Three days in Waterton Lakes National Park
Red Rock (Canyon) Parkway, Waterton Lakes National…
Citadel Peak, Waterton Lakes National Park
View across the valley
A touch of sunset
Imagine waking up to this each morning
Red Rock Canyon, Waterton Lakes National Park
A beautiful property, SW of Calgary
Waterton town, from Bertha Lake Trail
Emerald Lake - a little gem of the Rockies
Emerald Lake, British Columbia
Beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park
Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Foothills and distant mountains
Looking towards our beautiful mountains
Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Maclean Pond, Kananaskis
Exploring Timber Ridge, Porcupine Hills
A view from Timber Ridge Conservation Area
Limber Pine on Timber Ridge
Too hard to resist
Down by the pond
Time to relax
View looking west towards the Rockies
Canyon Church Camp, Waterton Lakes National Park
A view at Marsland Basin
Dark clouds rolling in, yesterday
Our foothills in Impressive Art
A double dose of clouds
Autumn's glory
Greater White-fronted Geese, Marsland Basin
Sunflowers and a red barn
Farmland of the Alberta foothills
Forgetmenot Pond
The joy of peace and quiet
Maskinonge Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Jazzed-up silos
Along the Bow River in fall
CL Ranches, Alberta
Peace in the Jumpingpound area
Fence line in the fall
A narrow strip of light
Along the Irrigation Canal
Colonel Walker House, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
Deciduous yellow
Sparkles on Forgetmenot Pond
We ignored the warning : )
How I love Alberta!
Six old granaries
Marsland Basin
Fall reflections at Carburn Park
Before the land turned white
Yesterday's adventure
The whites and blues of winter
Yesterday's walk along the Bow River
Rockyview General Hospital, reflected
November in Weaselhead
Travelling the Cobble Flats road
Morning awakes
Sunlight on the low cloud
So far away, but better than nothing
A frosty view from Frank Lake blind
Through the frost to the bird blind
At the start of our climb
Impressive view at the Whaleback
The joy of Dandelions
My favourite view in Bow Valley Provincial Park
The Famous Five
Changes by new owners in "The Famous Five" field
One of my favourite barns
Fields of golden stubble
Pine Coulee Reservoir, November 2013
Clouds over a prairie farm
Pine Coulee Reservoir last November
The golds and blues at Frank Lake
Rural decay in winter
Dwarfed by the vast expanse of clouds
Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park
Driving in a winter wonderland
Old and new
Mountain splendour
Roller coaster roads in winter
Sunshine on a mighty peak
There once was an owl
Snowy Owl with mountain bokeh
A favourite tree
The Famous Five again
Our beautiful Foothills
Old Catholic Church, Dorothy
Weird and wonderful Badland erosion
The old and the new
A barn to be proud of
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone N P
Set from the movie, The Revenant
From shadow to light
Mountains at sunset
Red barn on a sunny day
Layers and stripes
Old barn with a view
Brown on brown
Cold, bleak and frosty
Our mountains in winter
Old barn on the prairie
Ice as far as the eye can see
View from a barn doorway
Rolling hills close to home
Sunlit peaks
A final goodbye
Sunbathed mountain slopes
Red Rock Coulee, US
A place of peace and beauty
Happy New Year, everyone!
Badlands of Alberta
Rolling hills in winter
I love our blues and whites of winter
Sunset on the Prairies
Light and darkness
Heading into the sun
Texture of burnt trees
Soaking up the incredible beauty
Yesterday morning's sunrise
Mountain view
Between the trees
Aging sentinel of the Badlands
The Bison Paddock, Waterton Lakes National Park, A…
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Clouds and Dandelions
Five days ago, on 4 June 2015, it was a dry day, though a thunderstorm was forecast. After grey skies and rain the previous couple of days, I felt like going for a drive. Started at a wetland in SW Calgary, where I saw the usual Lesser Scaup and Redheads. The male Redhead did not like any of the other ducks around him and would chase away each one in turn. Quite the bully! Also managed to get a few more shots of a Common Grackle, though they move fast and seemingly constantly.
From there, I drove some of my usual backroads SW of the city. The clouds were building up quite dramatically, and I stopped at one wetland where they were reflected quite beautifully. I didn't see all that many birds, but was content to get a few chances to photograph a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, an Eastern Kingbird, and a Savannah Sparrow. No Wilson's Snipe this time, though I thought I had one on a distant fence post. Turned out to be a Mourning Dove - only the second time I've ever seen one on a fence post. Also saw a Swainson's Hawk which flew and landed on a high power pole near where the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows were nesting. The Tree Swallows, in true fashion, were causing the Bluebirds enough stress by flying and landing just a foot or two away from the Bluebirds' nesting box. The male Bluebird did such a great job of chasing away its rather beautiful, iridescent neighbours - which I also enjoy photographing.
On the way home, I couldn't resist stopping at this row of colourful old granaries. The last photo I posted of them was taken on a cloudless sky and it was a rather uninspiring image. When I called in there five days ago, the field was full of Dandelions (mainly gone to seed) and the sky was full of clouds.
So, a short trip, but one that I always enjoy, especially each spring. I never forget how lucky I am to live near such beautiful places and be able to see the local birds and wildlife.
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Some of you have already seen the following information, but for anyone else who might be interested, the folllowing link, with the information below, 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."
From there, I drove some of my usual backroads SW of the city. The clouds were building up quite dramatically, and I stopped at one wetland where they were reflected quite beautifully. I didn't see all that many birds, but was content to get a few chances to photograph a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, an Eastern Kingbird, and a Savannah Sparrow. No Wilson's Snipe this time, though I thought I had one on a distant fence post. Turned out to be a Mourning Dove - only the second time I've ever seen one on a fence post. Also saw a Swainson's Hawk which flew and landed on a high power pole near where the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows were nesting. The Tree Swallows, in true fashion, were causing the Bluebirds enough stress by flying and landing just a foot or two away from the Bluebirds' nesting box. The male Bluebird did such a great job of chasing away its rather beautiful, iridescent neighbours - which I also enjoy photographing.
On the way home, I couldn't resist stopping at this row of colourful old granaries. The last photo I posted of them was taken on a cloudless sky and it was a rather uninspiring image. When I called in there five days ago, the field was full of Dandelions (mainly gone to seed) and the sky was full of clouds.
So, a short trip, but one that I always enjoy, especially each spring. I never forget how lucky I am to live near such beautiful places and be able to see the local birds and wildlife.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of you have already seen the following information, but for anyone else who might be interested, the folllowing link, with the information below, 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."
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