Tonight, I have just added 10 extra photos, all taken on my short drive yesterday, 30 July 2018. I really wanted to get yesterday's captures posted so that I can move on to a different day. I am so far behind.

We have been under a heat warning recently, and yesterday's temperature got up to either 31C or 32C. It was just unbearable in my place and I needed (yet again) to get out for a short drive and be in the air-conditioning of my car. We have also been having rain on some days, which was desperately needed. As I headed out west yesterday, I could see that I was heading towards a grey sky and, sure enough, the rain started. Not the best sort of day for photos, but I managed to get a few to keep me happy. All of the roads were my usual roads, though the views from them all had smoke haze. I'm not sure which wildfires this smoke is coming from - down in the US, or British Columbia, or from fires in our own province? I haven't noticed a smokey smell, though. Last summer, 2017, was dreadful for non-stop smoke and heat.

This female Mule Deer was on the far bank of a large pond and I didn't see her at first. A short while earlier, a beautiful buck crossed the gravel track in front of my parked car. I got out and tried to see where he had gone, but he had completely vanished. Maybe these two deer were a pair.

Along one of the gravel roads, I suddenly spotted two pairs of ears sticking up from a green field - a White-tailed doe and a youngster. The photo I posted this morning was the sharpest of the three or four photos I grabbed before they took off at high speed. Unfortunately, it only shows the mother.

A young Magpie was one of several in a family along one of the backroads. Love its fluffy feathers. It only rested on a fence post for a few seconds. Other than a few of the usual birds, such as Brewer's Blackbirds, Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Kingbirds, the only sighting that was different was a Wilson's Snipe that was at the far water's edge of a large pond. Too far for even remotely decent photos, but it made a change to see a Snipe on the ground and not on a fence post.

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We have been under a heat warning recently, and yesterday's temperature got up to either 31C or 32C. It was just unbearable in my place and I needed to get out for a short drive and be in the air-conditioning of my car. We have also been having rain on some days, which was desperately needed. As I headed out west yesterday, I could see that I was heading towards a grey sky and, sure enough, the rain started. Not the best sort of day for photos, but I managed to get a few to keep me happy. All of the roads were my usual roads, though the views from them all had smoke haze. I'm not sure which wildfires this smoke is coming from - down in the US, or British Columbia, or from fires in our own province? I haven't noticed a smokey smell, though. Last summer, 2017, was dreadful for smoke and heat.

Along one of the gravel roads, I suddenly spotted two pairs of ears sticking up from a green field - a White-tailed doe and a youngster. This was the sharpest of the three or four photos I grabbed before they took off at high speed. Unfortunately, it only shows the mother.

A young Magpie was one of several in a family along one of the backroads. Love its fluffy feathers. It only rested on a fence post for a few seconds. Other than a few of the usual birds, such as Brewer's Blackbirds, Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Kingbirds, the only bird that was different was a Wilson's Snipe that was at the far water's edge of a large pond. Too far for even remotely decent photos, but it made a change to see a Snipe on the ground and not on a fence post.

© All Rights Reserved

We have been under a heat warning recently, and yesterday's temperature got up to either 31C or 32C. It was just unbearable in my place and I needed to get out for a short drive and be in the air-conditioning of my car. We have also been having rain on some days, which was desperately needed. As I headed out west yesterday, I could see that I was heading towards a grey sky and, sure enough, the rain started. Not the best sort of day for photos, but I managed to get a few to keep me happy. All of the roads were my usual roads, though the views from them all had smoke haze. I'm not sure which wildfires this smoke is coming from - down in the US, or British Columbia, or from fires in our own province? I haven't noticed a smokey smell, though. Last summer, 2017, was dreadful for non-stop smoke and heat.

I love Alfalfa flowers, as not only can a flower cluster be white, yellow, purple and so on, but some individual clusters can be a mix of different colours.

“Alfalfa, a plant of the pea family grown primarily for forage, especially as hay. It is one of the most useful and widely grown hay crops in the world.

Because of its high protein content, alfalfa is used as a food for almost all farm animals as hay, as silage, or as a temporary pasture crop. Because of its nitrogen-fixing properties, it is used in crop rotation to improve soil for other crops. When planted in combination with grasses, it helps prevent soil erosion. Alfalfa is also grown commercially for seed in arid or semiarid regions. Dehydrated alfalfa is ground into meal and used in feeding poultry and livestock. Indirectly, alfalfa is a source of honey, because bees gather substantial quantities of nectar from alfalfa flowers.”

www.alfalfaseedab.com/

Along one of the gravel roads, I suddenly spotted two pairs of ears sticking up from a green field - a White-tailed doe and a youngster. The next photo was the sharpest of the three or four photos I grabbed before they took off at high speed. Unfortunately, it only shows the mother.

A young Magpie was one of several in a family along one of the backroads. Love its fluffy feathers. It only rested on a fence post for a few seconds. Other than a few of the usual birds, such as Brewer's Blackbirds, Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Kingbirds, the only bird that was different was a Wilson's Snipe that was at the far water's edge of a large pond. Too far for even remotely decent photos, but it made a change to see a Snipe on the ground and not on a fence post.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SW of Calgary nature flora plant flower flowers wild wildflower Alfalfa Medicago sativa Fabaceae Pea family forage crop flower head macro close-up bokeh outdoor summer 30 July 2018 Nikon P900 Nikon P900 annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2018 © All Rights Reserved UBC Botany Photo of the Day 20 August 2018

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