There are still a few thunderstorms rolling through Alberta in the evenings (created by the heat of the day) but frustratingly they remain distant and the spectacular light shows are for the most part, just out of reach of the lens. The only advantage to this distance is that on occasion you can get a shot of the lightning above, below and behind the storm all at the same time. This 20 second exposure caught some activity with 2 clear 'bolts' below and 2 huge flares above and behind the cloud with the city of Cochrane providing scale in the foreground. Click image for larger version.
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I've not been to Lillian Lake since September 2012 so when Sarah and I were looking for a nice hike this afternoon I thought, what better. The trail is heavily forested and the sun was hammering down so it might be nice to have some shade, however, it's a double edged sword. The trees prevented any breeze reaching us as we ascended and it was a hot slog for 13.5 km (round trip) with 599m of ascent.
We still had a great day and the heat made dipping our toes in the freezing water of the lake even better. There's no full write up of the day as I have already done one back in 2012 (you can see that here) But there is a captioned gallery below the main shot of Sarah on one of the few open sections of the ascent trail. When I hiked to Bryant Lake last month I saw a small ridge that looked like it would provide some nice views along the edge of the rockies, since then the thunderstorms have kept me away...until now. I finally got to go back there and check out that view, and it was incredible. Below is a small gallery from the day or you can click here for the full report and photos.
After 3 weeks of almost constant thunderstorms with intense lightning displays we finally got a day with just few showers and I managed to get out to the hills again (post to follow tomorrow) When I got home there was another storm passing by over the mountains to the west and after watching where the lightning was hitting I set up a telephoto lens and shot a 30 second exposure to get a number of strikes in one shot as the sun set behind the mountains.
Another day of thunderstorms kept us indoors watching the birds coming and going from the new feeder. I'm really happy with the results from the feeder. It's only been in 3 weeks and the birds are now all over it every day. There are lots of young birds around which are still being fed by their parents as the main image of a female Chipping Sparrow feeding her young shows. The gallery is a small collection of todays visitors which kept us entertained between thunderstorms.
There are plenty of birds frequenting the feeder we made a few weeks ago (and a cheeky squirrel too). They are all very skittish and fly away at the slightest movement but this male Red Breasted Nuthatch hung around today so Sarah and I could watch as he took seeds from the feeder, then stuffed them into cracks in the dead tree stump for a later date. Hopefully this will be the first of many bird feeder shots to come. I think late autumn and winter may prove to be the best times as there is plenty of food around right now. Though I'm not grabbing the shots we are really enjoying watching them come and go outside the dining room window.
Last night began with another spectacular sunset but moved on late in the evening to a huge supercell that drifted past just to the north of the city. Lightning illuminated the cloud constantly and it hung in the area for almost 2 hours before moving off to the east. All of the lightning remained inside the cloud (from our position) so there are no forks to be seen but the illuminated cloud itself was worth shooting. The scale of the display was incredible and Sarah and I stood on the balcony watching for well over an hour. I've included a 'real time' video of the cell below and as you can see from the speed of the cars on the roads it is not speeded up at all, there just really is that much lightning activity. Canada Day is here again and this year we returned to Calgary so we could enjoy the festivities there before visiting our friends in the city. As always seems to be the case on Canada Day the sun was out in force and we sought out the shade wherever possible. There was plenty going on in all areas of the downtown core and we enjoyed walking through them all before heading to friends for the afternoon. Below is a captioned gallery from our wanderings. The main shot is on Stephen Avenue from the shade of the hanging baskets there.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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