Meeting Creek Heifers

Meeting Creek Heifers

Feb 27, 2022 | Badlands, Farm Animals

I’ve driven through this area before on another trip to some place to the east, and my curiosity got the best of me to explore this area a bit more. So, one weekend I packed my camera and some water and travelled out to the village just on the edge of the cliffs of this beautiful hidden gem of natural beauty. 

I wasn’t familiar with the country (at the time), so I decided to go for a hike, walking down a gravel road until I arrived at the trail to where I wanted to go. Gates didn’t deter me from going in, so I went in. As I ventured in, I noticed this group of ~30 beef heifers that were grazing in the area, and they certainly noticed me! Knowing cattle, because I’ve grown up with them, I didn’t panic.

Instead, I walked calmly through them, talking to them quietly. Not once did any of those heifers give me trouble. As I kept walking, they stayed put, just watching me move along. I turned around and noticed the beautiful background, and just had to take a photo. Well, a few photos, of course! 

Taken on August 7, 2016, just northwest of Donalda, AB. I used my (surprise!) iPhone 6 to snap these photos. 

Mosquito on White Flower

Mosquito on White Flower

Feb 26, 2022 | Insects, Plants, Mosses & Lichens, Wildflowers, Wildlife

This mosquito couldn’t hide from me! Caught out near The Narrows of Buffalo Lake (north of Stettler, AB, Canada), this mosquito was sitting quietly on the cold, quiet rain-filled day of June 11, 2020. 

She (that much I’m sure of), was sitting on one of the Lily Family’s Star-flowered Solomon’s Seal (Maianthemum stellatum). These native forbs bloom from June to July, bearing little fragrance and turn into dark purple berries by August. Mosquitoes tend to be around during the same period, unfortunately!

Photos were taken with my Canon Rebel XS DSLR T6i camera with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

Flowering Baltic Rush

Flowering Baltic Rush

Feb 26, 2022 | Plants, Mosses & Lichens, Wildflowers

It’s amazing what you can catch on a macro lens!

Believe it or not, these are the “flowers” (or inflorescences) of Juncus balticus or Baltic rush. These are flowering around the first week of June and get pollinated via wind. The lens I used makes these inflorescences look larger than they actually are, which are only a few millimetres long.

Taken on June 11, 2021 with my Canon Rebel T6i with a Canon 100 mm f-2.8 Macro lens. 

This Bee Loves Crocuses

This Bee Loves Crocuses

Apr 22, 2021 | Insects, Wildflowers

On one weekend (April 25, 2020) I wandered down to Red Rock Coulee Natural Area (which is south-west of Medicine Hat, Alberta) with a friend to take in the first prairie blooms of the season. Lo and behold the prairie crocuses were being visited by a lovely honey bee who was too busy collecting pollen to bother noticing me putting a camera in its face.

Taken with a Canon Rebel T6i, Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Rolling Fescue Foothills

Rolling Fescue Foothills

Apr 22, 2021 | Foothills

The Waldron Ranch, south of Longview, Alberta, Canada, has quite the fantastic views. This is an endangered grassland that is normally over-taken by acreage ranchettes that prefer big expansive lawns of non-native grass over vast acres of Foothills Rough Fescue (Festuca hallii) and many other plant species that reside in the Foothills Fescue Grasslands of Alberta, and which are now protected thanks to a conservation easement put in place on several thousand acres that is the Waldron in the Porcupine Hills.

Taken on August 21, 2016, with my old Canon Rebel XS DSLR, with a Canon EF 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 ISU USM wide-angle kit lens.