Our beautiful Alberta
A touch of blue
Barn with a mural
Afternoon light on the foothills
Northern Shrike / Lanius excubitor
Better than nothing - this is NOT my main photo!
The peace of a prairie farm - my main photo today
Red-winged Blackbird female or juvenile
Snowy Owl along the fenceline
Winter textures
Dreaming of spring
A mix of textures
Skull on a fence post
Greenish sky beneath a Chinook Arch
One of my favourite views
Well-protected
A distant shot from my archives
Rough-legged Hawk / Buteo lagopus
Mallard female
Mountain Bluebird male
A house to match
Ride him, Cowboy!
Beyond the fence
Brown-headed Cowbird male
Mountain Bluebird with food for her babies
Brewer's Blackbird male
Common Nighthawk
Sheep at the Rusty Bucket Ranch
Mountain Bluebird female
Splash of colour
A road less travelled
An old red barn
Farm in the foothills
The Long house, Pioneer Acres, Alberta, Canada
Disappearing Skunk - just for the record
The charred remains of McDougall Memorial United C…
Great Horned Owl on a fence post
A new-to-me old barn
Evening Grosbeak female
Fragile and leaning
Storm clouds near the city
Pontiac and Massey Harris, rusting side by side
The joys of an old farmyard
The red barn
A beauty of a barn
Alberta foothills in the fall
Old, see-through barn
Down on the farm
New "barn", Granary Road
A peaceful winter scene
A country scene
Northern Shrike
Modern barn
The fun times are over
One of my favourite barns
Handsome - Norwegian Fjord Horse?
Here comes the snow
In search of an owl - with permission
Barn with the fallen cupola
Common Redpoll
On a Christmas Bird Count, -23C
A most welcome find
Old barns in winter
Winter walking
Nanton Christmas Bird Count
A well looked after barn
Sunrise colour over the mountain peaks
Christmas star
Following the fenceline
Old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
One spectacular fall day
Clematis after the rain
01 Red-winged Blackbird - female or juvenile
02 Two young Moose
The beauty of fall
McDougall Memorial United Church
A bright splash of blue in August
Swainson's Hawk on an early morning hunt
Mt Lorette Ponds, Kananaskis
Nest-building Dad
Eastern Kingbird
A well-decorated fence
Collecting food for her babies
Bright and cheery in its old age
This old house
My first Bald Eagle on a fence post
Beautiful wings of a female Mountain Bluebird
Female Bobolink / Dolichonyx oryzivorus
Such good parents
I think he caught a beautiful Tiger Moth : )
Along a country back road
Female Mountain Bluebird / Sialia currucoides
Entrance to the Ellis Bird Farm
The old barn at the Ellis Bird Farm
01 Spic and span
McDougall Memorial United Church
Dandelions - of course : )
Wilson's Snipe, seen from afar
Still standing
Yellow-headed Blackbirds in every direction
Mountain Bluebird
A white barn from yesterday
Mountain Bluebirds have no blue pigment
A sky filled with clouds
Just a splash of colour
03 Short-eared Owl / Asio flammeus
Natural beauty
A snack for his babies
And they call this winter (in Alberta)?
A cluster of red barns
Little church in the valley
A view through the bushes
Narrow strip of light
Four more months to wait
Old barn with a different style
A friendly greeting
'Superman, where are you now?'
Time for an old barn again
Taking the quieter road
Short-eared Owl
A fence without an owl
The best colour to see in winter
Home of the Snowshoe Hare
A winter day in southern Alberta
Fenced in
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Snow turns something ordinary into beautiful
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.
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.
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