The twins' Mom

Yesterday, 17 August 2014, I joined another group of friends to go birding at Carburn Park. For me, the highlight of the four-hour stroll was seeing this beautiful female White-tailed Deer and just a very quick view of her twin fawns (complete with their spots). I had been in the same park the previous day with other friends and we had been very lucky to see this little family - we got a slightly better view of the young ones that day (see photo from 16 August in comment box below). Yesterday, Mom came out of the trees and into the tall grasses and I was able to get a few photos - most of them have nice sharp grasses in the foreground with a blurry Mom in the background : ( This doe was so thin, you could see her rib cage. There is plenty to eat, so I don't know why she is so skinny, though I'm sure her growing twins must keep her very busy. She tried to be brave enough to approach us, hoping for food of some kind, but was still some distance away.

One of the main purposes for the walk was to search for species of tiny Warblers - this is the time they are back in the city. A few species were found, though without binoculars, I couldn't really see them and definitely couldn't photograph them. As always, I turned my camera lens on to other things - such as the Cabbage White Butterfly and the Black Henbane seedpods in the next two images.

Interesting to see a news report yesterday (17 August) by Warren Crowchild that he had just seen a Grizzly Bear on the Tsuu T'ina Reserve, that backs on to Weaselhead. A number of years ago, I heard that there was a Grizzly den on their land. Unfortunately, more and more residential areas are being built on land that once belonged to these impressive bears. A few people have been seeing a Black Bear down in Weaselhead, too. Several years ago, I was walking there with a friend and we saw a Black Bear in the bushes, feeding on berries. Someone else had seen her with two cubs just a few days earlier. She just kept eating as we walked past her, but once our backs were turned, she let out an almighty roar - presumably to her two young ones. I'll never forget that "encounter"!