenery covered in snow was beautiful (and, as usual, my photos don't even begin to do it justice).

Whenever I see a Great Horned Owl with its eyes wide open like this, it makes me think of my favourite Licorice Allsorts candies - those large, round, yellow ones with the black licorice centre : ) One of the first places three of us called in at, during the annual Nanton Christmas Bird Count, had a pair of Great Horned Owls in the Spruce trees in their farmyard. One flew to a different tree and all we could see was a bit of movement through the branches. The owl in my photo stayed where it was for a short while, giving me a chance for a few shots, and then flew over to join the other one. Ha, most of my photos were very blurry - not sure what happened there! Thankfully, two or three came out OK, otherwise I would have been so disappointed, as it really was an exceptionally beautiful owl. I had a weird experience when I was in this farmyard - can't remember if I was trying to focus my camera on the owl or some other bird, but suddenly there was a furry face between my hands and touching my face and camera! A black and white cat had leapt at my clothes and appeared right against my face!! Talk about making me jump, ha! I've marked this image as Nanton on my map - it was taken somewhere SW of the town (i.e. Area D), but I don't know the exact location - just in case anyone is not familiar with where Nanton is.. "Each individual count is performed in a "count circle" with a diameter of 15 miles or 24 kilometres. At least ten volunteers, including a compiler to manage things, count in each circle. They break up into small parties and follow assigned routes, which change little from year to year, counting every bird they see. In most count circles, some people also watch feeders instead of following routes. Counts can be held on any day from December 14 to January 5 inclusive." From Wikipedia.

Poor quality, but posted so that I can add to my Snowy Owl Set - one of the Snowy owls we saw on 4 January 2013, when four of us drove eastwards to take part in the annual Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count.

This was the sixth and last Snowy Owl that our small group of four came across on 4 January 2013. Only one of the Snowy Owls was actually within our territory on the Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count, so even though we couldn't count the other five, we had the joy of simply seeing them (some were far away). Our territory was north of the River, including the Tyrrell Museum area. The owl in my image was the last owl we saw, on our way back to Calgary, taken when sunset was not far away. Had to brighten the image a fair bit.

I would never have seen this magnificent Snowy Owl if friends, Dorothy and Stephen, hadn't invited me to go with them on a spur-of-the-moment drive east of the city yesterday. So, thanks to them, I got the chance to take photos of this female (or juvenile) and three other Snowies that we found. The first Owl was perched on an electricity power line, way down the road and unfortunately was mobbed by a whole flock of small birds (Snow Buntings or Common Redpolls) making it fly way off across a field. The second one was so far away, sitting on the ground in a huge field that was a mix of snow and golden stubble. I just happened to notice the tiniest white speck - probably not far off a kilometre away?) - with my naked eyes. We pulled over and, sure enough, it was a Snowy. I might post a photo I took, using 48 times zoom and then heavily cropped, to give an idea, for those who have never been on a Snowy Owl search, just how difficult these birds can be to find : ) The owl in my photo above was the third owl we saw - perched on the usual, ugly, electricity pole. Apart from maybe two or three quick turns of the head in our direction, it sat for the whole time with the back of its head towards us, ha. The fourth owl, seen on our way back home, must have been a young one, as it was so curious about us. It just had a young look to it and really was quite cute to watch. Though these Snowy Owls were simply amazing to see, as always, I was already on a natural high from seeing a few flocks of beautiful Snow Buntings and Common Redpolls, that were flying over the fields and landing briefly on and around the barbed-wire fence near the road. Both are such beautiful birds. Thanks so much, you guys, for this wonderful time!

Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter today! 12-12-12 is the last major numerical date using the Gregorian or Christian calendar for a long, long time. The next time three numbers will align as they did on 9-9-09, 10-10-10 and 11-11-11 will be on Jan. 1, 3001, or 1-1-1. This Snowy Owl was the fourth and last Snowy that friends and I saw on 7 December 2012, when we went for a drive east of the city, hoping to find even just one of these amazing owls. This one looked and acted like a juvenile, being quite curious about us in a rather cute way. Maybe a young male? Yes, blue sky would have been nice, but I'll take a white sky any day if it has a beautiful Snowy Owl in front of it : ) We have a white sky again today and it's snowing, again. Have to get over to my volunteer shift, so I'm really hoping that the roads won't be too bad. It's -10C, windchill -15C. So far, the forecast looks reasonable for the weekend, when I will have two full days of the annual Christmas Bird Counts, one in the city and the other in the mountains. What has Flickr done to the options at the top of the page - the word "Home" has been removed, and also the Search for a person. What on earth was wrong with how it was before??? These little changes are just so annoying - not to mention unnecessary!

A heavily cropped capture of this beautiful Snowy Owl, one of three sightings by eight of us on the annual High River Christmas Bird Count, on 18 December 2012. It was reported as being three sightings of the same owl, but I think a photo of one of the sightings shows a much lighter bird. The second photo, which I will post maybe tomorrow, was of an owl that was perched not on top of a power pole, but at the very top of one of the giant electricity pylons - so was barely little more than a white speck : ) Old Man WInter has returned. It's -18C this evening and forecast is for snow tonight and tomorrow. A windchilll of -33C (temperature -23C) tomorrow kind of makes me almost wish that the Drumheller and area (i.e. the Badlands, where the dinosaurs used to roam) Christmas Bird Count will be cancelled - doubt it, though. Just hope my car starts. I know for sure I won't be feeling like having to clear snow off my car and scrape ice off the car windows - especially around 5:15 in the morning!!! I like to think this is dedication - but really, it's madness, lol! 5-10 cm of snow from Friday overnight to Saturday overnight. A short while later, just got a phone call, saying that the trip has been cancelled due to concern about drifting snow and the possibility of one of the cars getting stuck (it has happened before several times and is not fun!). Now I don't have to sit here, wondering whether to go or not to go : ) An interesting webpage, with photos, about sexing and aging of Snowy Owls: www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/snowy.htm With the holiday season upon us, here is a reminder from YouTube, that I saw on Dan's Facebook page. Please Don't Drink and Drive! Warning - very graphic - but that is what is needed! And yet people continue to do so ... youtu.be/45oV6PssNu4