Backyard wildlife

Ok, so it might be stretching things a little to call this strictly backyard wildlife...

Mary MacKenzie recently sent me these wonderful photos which were taken in June and October at the back of their quarter section.


If you have photos taken in or around Red Deer that you would like to share on our blog, e-mail them to me at interpreter at waskasoopark.ca. Remember to include your name and the approximate date and location the pictures were taken so that I can properly credit you.

Night sky over Red Deer

Admittedly this isn't the most spectacular night photography ever seen, but it's not bad for an autofocus camera snapshot from an apartment balcony. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you should see a bright "star" and the crescent moon. The star is actually the planet Venus, and it can be easily seen in the early evening sky if you look towards the south.

The photo was taken on December 30th at about 5:45 pm. Right now the moon is waxing (heading towards full moon on the 11th) and is more to the left of Venus, but if you look to the south not long after it gets dark in the evening, they should still both be pretty easy to identify.