On 25 January 2014, I spent an amazing day with friends Cathy and Terry, SE of Calgary. The crazy weather soared to a balmy 11C, though a lot of the day was colder, with a strong wind! Along one of the roads, we came across these abandoned old buildings. Much as I love seeing and photographing birds, I have always loved old barns and homesteads, too. They have so much charm and character and always make me wonder who used to live in them and why they left. Unfortunately, there are people who enter such places, out of curiosity or to photograph the insides, and sometimes to steal various old items. These buildings always stand on land that is owned by someone, so removing any object is stealing. Also, of course, many of the crumbling buildings are unsafe. Sometimes, a No Trespassing sign is in view. My friends and I always stay on the road and photograph from a distance - thank goodness for zoom. Much as I would love to see the inside of some of these fascinating places, I've only ever been inside one, and that was on a botany day trip a few years ago, where we were shown around the farm buildings by the owner of the land.

We were lucky enough to see 16 owls that day! 8 Snowy Owls and 8 Great Horned Owls. The closest Snowy Owl was seen when it was early evening and the light had gone, and my photos are all blurry. The other owls were little more than a tiny speck in the far, far distance, but I still managed to get some kind of shot of some of them, using 48x zoom plus cropping. Perhaps I should add that maybe 15 of the owls that were seen would never have been seen by less experienced birders (and I include myself in that category!). My friends have brilliant eyes when it comes to spotting owls! Just left me shaking my head each time they found one! I'm not too bad at finding owls, but not at that distance!