With temperatures hovering around -25 degrees Celsius last week, getting out into the mountains was a bit more challenging, but the extra effort always pays off in one form or another.
Archive for November, 2013
Powerful, intense, resilient and beautiful. To me the wolf symbolizes nature and wilderness as it’s meant to be.
I took this photo on one of my recent trips into the Canadian Rockies!
Feel free to share and/or comment and as always, please click on the image for the full size!
Cheers,
Owen
I knew after I took this photo that it was going to be my favourite of him, but initially I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it. The marten was moving behind a small hill out of site and I thought he might just disappear into the bushes. But I got lucky and he came up from behind a snow bank, cocked his head back and forth and intently listened for rodents scurrying under the snow. I quickly fired off a few frames and smiled to myself knowing that I had the photo I wanted.
Which of the two marten photos do you like best?
(Please click on the image for the full size)
While pine martens are relatively common in coniferous forests in western Canada, they aren’t often seen since they’re primarily arboreal and when they do come down to the ground, they rarely stay in one spot for long. These weasels are out all year-long, but are generally not as active in winter. They hunt pretty much anything they can sink their teeth into including ground squirrels, snowshoe hare, fish and birds.
This little guy was out bounding through the deep snow looking for breakfast. He stopped a few times to watch and listen for any prey, which gave me just enough time to get a few photographs of him before he disappeared back into the forest.
An adult male grizzly bear plows through 10 centimeters of snow in minus 10-15 degree Celsius temperatures. While the females and young cubs are already tucked away in their dens, these big males are still out looking for food to pack on the pounds so they can compete against the biggest males for breeding opportunities in the spring.
For the past several years I have tried in vain to get a good photo of a grizzly bear in snow. I have run into them as late as December, always either really early in the morning or late at night. All of that changed when this bear lumbered out of the forest in the middle of the day. He wander back and forth following the tracks of a pack of wolves that had been in the area earlier in the morning. Most likely he was trying to determine if the wolves had made a kill. Being the biggest predators in the Rockies, they will follow wolves and steal away their kills through brute force but on this day the bear came up empty handed. With his nose covered in snow, he plodded along weaving a route back and forth through the forest before giving up and moving on.
Well not really, more like hungry birds! These two osprey are siblings that successfully fledged this year. They took to the skies to practice their maneuvers and to compete with one another for the best waiting spot. It takes a few more weeks after fledgling before they are proficient at hunting on their own so the parents would return with fresh fish to give to them. It was always first come, first serve and once one had a fish there was no way they were going to share it!
With the annual elk rut in Banff National Park taking place around the town site, many of the elk end up with ropes, plastic bags and other items tangled up in their antlers. Some require sedation to remove the items, while less severe entanglements like this one can be left alone.
The new antler-wear didn’t seem to bother this elk, but he had bigger concerns. Due to his young age and relatively small rack he was relegated to the sidelines and needed to stay out of the way of the larger, much more powerful and battle harden males. After narrowly skirting around one, he took a few minutes to catch his breath before wisely deciding to move off into the forest.
Over the past two weekends I have been a naturalist for Classic Canadian Tours, which provides polar bear safari day trips out of Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon to Churchill, Manitoba. Many people who would otherwise never have the opportunity to see these magnificent animals in the wild are able to make this trip and come away with a once in a lifetime experience.
This time every year, tour companies are in full swing as the bears congregate around the Hudson Bay. Due to the influx of fresh water and bay currents, the water in the Churchill area is the first to freeze each year. Over a 2-3 week period between late October and mid-November the bears return to this area to sit on the tundra and wait for the ice to form. Once frozen, the bears have direct access to cross the bay and continue to their winter hunting grounds. This brief window creates a perfect viewing opportunity for wildlife enthusiasts and we were lucky to see several bears including this one as she made her way along the tundra during a snowstorm.
One of my favourite moments from these trips was at the end of the day when we were back in Calgary. An elderly man who had made the trip strolled up to me and we chatted while he waited for his family members. As we shook hands and talked about the great trip, he stated that he only took a brief nap on the morning flight out but was otherwise feeling great even after being up for 16 hours! The adrenalin rush of seeing polar bears was easy to appreciate! As he left he proudly stated he was 87 years old and that he hoped I would be able to do such a trip at his age! I couldn’t have agreed more!
Owen Slater Photography 