With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the next 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day yesterday, 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. Looks like we could be getting around 20 cm of snow tomorrow, badly timed for one of our out-of-city Christmas Bird Counts. Yesterday was rather chilly, with a cold wind. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across.
Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SE of Calgary nature wildlife animal deer Mule Deer Odocoileus hemionus buck male one of two bucks antlers side view resting lying down next to grain silo grass snow outdoor fall autumn 17 December 2017 FZ200 FZ200#4 P1270699 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the next 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day yesterday, 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. Looks like we could be getting around 20 cm of snow tomorrow, badly timed for one of our out-of-city Christmas Bird Counts. Yesterday was rather chilly, with a cold wind. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across.
Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SE of Calgary Saskatoon Farm nature wildlife ornithology avian bird House Sparrow Passer domesticus female side view close-up perched railing wooden indoor greenhouse fall autumn 17 December 2017 FZ1000 P2550181 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the next 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day yesterday, 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. Looks like we could be getting around 20 cm of snow tomorrow, badly timed for one of our out-of-city Christmas Bird Counts. Yesterday was rather chilly, with a cold wind. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across.
Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SE of Calgary scenery landscape building structure shed barn old weathered abandoned wooden rural rural decay rural scene silo metal side by side field stubble snow mountains sky clouds outdoor fall autumn 17 December 2017 FZ200 FZ200#4 P1270675 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the following 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day on 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across. Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SE of Calgary scenery landscape nature field stubble mountain cloud sky Chinook Arch building storage silo barn quonset farm outdoor fall autumn 17 December 2017 FZ200 FZ200#4 P1270691 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved

With a lot of snow forecast for 8 of the following 10 days, I feel very lucky that my daughter and I had such a beautiful day on 17 December 2017, for our Christmas get-together. Along with the snow will come much colder temperatures, too, unfortunately. It was such weird weather, as the colour of the sunrise sky lasted all day, till we left just before sunset. A gorgeous Chinook Arch crossed the sky, staying the whole day. Some of the fields were bare, and others had a light dusting of snow on them.

The day started with breakfast at the Saskatoon Farm - always enjoyable. They do close from the end of the day on 23 December and open again in the morning of 17 January. A well-earned break for everyone who works there. As always, we walked around the grounds to look for things to photograph and, as usual, we were in luck - dead Sunflowers, cats, dogs, even a little House Sparrow that was inside one of the greenhouses.

From there, we continued south to the area east of High River and drove some of the usual back roads; ones that I had driven just four days earlier. Of course, we were hoping that we might find a Snowy Owl, though I knew not to get our hopes up. Before too long, my daughter spotted our first Snowy Owl of the season - the tiniest speck of white that I could barely see with the naked eye, but it was a Snowy and that was all that mattered. Later in the day, she somehow spotted a second one; again, the tiniest speck perched on a very distant fence post.

A few minutes before this second sighting, my daughter spotted two handsome Mule Deer bucks - looked like father and son - lying down next to a metal grain silo, near the edge of the road. They stayed there for a while, which was surprising, as males tend to be far more skittish. Eventually, they stood up and walked off into the field.

Of course, we couldn't resist taking shots of any old barns, sheds and houses that we came across. Altogether, a great day that was much enjoyed. Thank you so much, Rachel, for spending the day with me, and doing something that we both love! These are my absolute favourite days in the year.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SE of Calgary Saskatoon Farm animal domesticated cat Tabby farm farm cat portrait close-up face front view outdoor fall autumn 17 December 2017 FZ1000 P2550152 Panasonic Lumix annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2017 © All Rights Reserved

© All Rights Reserved