Yellow-bellied Marmot
Guardian of the path
Moose in the mountains
Agouti, Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad
Muskrat, SW Calgary
Agouti, Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad
The look that says: "Please feed me"
"Alan, Alan, Alan ...Steve, Steve!"
"They can't see me"
Beautiful Mule Deer family
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Beautiful blonde Black Bear
Bighorn Sheep, Waterton Lakes National Park
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
White-tailed Deer family
White-tailed Deer
Forever cute
My new neighbour?
Wild European Rabbit
Mule Deer doe
Licking salt off the road
Small and fast .... and adorable
Keeping watch over the herd
Waiting for the herd to descend
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel in a Pika's cave
Remember to stop and smell the .... wildflowers
On the way down
Pika, on a windy day
Freeze!
Disappearing Skunk - just for the record
Beautiful Mule Deer doe
Bighorn Sheep, mom and youngster
A Coyote's last look back
Bighorn Sheep on the slope
Learning from Mom
Sweet White-tailed doe
Licking salt from the road
She can't see me
Unexpected, and very welcome, Moose
Hungry Moose
Jackrabbit, seen in my car headlights
White-tailed Deer through the snow
Silky Anteater, Caroni Swamp, Trinidad
Agouti, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Young and innocent
A lucky Moose day
Nibbling on a tasty leaf
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Agouti, Trinidad
Bighorn Sheep mom and youngster
Red Fox (just for the record)
One of two Coyotes
Wild European Rabbit
Jackrabbit
Cinnamon Black Bear, Waterton Lakes National Park,…
The start of a great day
Black Bear seen through the bus window
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel munching on Yellow…
Black Bear seen from the bus
Jackie's squirrel - Red or Eastern Gray?
Columbian Ground Squirrel / Urocitellus columbianu…
Thirsty Bighorn Sheep
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Moose from the archives
A sweet encounter
Pika pose
Two's company
Curious Moose
Bighorn Sheep, number 18
Confused bunny
Love those little Pika feet
Muskrat ripples
Hungry little Chipmunk
A brief close encounter
Eye contact with a very distant Moose
02 Two young Moose
One of four Moose seen yesterday
It's that little guy (gal) again
Coyote on the hunt
Mid-squeak!
Light-coloured Pika
Bighorn Sheep on Plateau Mountain, 2012
Push!
Between a rock and a hard place
Quite a typical view
A brief moment of rest
Chipmunk with a yummy snack
Mom and her spotted twins
A brief moment's rest
Looking beautiful
A gathering of female Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn Sheep - she's a beauty
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
The cutest little furball
Unexpected closeness
Don't call me 'Gopher'
Now they can't see me
Hiding in the Canola field
They can't see me
Columbian Ground Squirrel collecting nest material
The reward for getting up early
The youngest bear cub I have ever seen
One mighty beast, Bison Paddock, Waterton N P
Mom and her new baby
Such cute little hands and feet
Bright-eyed little cutie
Pika / Ochonta princeps
Least Chipmunk
Munching on cone seeds
Least Chipmunk
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
'Hiding' in the grass
Feasting on cone seeds
Little forest muncher
Northern Pygmy-owl, one year ago
Moose cow looking for salt
Red Squirrel
Sweet little poser
Hoping for food
One of five White-tailed Deer
At the end of the day
Licking the salt
Creature of the forest
Cute as always
Pronghorn
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285 visits
It's Pika time - again
Wow, it's only -2C (windchill -6C)) in Calgary early this morning. The deep-freeze has finally come to an end, at least for now. Yesterday wasn't too bad, either, and I finally got out for a drive, east of the city - and saw nothing! This was the first time I'd driven out there this winter, hoping to find a Short-eared Owl or a Snowy Owl.
Life keeps getting in the way of my Flickr time and, once again, I am posting just one photo this morning. This one was already in my "Maybe post to Flickr" folder. Sorry, I know I still have more shots of these little guys to eventually post. I do try to spread them out.
These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running backwards and forwards over the scree (talus) slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come closer, usually for just a quick moment.
"The American Pika is a generalist herbivore. It eats a large variety of green plants, including different kinds of grasses, sedges, thistles and fireweed. Although pikas can meet their water demands from the vegetation they eat, they do drink water if it is available in their environment. Pikas have two different ways of foraging: they directly consume food (feeding) or they cache food in haypiles to use for a food source in the winter (haying). The pika feeds throughout the year while haying is limited to the summer months. Since they do not hibernate, pikas have greater energy demands than other montane mammals. In addition, they also make 13 trips per hour to collect vegetation when haying, up to a little over 100 trips per day." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
A couple of short YouTube videos in case anyone wants to hear and see these absolutely cute creatures:
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
youtu.be/OQ2IgcjVIfc
The only time I had ever driven to Kananaskis (the mountain area closest to Calgary) was on 10 September 2016, when my daughter came with me. I wasn't too impressed with the photos I took on the first drive, especially of the little Pikas that we went to see, so I really wanted to go and spend a bit more time with them. A drive like this also helped me get a bit more used to my newish car - before the roads were covered in snow and ice! Actually, there was a bit of snow on the ground in places close to the trees when I got to where I see the Pikas.
I left home at 8:45 am, later than I had intended, and drove southwards via Millarville and the back way to Highway 40. When I Googled the distance via that route, it gave me 134 km, 1 hr 41 mins from home to the Highwood Pass. Needless to say, I kept stopping to take photos, so it took me quite a bit longer than that. By the time I got back home around 5:00 pm, I had driven 299 km. This day was a Monday, so not too much traffic anywhere, which makes a huge difference.
The weather cooperated very nicely. A little chilly to start with and a sky full of beautiful cloud formation early morning. This time, I only drove as far as the Pikas, especially as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't driving home in the dark. The Highwood Pass, at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft) is the highest paved pass in Canada. In past years, I have hiked the Ptarmigan Cirque, Pocaterra and Arethusa Cirque trails, but can no longer do hikes like these. The scenery is breathtaking in this whole area (indeed, for the whole drive), some mountain slopes covered in forest and other mountain faces displaying bald, breathtaking folds above the treeline.
There was only one 'scary' incident on this trip. I had stopped to take a few scenic shots when I was on the backroad to join Highway 40. I didn't close my car door completely and when I went to open it, I discovered it was locked! Pressing the fob to open all the doors did nothing. I just could not get into my vehicle. Thank goodness, I had read on the Internet that there is a key hidden away inside the fob - otherwise I would never have known and might still be standing there, lol!
Feels so good to know that I am now comfortable enough to do this drive on my own, after so many years of wishing I had the courage to do it. Thank you, little Pikas, for being so adorably cute, that I was determined to drive back to see you : )
Life keeps getting in the way of my Flickr time and, once again, I am posting just one photo this morning. This one was already in my "Maybe post to Flickr" folder. Sorry, I know I still have more shots of these little guys to eventually post. I do try to spread them out.
These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running backwards and forwards over the scree (talus) slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come closer, usually for just a quick moment.
"The American Pika is a generalist herbivore. It eats a large variety of green plants, including different kinds of grasses, sedges, thistles and fireweed. Although pikas can meet their water demands from the vegetation they eat, they do drink water if it is available in their environment. Pikas have two different ways of foraging: they directly consume food (feeding) or they cache food in haypiles to use for a food source in the winter (haying). The pika feeds throughout the year while haying is limited to the summer months. Since they do not hibernate, pikas have greater energy demands than other montane mammals. In addition, they also make 13 trips per hour to collect vegetation when haying, up to a little over 100 trips per day." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
A couple of short YouTube videos in case anyone wants to hear and see these absolutely cute creatures:
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
youtu.be/OQ2IgcjVIfc
The only time I had ever driven to Kananaskis (the mountain area closest to Calgary) was on 10 September 2016, when my daughter came with me. I wasn't too impressed with the photos I took on the first drive, especially of the little Pikas that we went to see, so I really wanted to go and spend a bit more time with them. A drive like this also helped me get a bit more used to my newish car - before the roads were covered in snow and ice! Actually, there was a bit of snow on the ground in places close to the trees when I got to where I see the Pikas.
I left home at 8:45 am, later than I had intended, and drove southwards via Millarville and the back way to Highway 40. When I Googled the distance via that route, it gave me 134 km, 1 hr 41 mins from home to the Highwood Pass. Needless to say, I kept stopping to take photos, so it took me quite a bit longer than that. By the time I got back home around 5:00 pm, I had driven 299 km. This day was a Monday, so not too much traffic anywhere, which makes a huge difference.
The weather cooperated very nicely. A little chilly to start with and a sky full of beautiful cloud formation early morning. This time, I only drove as far as the Pikas, especially as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't driving home in the dark. The Highwood Pass, at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft) is the highest paved pass in Canada. In past years, I have hiked the Ptarmigan Cirque, Pocaterra and Arethusa Cirque trails, but can no longer do hikes like these. The scenery is breathtaking in this whole area (indeed, for the whole drive), some mountain slopes covered in forest and other mountain faces displaying bald, breathtaking folds above the treeline.
There was only one 'scary' incident on this trip. I had stopped to take a few scenic shots when I was on the backroad to join Highway 40. I didn't close my car door completely and when I went to open it, I discovered it was locked! Pressing the fob to open all the doors did nothing. I just could not get into my vehicle. Thank goodness, I had read on the Internet that there is a key hidden away inside the fob - otherwise I would never have known and might still be standing there, lol!
Feels so good to know that I am now comfortable enough to do this drive on my own, after so many years of wishing I had the courage to do it. Thank you, little Pikas, for being so adorably cute, that I was determined to drive back to see you : )
ROL/Photo has particularly liked this photo
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