A male red poll (males have crimson breast feathers in addition to the red cap) sits on snow covered fir tree in Banff National Park
Category: Canada
From Little Red Riding Hood to present day, the wolf is often given an image that is not even close to factual. Hollywood continues to portray wolves as human killers (eg. the latest Jason Bourne film) and groups advocate for open hunting seasons because they feel the wolf is killing all their deer or free ranging livestock. On the other extreme are the advocates that think wolves can do no harm. As usual, somewhere in between these two extremes is where the wolf belongs. Here, one sits down in a field of daisies just long enough for me to snap off a few pictures before rejoining the pack.
During dusk and dawn when wildlife are usually more active, I spend most of my time in the car since it serves as a natural blind that animals are less likely to react to. Obviously, this involves a lot of sitting so after several hours I need to stretch my legs. With some of the best scenery around, it is not hard to find somewhere to hike and take photographs. On this particular day I loaded my gear into my backpack, made sure I had my bear spray and headed out with camera in hand. As I came around a clump of spruce trees I spotted some movement in the thickets about 200 feet away. I immediately retraced my steps back into the shadows of the trees to not be as visible and from there I was able to get a good enough look to figure out that it was a large grizzly coming in my general direction. It wasn’t until I had my bear spray in hand that I called out and stepped into the open to alert it to my presence. Only then did I notice an adult wolf was only a few feet behind the bear! Before I had time to take any photos, the wolf disappeared back into the thicket, while the bear stopped and went up on its hind legs to get a better look at me. Facing the bear, I slowly backed away. The bear went back down on all fours, turned to its right and ambled off while I retraced my steps back the way I came. I’m sure the wolf was watching everything from a distance making sure that both the bear and I continued out of the area.
In October, with the fall colours at their height, I came across this seven month old wolf pup making its way along the banks of this river. Since I was on foot, I quickly hid behind a tree to not be spotted. Luckily the wind direction was in my favour as well. Without knowing I was there, it stopped and appeared to look at its reflection in the turquoise waters, rooted around for some rodents and then I thought it would disappear into the thicket. However, it came around the corner and started trotting towards me. I crouched down on the ground and stopped taking photos to not give my position away, as the faint sound of the camera would have easily been picked up my the wolf. It proceeded to walk about 30 feet from me before it rounded another corner and went out of sight.
Continuing with the theme of unusual animal sightings, this one occurred earlier this year. Unlike in Newfoundland, moose generally live very solitary lives in Alberta. Prior to this day, the only time where I have seen more than two unrelated animals together was during the breeding season. So it was very surprising to be driving along a back country road and come across this scene! We immediately slammed on the brakes, grabbed our cameras and started taking photos. In total there were 11 moose in this one meadow, with 7 in this frame. There were two mothers with calves and several yearlings and two-year olds. With hunting season just over they were still a bit skittish, so we grabbed a few photos, got back into the car and continued on.
A wolf was hunting for rodents in the back of this meadow when a red fox nonchalantly trotted into the middle of the meadow right in front of the wolf. Since wolves are known to kill other carnivores if they come across them, I expected to see either the fox quickly run and hide or the wolf chase after and try to kill it. Instead they both just glanced at each other and then almost in unison, they resumed hunting. For several minutes they mimicked each others hunting stance, before the fox decided to move on and look for prey elsewhere.
I often drive several hundred kilometers and spend countless hours outside trying to find wildlife to photograph. However, sometimes it’s much easier. This past week I just had to look out my office window! Sitting in a stand of aspen trees was this great horned owl. Not surprisingly the usual four squirrels that frequent the backyard were nowhere to be seen. I quickly grabbed my camera, took a few photographs and returned to the warmth of my office to watch the owl from a distance.
Back in Alberta last weekend, a trumpeter swan propels itself up and out of a narrow section of the Bow river that hadn’t frozen over yet.
I drove out to Banff last Friday in the hopes of seeing some wildlife. Almost immediately I knew it was going to be a good day for wildlife spotting. Within a few hours I had spotted 12 mountain goats and seven different grizzlies. It was capped off by seeing and photographing the very shy grizzly mom known as bear 130. I had seen her a few times this year and I couldn’t believe how healthy and big her cubs had gotten. Bear 130 was given that name this spring when she was anesthetized to place a GPS collar on her as part of the CP rail and Parks Canada initiative to study grizzly bear mortalities in Banff National Park. Train strikes are the leading cause of death to grizzly bears in the park and every year a few are lost. Up until this weekend, for this year there had not been any known grizzly bear deaths associated with the trains. However, moose, deer, black bears and just last weekend a wolf pup had all been killed by the train, so it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a grizzly would meet the same fate.
Unfortunately, Friday night around 8:45pm was that time. Less than a two hours after taking this photo, these two cubs were hit by a train and instantly killed. Initially it wasn’t know if bear 130 had survived as she wasn’t seen for at least a day afterwards. However, on Sunday morning I was relieved to spot her walking along the tracks and quickly reported the sighting to Parks Canada staff who were thrilled to hear she was alive and well. That morning, she did not stop to feed on grain spilled between the tracks. Instead, she walked back and forth sniffing the rails, likely picking up the lingering scent of her now deceased cubs. She stayed in the area for days on end, and while we can’t know for sure why, I don’t think it is a stretch to assume it was likely because she was searching for her cubs. While the loss of two cubs is horrible, the loss of a reproductively active female would have been devastating, especially seeing as bear 130 is such a good mother that does an excellent job of staying away from high human use areas until people are not present. A testament to her skills were that both cubs were in excellent condition, and seemed to be thriving until they made a mistake.
It’s hard to know why they didn’t get off the tracks when the train approached. At night, the high powered lights of the train can be blinding. That is all they would have seen. They would not have recognized that it was a train and may have actually charged at it in self defense. Hopefully, with the data obtained from her collar, CP and Parks Canada can formulate solutions to this ongoing problem that has plagued all the wildlife in the Bow Valley. Otherwise, it will only be a matter days before the next body is collected. The only question will be, which species will be next…
The high powered lights of a train reflect off the tracks as it travels through Banff National Park. This image is likely what the two grizzly cubs observed just before being hit. I took this photo in an effort to replicate what an animal might see when a train is approaching at night. While you would think the sound would be enough to displace the animals off the tracks, the blinding lights conceal the hundreds of tonnes of steel hurtling down the tracks towards them and the animals would not be able to recognize the size of what was approaching. Apex predators such as bears and wolves have very little to fear in their natural ecosystems and as such they often stand their ground to defend themselves. In fact, bears and particularly mothers with cubs, have been known to charge at the trains to try to scare them off. If they did try to run, they usually stick to the path of least resistance. With the headlights only highlighting the tracks directly in front of the train and not much of the surrounding terrain, the animal’s eyes would not be able to adjust and pick up escape routes along the tracts. Instead they tend to run along them in an attempt to escape. The trains move about 60km/hr through the park. At that speed, no animal will be able to outrun them, the conductor doesn’t have enough time to slow the train down, and so invariably they are run down. In rare instances, some animals have survived train strikes. Just this past winter, a juvenile wolf attempted to outrun the train, was clipped and flung into the air. It landed in some hard snow just a few inches away from the rail cars. Remarkably, the following day I watched it walking along a river bed with no obvious injuries.
A wonderfully warm fall weekend in the park last week, with many of the aspens reaching their peak colours. Only a few days later we got our first significant snowfall of the season! Thankfully, it has warmed up again, the snow has melted and it will be a nice warm Thanksgiving weekend.
For a plant to eek out a living in the rockies requires a lot of adaptations. With cold temperatures and harsh winds throughout much of the year, they must find suitable micro-climates that can support them. The winds bring with it just enough dust that settles out over time in any nook, including rock crevices. This creates a foothold for the shallow roots, while the small lip in the rock shelters the plant from the harsh winds, radiates the heat from the sun back onto the plant and funnels water to the roots. A perfect spot for a miniature plant.
A couple of weekends ago I took some friends out to Banff to try to spot some wildlife. They were hoping to see bears and maybe even wolves, but as luck would have it we had an even rarer carnivore sighting. As I came into Banff I decided to drive up the road to a ski hill as I had seen bears, sheep and coyotes up there throughout the summer. After rounding a corner I spotted a coyote on the road headed in our direction. I quickly pulled over and stopped the car, but surprisingly it paid no attention to us. Instead it ran to the side of the road, raised its hackles and started barking at something down below. For about 10 minutes it continued barking at whatever it was. While my friends excitedly took photos of the coyote, I scanned the ravine as I knew from the coyote’s reaction that it was alarmed at whatever was below and therefore, it had to be a large carnivore! The coyote slowly walked in our direction and stopped every few minutes to bark down into the ravine. After passing my car and paying little attention to us, I turned the car around to face down the road. At this point the coyote must have lost sight of whatever it was, so like us, it sat down and waited. A few minutes later a large light brown object appeared by the side of the road. Before I had time to react it bounded across the road with the characteristic movement and shape of a cougar! A few strides later and it was on the other side of the road, leaping up the bank and disappearing into the forest. Not wanting to disturb it but also not wanting my first wild cougar sighting be so fleeting, I waited until it was in the trees before driving down to where it had entered the forest. I spotted it again as it disappeared behind some trees. Based on its direction of travel I realized it was heading in the direction of a clearing just west of where it was so I quickly drove down to the spot and waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later it appeared at the top of the clearing and walked right out into the open. It stopped and stared at us before slowly walking through the clearing and disappearing out of sight! It was such an impressive animal; a healthy adult male with massive muscles over the limbs and a powerful gait. No wonder the coyote was terrified of it! In fact, the coyote wouldn’t go into the forest for some time afterwards. Instead it patrolled the road and searched the ravines for the cougar to make sure it was gone. An adult cougar can easily catch and kill a coyote and so coyotes always have to be on the lookout for them. Thankfully for us, the coyote not only spotted it but also let me know it was around as otherwise I’m sure we would never have seen it. For those wondering where the cougar photos are, I wish they were good enough to post here, but with such low light at the time of the sighting, even at 2500 ISO the images are blurred. That’s OK for me, as I will never forget experience!
A pika takes a quick break from collecting food for the long winter to scan for predators.
Owen Slater Photography 