Yesterday, 14 July 2022, I found this Grizzly Bear family when there was no one else around and pulled over way, way down the road. All the cars afterwards overtook me and some were maybe 3-6 feet away. I did eventually pull forward a little bit, but people still passed me and went and parked in front of me, sometimes blocking my view. All about getting their close photos and not giving wildlife their space.

I had just been exploring one of my several favourite places in Kananaskis. Once back at my car, I took a few bites of a sandwich and happened to glance way down the road. Looked like there were Bighorn Sheep, but when I zoomed in on my camera to check, I discovered that it was a family of Grizzly Bears. Not wanting to invade their space, I took what photos I could from a great distance, before pulling forward a little. Not the best photos, though this one of two of the sub-adults worked out OK. So relieved that I had not encountered them on my short walk!

The main reason for my trip was simply to get out of my unbearably hot home! I had made a few drives closer to home recently, for the same reason, This time, I needed a change.

This time, I went to the mountains, hoping that I might see a few different things. Calling in at Highwood House, I was lucky to see a Hummingbird quickly visit the feeders. First time, it left too fast, but I managed a photo or two the second visit.

Partly because I left home much later than I had hoped, I didn't drive as far as I might have otherwise done. There are a few mountain peaks and ranges that I always love to see along the highway and always stop to take a few shots.

On the way back to the city, I called in at my 'usual' area closer to home, but I think most of the birds must have been sheltering from the hot sun. So many birds during this heat wave have their beaks open because of the heat. A pair of Mountain Bluebirds made my effort worthwhile.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SW of Calgary Kananaskis K-Country nature wildlife wild animal bear Grizzly Bear two sub-adult Ursus arctos horribilis family mother cubs play-fighting middle of the highway vehicle outdoor summer 14 July 2022 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott

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After waking up really late today, 30 January 2022, I turned on my computer and checked the weather forecast, The hope was that the forecast no longer said that we were in for more snow tonight and Monday and Tuesday. No such luck. When I read about the drifting snow, I knew that there was no way I would be driving the backroads in the next while. Getting ready in record time, I thought I would have just enough time to go and see if I could find a Snowy Owl and still be home before the light began to fade - can't do 'night' driving because my eyes can't deal with the glare of oncoming headlights.

Not a whole lot to see out there - but who needs 'a whole lot' when one is lucky enough to find two Snowy Owls? The only other birds I saw were a Merlin and a Magpie. The first Snowy was flushed from behind a bank of snow that had been cleared from the road. I was only driving very slowly, but didn't see the owl till it took flight and landed way, way out in a field. I would never have seen it if I hadn't seen it flying off into the distance. The second owl, seen in this photo, was perched on a power pole. Never an attractive perch, but I will happily take anything that has a Snowy sitting on top. Most of my photos were taken from way down the road, through the windshield. They looked OK in the viewfinder, but when I got home, they all needed to be deleted. Thank goodness, I stood outside my car for the last images, just in case. Even so, not the greatest photo quality, because of being highly zoomed, but again, I am happy to get anything.

So glad I made the decision to go out a second day in a row, which I tend to try and avoid. The wind picked up later in the afternoon, but it was a beautiful sunny day despite some darker clouds forming.

Tags:   Alberta Canada nature wildlife avian ornithology bird bird of prey owl Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus male shaking its feathers perched power pole front/side view sky outdoor winter 30 January 2022 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2022 © All Rights Reserved

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Monday, 21 February 2022: our temperature is -21°C (windchill -32°C) at 10:00 am. Sunrise is at 7:37 am, and sunset is at 6:03 pm. Overcast. Back to frigid weather again.

Still digging into my archive images and adding the description that I wrote under another photo taken on the same day. We had a few more inches of snow overnight and it's turned much colder, so I'm not sure when I will be out taking new photos again.

"On 19 August 2014, I was lucky enough to have the chance to try and photograph a couple of these absolutely adorable little creatures : ) After a while, I was beginning to despair of ever getting any decent shots at all. These tiny Pikas, also known as Rock Rabbits, hardly ever remain still and they are extremely fast! Imagine a mountain hillside covered in sharp, jagged rocks of all sizes and then try to picture how difficult it is to find in the viewfinder the single rock on which one of these Pikas might happen to sit for a second or two, lol! As time passed, I managed to take quite a few photos, though many needed to be deleted. Hope you don't get tired of seeing these little guys, but they are just so very cute. A couple of times, this Pika came bounding over the rocks near to where we were standing and just sat there, long enough to get a few very close shots. They are about 15 to 23 centimetres (5.9 to 9.1 in) in body length, so really are pretty small, especially when off in the distance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika

I found this excellent and amusing YouTube video, 3:30 minutes long, It is The American Pika in the BBC's Life of Mammals series.

youtu.be/Sifk9uphr2Q

The weather forecast was not good for that day, but we were so lucky that, apart from a few raindrops, the rain stayed away. The sun actually came out at two locations we stopped at for a short while. Our 18-hour day (from 6;00 a.m. till midnight!) started off with the thrill of seeing these Pikas and ended with a brief sighting of a black Wolf (could it be Skoki?) crossing the road ahead of us in the dark. It disappeared into the blackness, but shortly afterwards, we heard three (possibly four) separate Wolves howling way off in the distance. We just stood there, in total awe, listening to this amazing sound. The only wild Wolf I had ever seen before was when I was in Yellowstone National Park two years ago. Friends and I saw two Wolves feeding on a Bison carcass across a huge valley - so they were just distant specks, that became slightly larger specks when my camera was in full zoom, ha.

In between these two highlights, we saw several Deer, a small group of Mountain Sheep on the road, a tiny Chipmunk, a few Cedar Waxwings, Columbian Ground Squirrels, a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk that sat on a branch out in the open for a long time, and two tiny Bats that flew very close over our heads when it was getting dark. We also saw an adult Grouse (Spruce Grouse?) with two young ones.

Then, of course, there is the scenery! Blue sky to go with the splendour of the mountains would have been wonderful, but we had been having cold and gloomy weather for a while before this day out. Highway 40 and the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail both run through such spectacular scenery, so it was a real treat for me, especially as I won't drive to those areas myself."

Tags:   Alberta Canada Kananaskis K-Country Highway 40 nature wildlife animal mammal wild wild animal American Pika Pika Ochonta princeps Lagomorpha Ochotonidae Ochonta 6-9 inches long side view close-up rocks scree outdoor 19 August 2014 annkelliott Anne Elliott Panasonic DMC-FZ200 FZ200 Lumix

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Friday, 16 September 2022: just a quick note added to let you know that I'm out of commission at the moment, thanks to a trip and fall on my hairdresser's driveway after a haircut on Monday afternoon! Tripped over a crack/join in the concrete and fell flat on my face, grrr. Broke my nose, messed up my mouth/lips. hurt my knees, knuckles, and my right side is in agony with major swelling and bruising. My right arm (deltoid muscle) is usually in pain but now almost useless. Was at a Health Centre first - had to take a cab as my nose was bleeding, felt a bit nauseous and came out in a cold sweat. Was eventually taken by ambulance to the South Campus Hospital and thoroughly checked out, including a Cat-Scan and a string of X-rays on chest and right shoulder. Thank goodness, there was no bleeding seen in my brain! X-rays didn't seem to show any breaks, apparently. Returned home eventually after 18 hours. Well, at least I managed to get in about three drives between being ill with a raging tooth/jaw infection plus a very complicated root canal on the tooth after a course of antibiotics, that wasted a month, and this new accident, ha. Hope I can post a few photos, but I know all too well that mouse clicking kills my upper arms, so I will need a lot of self-discipline, lol. Can still look at everyone's photos, of course.

Back to posting a few more photos taken on 4 September 2022, when I took my daughter for a long drive south to the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre.

Normally, I would never be driving all the way south to Coaldale twice in one month, or even one year : ) However, when I first drove down there on 24 August 2022, I didn't think my daughter would be free to go with me in time before the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre closed for the season, till April 2023. So, I made a last minute decision to drive there anyway. The other day, my daughter told me that she was going to have a free day yesterday, 4 September 2022. I told her to let me know where she would like to go for the day and she reckoned we should go down to the Centre. I was so pleased about this, as she had never been there before and I was sure she would enjoy herself (despite the heat!).

We managed a fairly early start (which, for me, was a very early start!), leaving Calgary around 8:00 am. For the first time, we had a smoky day. A very quick stop at Frank Lake gave us a wide open view of the smoky sun surrounded by a bright orange sky, as well as a chance to look for any insects on the Maximillan Sunflowers.

Because of the long distance, plus my need to get back to the city before the light started to fade, our drive was pretty much limited to fast highway driving, apart from one gravel back road on the way south.

Most of the journey, one thing that stood out was that there were SO many hawks! I didn't see every single hawk, as I like to keep my eye on the road. She reckoned that there were at least 100 seen, with which I agree, some on fence posts, others perched on tall utility poles, and some flying high over the harvested fields. Never have I ever seen so many hawks in one day. It was crazy.

Once we got to the Centre, we of course saw yet more hawks. Plus various owl species and Bald Eagles at various stages of development. I was so glad that my daughter got to experience having a cute young Burrowing Owl (named Sage) standing on her arm, and then a juvenile Great Horned Owl. As usual, I took plenty of photos, which I then couldn't identify when I got home. My ID skills for raptors is not good!

This was such an enjoyable day, despite the heat and long distance. Just like my previous solo drive down south, it was just under 500 km. The rare outing with my daughter is my favourite way of spending a day!

Tags:   Alberta Canada S of Calgary near Lethbridge Coaldale Alberta Birds of Prey Centre rehabilitation bird bird of prey owl Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia owlet young baby close-up front/side view indoor cute summer 4 September 2022 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2022 © All Rights Reserved 53 million views 53,000,000 views 53 million Thank Yous!

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Back to posting another five images from my archives. As usual, I will add the description from under a previously posted photo taken on the same outing.

HAPPY SPRING, EVERYONE!

Sunday, 20 March 2022: our temperature was 0°C (windchill -7°C) at 1:00 pm. Sunrise was at 7:39 am, and sunset was at 7:49 pm. We had a tiny bit of snow last night/this morning.

"On 14 February 2019, I was so lucky. A friend phoned to see if I'd like to go with her for a quick drive east of the city. I hadn't been expecting to get out for a few days, as I had a cortisone injection in my left hip the previous day and one is supposed to rest for a few days. Another 10 days and I get a shot in the other hip. I wasn't going to drive anywhere, but being driven and no walking sounded just too nice to turn down. We also both knew that snow was in the forecast for the next two or three days.

We were very lucky with an owl sighting and this one flew to a fairly close fence post - and just stayed there. Looks like a bit of its most recent snack of Meadow Vole was still on the tip of its beak in some of my photos.

The temperature was a few degrees "less cold" than the previous 12 or so days. However, it was still SOOOO cold, so photos were taken with gloved hands. Two weeks of deep freeze has not been enjoyable, to say the least. This morning, 15 February, it is "only" -20C (windchill -25C) and snow fell overnight."

Tags:   Alberta Canada E of Calgary nature wildlife avian bird bird of prey owl Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus perched fence post front/side view field snow outdoor winter 14 February 2019 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2019 © All Rights Reserved

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