Category: Alberta
I took this photo on my way back to my campsite after photographing black bear cubs and their mom foraging in a meadow. Maligne Lake road is an excellent spot to view wildlife including elk, moose, deer, black bears and wolves.
I came across this mother and her calf along the shore of a lake. The calf, no bigger than the mom’s head must have been born that night as it was still unstable on it’s feet and had a very hard time walking through the tall grass. The mother would try to call and lead the calf away but the calf was still not strong enough to follow. I left after a short time and returned to the same spot later that afternoon but they had moved off into the forest.
While walking through the boreal forest to get to a lake I turned around and saw I was going to miss the sunrise on the lake. I quickly took this picture before the mosquitoes could exsanguinate me and fly off with my camera!
One of the largest dragonflies with a ‘cigar’ shaped abdomen. This one was trying to warm up after the morning frost had melted.
The largest of the woodpeckers in Canada, I spotted this bird among the burnt wood from a prescribed burn in Banff National Park (Sawback burn in 1993). The woodpecker managed to chisel off the charred wood to expose an ant nest underneath and had a good meal of ant larvae.
In between eating dandelions mom and cubs would wrestle with each other. Here the cubs teamed up to take on mom
Late in the afternoon this coyote wandered into a meadow where I was photographing a bull elk. It didn’t seem bothered by my presence and quickly found it’s next meal when it pounced on a ground squirrel and gobbled it up.
This photo was taken near Calling Lake, about 2 hours north of Edmonton. I was on a quad when I interrupted a black bear mother and her two cubs. The mom ran into the forest and the cubs climbed the nearest trees. This baby bear climbed down the tree and ran farther into the forest, but turned around to see if his sibling was following.
I was sitting on top of a beaver lodge taking pictures of waterfowl when I first saw this wolf trying to catch a beaver farther up the lake shore. The wolf quickly lost interest and started hunting for a small rodent about 30 meters away from me as I lay down on my stomach to partially hide. When I started taking photos the wolf heard the shutter, turned and decided I was much better than hunting for rodents! It stalked towards me and when it was only a few meters away I stood up, the wolf stopped, turned and ran back into the trees.
The reward for getting up at 4am and fending off hordes of mosquitoes to reach a lake before sunrise!
The wood frog, which is able to survive above the Arctic circle, burrows under dead leaves and then it will stop breathing, their hearts stop beating and much of their body becomes frozen. An antifreeze they produce keeps liquids from freezing inside their vital organs and killing them!
Owen Slater Photography 