In order of Interestingness, Flickr

Another view of the Famous Five, LOL! Lots of photographers drive to this area to see this row of five granaries. At this time of year, when the Canola fields have turned golden, the view is even more spectacular. This photo was taken back on 27th July. Today, I am home, sitting at my computer wearing socks, sweatpants and a sweater. Last night, I needed sweatpants, socks and two duvets - and this is SUMMER, LOL??? Almost forgotten what the sun looks and feels like, ha, ha.

I am so thankful that I got this photo through glass and not out in the wild, ha! So far, I've never come across a Cougar while out on a walk or hike. Would prefer to come across a bear than one of these big cats, anyday. Taken at the Calgary Zoo on 8 September 2012, a day of very harsh sunlight - most of my photos from that day did not come out. Thinking of the victims of 9/11 and their families today. A day people will never forget.

I have always loved Lotus seedpods, but only ever saw the dark brown, dried ones that you sometimes see in flower arrangements. The one in my photo belongs to an amazing Sacred Lotus that is growing at the Calgary Zoo (not in bloom now).

This is a cropped version of a previous photo, showing a beautiful Coyote immediately after it had eaten some kind of small rodent. The highest position for this photo was #27 on 30th October 2006.

One of the highlights of a walk this morning was this tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. It is the size of a popcan and is rare to uncommon year-round in Alberta. It was perched in a tree with a million small branches (of course!), so no uncluttered photos. Three of us witnessed something that I hadn't seen before - twice when a Chickadee was heard nearby, the owl compressed its round, fluffy body and it became long and slender and nowhere near as cute. Facial details also changed completely, as can be seen in my next photo. White eyebrows appeared and even small ear-tufts. We were also very lucky to see an American Three-toed Woodpecker in the same park.

This is one of the two Northern Hawk Owls that a friend and I saw on Monday, N of Cochrane (i.e. NW of Calgary). I happened to catch it having a good stretch, very high up in a tall tree. I did remove a thin branch that cut across the tail, as I just found it extremely distracting and annoying. Yes, I admit it, I altered an image, LOL! Then, as if the thrill of Monday wasn't enough, I was invited by another friend to go back to the very same area this afternoon!! The sky was as blue as can be (just like on Monday) and we found THREE of these owls in the area. Unbelievable! The icing on the cake was yet to come, as we soon found out. A few moments later, on our way out of the area, there was a female Moose in a wooded field. To these two friends who enabled me to get out of the city (where I won't drive for the most part) and see these incredible sights - thank you SO much!

I spent about an hour or an hour and a half yesterday just watching this family of Ground Squirrels. There was no sign of my Great Horned Owl family in their grove of trees - more roadworks going on just a few feet away from their trees, which may have had some effect. So, my camera turned to these furry little creatures. This one was in the middle of making its tiny screeching sound and I found its expression rather amusing! Actually, I burst out laughing when I saw the photo on my computer!!!

LOL, I have taken so many photos of tiny Cladonia lichen and always wondered if I would EVER get a photo that was sharp enough for my liking. I think this macro shot is probably the best one so far : ) Can't remember exactly, but the Cladonia were probably around half an inch tall. Growing amongst the mosses at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on 12th October, doing their job of disintegrating the fallen log they were growing on. How I love the miniature world that surrounds us! You know, the world that most people never, ever see. I always used to call these Cladonia Lichens little green Golf Tees. Then I saw on someone's photostream the name "Shrek Ears". Wish so much that I could remember who gave this name (then I could give credit where credit is due). I LOVE that name!!! Also, Maxine below described them as little green angel horns - and I love that name, too. Thanks, Maxine! How I miss being in the forest - I always get the wonderful feeling of being "home", that that is where I belong ; )

"The Hypsizygus tessellatus or shimeji is an edible mushroom native to East Asia. Buna shimeji is cultivated locally in Europe, North America and Australia and sold fresh in markets." Taken from Wikipedia. I think I'm right in saying that these are Bunapi shimeji. At least two years ago, I noticed a small container of these at Safeway, my grocery store, but felt they were a litttle too expensive to buy, just to photograph. Then on 15 April 2013, I noticed that Safeway had finally got another package of them lying on the shelf amongst all the more usual mushrooms. Not expensive at all, so here they are, in macro size, lol! Apologies to the first few people who commented on this image - they may have thought I'd walked for hours in some dark forest to find these! Needless to say, this is a macro photo. And, no, I didn't eat them : ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypsizygus_tessellatus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimeji