Tulips

These bought Tulips are such a delicate colour - I really have got my money's worth out of the various flowers I have bought recently. Taken SO many photos of them! "Yes, we know", I hear you all saying, LOL!

A tightly closed Tulip growing amongst a few trees and bushes at Reader Rock Garden fairly recently.

Bought recently from Safeway, these very small Tulips were quite perfect.

A little patch of gorgeous orange/red Tulips growing inside the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo, on February 17th. The staff at the Zoo do such an amazing job of creating seasonal flora displays inside this large room, which is where the butterflies will be flying in the not too distant future.

The gorgeous petals of this tulip make me think of a dancer's twirling skirt. Seen and enjoyed at the Reader Rock Garden. Roll on spring!

A rather fine orange Tulip growing at the Reader Rock Garden recently. Have been out all day today, doing the annual May Species Count in the Priddis area (south west of Calgary). We noted every bird, animal and plant species we found. Unlike the May Species Count we performed yesterday, in Fish Creek Park, today's search was almost all by car. We saw some really nice birds, including a Sora (usually I only hear these), Evening Grosbeaks, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a pair of brilliant orange Baltimore Orioles, lots of Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend Solitaires and, towards the end of the day, a Great Gray Owl flew high over the road, taking supper back to its nest high up on a forested hillside. Many other species were seen, too, of course, and a total of 73 species of bird were recorded.

A row of beautiful tulips caught my eye recently in a friend's garden. They were growing at the top of a slight embankment, which meant, for one thing, that I didn't need to kneel or lie on my side to get this shot, LOL. I think I was looking into the sun, but it still worked out OK. Talking of knees, mine are in agony this evening, after a wonderful hike on the border of Kananaskis country, west of Longview. I did far too much kneeling on small rocks in order to get photos of plants, which I am not supposed to do, but ... Thanks, David, for the new-for-me plants today - Scorpionweed and Balsamroot - and for showing us this amazing area that you knew about! What an absolute treat!! LOL, I'm posting late today, because I fell asleep in front of the TV for a couple of hours after all that exercise and fresh air.

Still photographing Tulips, LOL! I seem to see purple ones less frequently than the red, yellow and orange ones. Thought my fridge would make a change of background from all the black backgrounds I use.

After my volunteer shift on Wednesday afternoon, I made a last-minute decision to call in at the Reader Rock Garden. Managed to get a few photos, despite it being so windy. Another cool, heavily overcast day here. As the day progresses, I know I am going to find it more and more difficult to remember what day and time it is. I stayed up all last night, as it was the annual Dawn Chorus at 3:30 a.m. this morning, in Weaselhead. We were so lucky that it stayed dry most of the time, with just a few raindrops and a few flashes of lightning. Haven't yet heard how many species we saw/heard, but the number of species and actual birds was way down. I think we must be insane to travel from different parts of the city at this unearthly hour (I left home around 2:45 a.m.), but it's quite fascinating to witness the start of a brand new day for our feathered friends.