Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Brooks area

A distant photo (unfortunately) of Pronghorns, near Brooks, Alberta, east of Calgary. I had seen maybe two very distant ones a couple of years ago, in southern Alberta, but this was the first time I had really "seen" one. I fail to understand how it is allowed to hunt and kill these magnificent animals! "The Pronghorn belongs in a Family (Antilocapridae) all by itself and has no other close, living relatives; it is not related at all to the "antelopes" of Africa. Pronghorns in Alberta are at the extreme northern limit of their range in North America, found in wide, flat, open areas where they can see their enemies from a long way off."

I was out today with a couple of friends, searching for the Snowy Owls that had been reported east of the city, and out on the prairie. Just over two hours' drive to reach the area where 28 Snowy Owls had recently been seen within a one-mile stretch. After driving many side roads, we finally saw up to seven of these owls. A bit hard to count, as they do move around and we weren't sure if we counted any of them twice. Only the first owl we saw actually sat on a fence post long enough to get a shot. The photo above is dreadful quality, but it's a miracle that I caught it at all. Unfortunately, we were under an enormous Chinook bank of cloud all day, so the light was pretty useless for my camera. Thought I'd still post this image in case I don't get to see any more Snowy Owls this winter : ). Always breath-taking to see these magnificent birds in the wild instead of at the Zoo!

These Snowy Owls are such amazing birds. This was one of several that three of us saw yesterday, out east of the city in the Brooks area. We were under a Chinook cloud bank the whole day, so the light was really bad. This was the first owl we found and it turned out to be the only semi-co-operative one of the bunch. The rest flew as soon as the driver starting reversing the car back to the fence post that we had passed. Despite the lack of much in the way of photo opportunties, it was a thrill to see these magnificent raptors! There have been an unusually high number of Snowy Owls seen in perhaps the last couple of weeks. The highest number reported by one person was 28, seen within a mile area.