Taken on May 4, 2016, near Seven Persons, Alberta, Canada with my old Canon Rebel XS DSLR, Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS USM telephoto lens attached.
J.J Collett Natural Area, south of Ponoka, Alberta, is in the Aspen Parkland area. These Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) are part of a “climax” plant community, before going into White Spruce (Picea glauca). These deciduous trees form as a colony of daughter clones of the parent tree, making for a colony of genetically identical trees that can be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.
Taken on April 30, 2017, with my old Canon Rebel XS DSLR plus Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens.
The prairies are a very important habitat for nesting birds, including shorebirds such as this Long-billed Curlew, which is an endangered species.
While myself and a grad student were busy working in the field at the Rangeland Research Ranch near Brooks, Alberta, these birds were sure raising a little bit of a ruckus and worried about what we’d be doing to their little ones. Of course, the fieldwork we were doing was more to do with plants than these birds, but it was hard to ignore them. Especially when I had my Canon Rebel with a telephoto lens, and a dare to carefully get as close to them as I could without frightening them off.
Taken on the Mattheis Research Ranch (University of Alberta’s Rangeland Research Institute) near Brooks, AB, Canada on June 19, 2014, with my old Canon Rebel XS DSLR camera with a Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS USM telephoto lens.
Taken on Pyramid Lake near Jasper, AB, Canada on October 11, 2015, with my old Canon Rebel XS DSLR camera with a Canon EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM wide-angle kit lens.
What a beautiful day that was to be out on the prairie, looking at grass. Yes, that’s what we were doing, as part of a grazing school I attended. We ventured out on these landscapes to physically see just how much area a single cow needs to feed herself for one day; all to learn better grazing management practices.
The prairie is host to quite the abundance of life, though, more than just grass to support some cows. It’s a landscape we humans need as well…
Taken near Gem, AB, Canada on June 12, 2017, with my iPhone 6 camera (4.15 mm f/2.2)