The ground was covered in wet leaves on a recent walk in South Glenmore Park. However, this was the leaf that caught my eye : )

This actually made it to Front Page (interestingness#5) on 28th October 2009 - thanks so much, EVERYONE! I never bother with this, but after a few people left comments here to let me know, I just had to check the screen shots they very kindly left for me! Much appreciated.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta South Glenmore Park nature botany leaf Aspen water water droplets veins detail on black glove outdoors beauty beautiful beauty in nature autumn fall seasons macro close-up image photograph digital square square crop color image simple simplicity Panasonic DMC-FZ28 FZ28 Lumix point-and-shoot P1290521 FZ28 annkelliott beautiful_expression Feels Good NaturesFinest Explore interestingness#5 explore2009October28 front page FRONT PAGE - yay! Front Page, 28th October 2009 © Anne Elliott 2009 © All Rights Reserved #GreatNature

© All Rights Reserved

This teeny flower is so small that I can never see, with the naked eye, whether an indiividual flower still has its petals. It's hard enough to notice one of these tiny, thread-like plants as it is. It was growing in an undulating area of such deep, soft moss that's difficult to walk on and especially to kneel down on and then get up again, ha. Photographed at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park yesterday, 30 June 2013, when I went for a drive along the backroads SW of Calgary and called in at Brown-Lowery just briefly.

This native plant belongs to the Saxifrage family, Saxifragaceae. It is also called Bare-stemmed Mitrewort, Bishop's Cap, Common Mitrewort, Miterwort, and Northern Bishop's Cap. There are 5-8 tiny flowers on the upper half of the slender, flowering stems, 7-20cm high. Each exquisite flower has 5 greenish-yellow or white, snow-flake design petals, with ten stamens, 6mm (just under quarter of an inch) across. The seed capsules, 2 - 3 mm long, open widely into shallow cups containing shiny, black seeds that ripen in late-summer.

www.borealforest.org/herbs/herb24.htm

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tags:   Alberta Canada Brown-Lowery Provincial Park nature flora flower flowers wildflower Naked Mitrewort Mitella nuda Bare-stemmed Mitrewort Bishop's Cap Common Mitrewort Miterwort Northern Bishop's Cap native tiny flowers less than quarter of an inch exquisite macro supermacro #GreatNature

© All Rights Reserved

An exciting moment two days ago, when I was with a couple of friends at the Perrenoud Wildlife Habitat Area, north west of the city. I had just been trying to photograph a teeny, orange slime mold - the kind that looks like tiny, shiny, orange "balls" on thin, white stalks. I bent over the log a couple of inches further and to my amazement, saw the tiniest splashes of brilliant turquoise - a totally unnatural looking colour in the forest : ). So small, but a macro shot gives you an idea of my find, even though it's far from sharp. Not sure if this is Chlorociboria aeruginascens / Blue Stain or something else. Microscopic examination is required in order to tell the difference. Doug, I know you said the name when we were there, but I can never remember any names by the time I get home. Help!

www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorociboria_aeruginascens.html

Tags:   Alberta Canada southern Alberta Perrenoud Wildlife Habitat Area north west of Calgary nature fungus fungi turquoise cups tiny rotting log macro close-up Raynox DCR-250 horizontal Panasonic DMC-FZ35 DMC-FZ35 FZ35 Lumix point-and-shoot P1190426 FZ35 annkelliott Chlorociboria aeruginascens Blue Stain © Anne Elliott 2010 © All Rights Reserved #GreatNature

© All Rights Reserved

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, I met friends Cathy and Terry NW of Calgary and we spent a great day in sunshine and reasonable warmth. When I opened my blinds this morning, I discovered that it was snowing heavily! While a May snow storm isn't unusual here, I was hoping that our April snowstorm was simply a May snow storm that had arrived too early : ) Yeah, right! Despite getting up pretty early yesterday morning, to give a better chance for seeing a Great Gray Owl, none were to be seen. However, the highlight of the day was seeing this handsome, delightfully blue Mountain Bluebird and his mate. I've seen a few of these birds so far this spring, but only from a long distance. This gorgeous pair gave us lots of photo opportunities, though the bright sunlight tended to blow out the paler chest on quite a few of my images, unfortunately. Still plenty of others, though, that are without the blinding brightness. For those who are following the Northern Hawk Owls, all is well with them, too. When we got back to the road after seeing them, there were two small birds on the gravel behind someone's truck. Not sure yet what they were - Crossbills perhaps or Grosbeaks? The brighter one was quite orange. I drove my own vehicle yesterday and followed Cathy and Terry in theirs. I thought that getting away from the computer would give my arms a rest from mouse-clicking - by the time I got home after many hours of driving, my arms were more painful than ever. Gripping the steering wheel while trying to avoid the worst of the potholes didn't help, either, I suspect : ) Totally worth it, though, as we had such a good day. Thanks, Cathy and Terry, for your always enjoyable company!

In Bluebirds, the blue colour is produced by the structure of the feather - there is no blue pigment. "Tiny air pockets in the barbs of feathers can scatter incoming light, resulting in a specific, non-iridescent color. Blue colors in feathers are almost always produced in this manner. Examples include the blue feathers of Bluebirds, Indigo Buntings, Blue Jay's and Steller's Jays."

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id

www.jstor.org/discover/pgs/index?id=10.2307/4077277&i...

Tags:   Alberta Canada southern Alberta NW of Calgary nature ornithology avian bird birds Bluebird Mountain Bluebird Sialia currucoides Explore interestingness#120 explore2012May6 #GreatNature

© All Rights Reserved

Yesterday afternoon, 27 August 2013, several of us went to Pearce Estates, along the Bow River in Calgary. This was the first time I had seen any of the devastation along the Bow, caused by the Alberta Flood of the Century in June. Masses of gravel and silt left behind and dried leaves and grasses plastered along fences, showing how high the water had reached at the peak of the flood - it would have been over our heads! One of the things that I was so happy to see there, on a tall grass species that no one has been able to identify the last few years, was a pale orange Ladybug (paler than shown in my image, but it's probably still a Seven-spotted Ladybug). There were also some Ladybird larvae, which are such strange looking things, as you can see in my macro photo. I do have a better photo of the larva on its own, which I will eventually post, if I remember. Not sure I'd ever seen one actually moving before.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Pearce Estates nature insect Ladybug Seven-spotted Ladybug orange paler than usual larva Ladybug larva grass macro close-up beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ200 annkelliott Anne Elliott Explore interestingness#453 explore2013August29 #GreatNature

© All Rights Reserved