Kananaskis, through the windshield
Day 8, bird blind, Santa Ana National Wildlife Ref…
The splendour of Kananaskis - Storm Mountain
Gravel and dust - a favourite road
Storm clouds moving in
Storm clouds in the direction of home
Old, red barn
The yellow has bloomed!
Badlands near Drumheller on a hazy day
Still standing, tall and proud
Two old churches in an almost-ghost-town
Hoodoos everywhere
Very old grain elevator in the Badlands valley
Little old Catholic church in the Badlands
The remaining three
Storm over Canola
Light over the Canola fields
Old silo, south of the city
Bar U Ranch
Fall colour in Kananaskis
Kananaskis on a mixed-weather day
September snow in Kananaskis
Late September in Kananaskis, 2019
A favourite view in Kananaskis
Wedge Pond, Kananaskis, Alberta
Buller Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond
Beautiful Alberta - prairie, foothills and mountai…
Kananaskis 'winter'
Wedge Pond in fading fall colours
Kananaskis
Wedge Pond, Kananaskis
Sheep River Provincial Park
Opal Range erosion in Kananaskis
Spectacular Kananaskis valley
Another drive-by shot in Kananaskis
Day 12, SW of Port-au-Persil, Quebec
The beauty of hoar frost
Old red barn on a foggy day
Hoar frost tree and vanishing fields
Red barn through the fog
Disappearing into nothingness
Day 6, part of Tadoussac, seen from up on the clif…
Day 6, Hotel Tadoussac, Quebec
Beauty of winter (well, late fall)
A view from Chain Lakes
On the way to Chain Lakes
Rural decay down south
Into the sun at Pine Coulee Reservoir
Clouds over Chain Lakes
Two of my favourite things
Clouds over Chain Lakes
Tundra Swans in flight
Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail
Harvest time
Early fall, looking (and feeling) like winter
Heading into the mountains
Fall colours near the Highwood River
Our majestic mountains
Photo-bombed by Blackbirds
On a cold summer day with mist and drizzle
Yesterday's Chinook Arch
Harvest time
Beginning to look like fall
Smokey Eagle Lake
Impressive creature
Glorious Canola
Bow Lake on a cloudy day
Reflected peaks
Disappearing
Beautiful Peyto Lake
Friends at Bow Lake
Bow Lake
Bow Lake, Alberta
A favourite view, Waterton Lakes National Park
Tadoussac, Quebec, Canada
Remembering winter
Goodbye, winter - so glad you are gone!
They call this spring?
A rural "winter" scene
Old barn in spring snow
Standing up well
The challenges of being a birder
Evening mist in the rainforest
A memory of Waterton from before the fire
Ghost Reservoir
When the world turns white
Donkey guardians of the old schoolhouse
New birding blind in a local park
On the way to Canmore - seven Swans a-swimming :)
Winter beauty
Twice the beauty
Prairie life in winter
Caught in a mesocyclone
Rolling hills from the Whaleback
A scene in the Whaleback area
A beautiful day in Weaselhead
With more big storms to come
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Peace in the countryside
I think the very first Long-eared Owl that I ever saw was seen on 13 October 2006. SInce then, I have been very fortunate to have seen several other individuals (see my Album) - including yesterday.
Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary", so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Yesterday, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. Yesterday was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for tomorrow.
Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day.
So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset I am to have been told yesterday (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. They both know I have high ethics when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a local birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view, so out I got and caught up with them.
Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)!
Yesterday, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos.
Sorry for the rant, but I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get even more likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try?
Various people had been posting photos of a Long-eared Owl recently, but I had no idea where they were seeing it. Someone had posted a photo and labelled it "Calgary", so I had thought it must have been seen in one of our local city parks. Yesterday, I decided to go for a short drive and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Our deep freeze has lasted for more than four weeks, and I have been home for most of that time. Yesterday was a milder day, so I decided to make the most of it, especially with more snow forecast for tomorrow.
Imagine my surprise when a stranger told me just where it was, and my absolute horror when I came upon a huge crowd of photographers with their lenses raised! So how did they all know about this owl?? Apparently, Facebook has such a bad reputation for people trolling everyone's photostream there, finding out locations for all sorts of things (old barns included!). Then, of course, some people phone others, to ask or to tell. Most people were down in the ditch at the fenceline, so no doubt they were able to get stunning close shots, especially those with enormous lenses. My photos were taken from the road, which was twice as far away, with a point-and-shoot. I'm not out to try and get better photos than anyone else : ) As always, there is so much competition among photographers. I was also not out there all day, like various people always are, and often day after day after day.
So, after saying those things, perhaps you can imagine how extremely upset I am to have been told yesterday (when I arrived at the owl) by a couple of friends (both of whom are superb photographers) that my photograph had been taken, along with two other people in it, standing at the edge of a road earlier in February. These friends thought it was hilarious and I sure was teased a lot. They both know I have high ethics when it comes to photography. This photo was posted on Facebook on a local birding page, pointing out how dangerous it is for people to stand by the road. This thread turned into a string of comments about people harassing the owls, etc., etc., etc. Actually, the other two people in the photo are both seen taking photos (when I was told they already had taken thousands). There's me, camera not raised, looking disgusted that an owl had been flushed so that they could take flight images. The reason I was out of my vehicle was that these two people were out of theirs and racing down the road at top speed to get yet more shots. When I was sitting in my car, these photographers blocked my view, so out I got and caught up with them.
Sorry to rant, but it just upsets me so much that this photo was taken and posted on Facebook. The very last thing I would ever want is to be connected with bad ethics!! Of course, I must be such a bad person to actually stand by the road - ha, you should see all the dozens of people who do exactly the same (without being photgraphed)!
Yesterday, I took maybe 30 photos of the Long-eared Owl, and maybe a couple of dozen of a Short-eared Owl, almost every single one of the latter needing to be deleted, because they were all totally blurry, thanks to taking the photos from inside my car. You can be sure that most of the others went home with yet another memory card containing thousands of photos.
Sorry for the rant, but I am hoping that now I won't be stressing out over it quite as much, every second of the day! Ain't life fun? To the man who took my photo (as far as I know, I have never met him), how about taking a few photos of the crowds of people, especially those who were as close as they could get to the LEO. Or those who stress out the owls day after day after day, often from morning till evening! You might just get even more likes and comments on photos of those repeat "offenders". How about giving it a try?
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