How on earth can popping out for eggs turn into a photographic journey you ask? Quite simple really. You have a friend who lives in Airdrie (about 20 minutes via one scenic route), who picks up eggs from the Hutterite Colony for you. Then, because it’s +36C when you leave, and the A/C in the car is really lovely, you think ‘maybe I’ll just throw a camera in the car, and head the long way home’. There was also a heat haze in the cloudless sky, and sunset would be approaching. I remembered a pond with an amazing flock of swooping Franklin’s Gulls from the day before and thought it would be amazing with a slightly smoke hued sky behind them.
Well it certainly paid off! A road closure detoured me onto a side route I know well – and had been contemplating taking.
The sun was just starting to go down. Golden light danced across the fields. I’m pretty sure the officers at the road block initially wondered why I was stopping so soon. No. It wasn’t because I was lost! The header photo was taken there, along with this beauty!
And a Swainson’s Hawk posing majestically a few hundred feet further along the way.
Magical Misty Moments
It wasn’t until I rounded the next corner that the magic really began to happen. There was a field mist – the heat of the day and the cooling of the soil. I was fortunate to time the stop between detoured vehicles. All I could hear was birdsong and ‘cowsong’. Pretty sure that’s not a word, but their soft moos carried on the still air. Even the side not backlit by sun was gorgeous.
On Golden Pond
What I realized as I headed further up the road was the mist was only in that one spot. Had we not been detoured, I probably would have missed it! That took me over to scenes from ‘On Golden Pond’… My Franklin Gull’s were there en masse. And probably would have remained there had I not stumbled getting out of the car, the door slamming behind me, and scaring them all into flight. Insert the giant facepalm here! (It’s not the first time this has happened. I have a similar Bald Eagle story!) And yes, professional photographers get crap shots too! A few stuck around. The calves over the other side had lovely light and were rather cute. They were probably just inwardly laughing at my fail.
We Weren’t Quite Done Yet!
I turned towards home, but ‘The Beast’ had other ideas. She took one last turn down my favourite test drive route – great for s-bends. There’s a beautiful pond there with a few houses and usually a fair amount of water fowl. I know geese will often sit on a road to warm up, but I felt after the heat we’d had, they were closer to slow roasting when I came upon them. The babies are nearly as big as the parents now. Just a little bit fuzzier! Got the usual sass from Mother Goose as I drove slowly passed with my window down. She didn’t believe I wasn’t a threat, even though I calmly assured her she had nothing to fear LOL!
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All my images are available for purchase. These ones haven’t made it onto the Fine Art page of my website, but if you see one you like, please reach out.
All images in this post were taken with my Nikon P950.