A determined chipmunk precariously balanced on the branches of a willow before it plucked the buds and scurried down the tree to safety. I took this photo earlier this spring near Toad River, in northern British Columbia.
Category: Mammals
An adorable fox kit leans in to get a hard to reach spot. This was one of five kits being raised by their hard working parents in Waterton Lakes National Park earlier this spring
A grizzly bear mom takes a break from eating dandelions to play with one of her tiny cubs born earlier this year. With the grizzly bear population threatened in Alberta, it’s been great to see at least three grizzly sows in the Rockies with new cubs this year.
What better image to highlight this day than one of Canada’s national animal making a splash? Happy Canada Day my fellow Canadians!
A horde of mosquitoes descends on a stoic stone sheep in Northern British Columbia. With every spring comes the masses of biting insects in the north. As someone who is a mosquito magnet, I couldn’t imagine having to put up with this after surviving a long, harsh winter. Just taking this photo made me feel itchy!
If I told you that for the past few years mountain caribou have been captured by nets, sedated and loaded into helicopters and then flown to either awaiting transport trailers or large enclosures on the sides of mountains you would likely think I’m pulling your leg. I wish I was, but for the past several years dedicated teams composed of First Nations personnel, wildlife biologists, fellow veterinarians, and countless others have being doing just that in order to try to conserve some of the most critically endangered caribou herds in British Columbia.
Past and current caribou conservation measures in the province include everything from limiting human access to caribou habitat, predator management and caribou translocations. Talks continue to occur to establish a captive breeding program so that there is a source population for dwindling herds, but while those plans are still in the preliminary stages other intensive caribou conservation initiatives are being implemented. The most recent includes what is termed ‘maternal penning’ of caribou.
Maternal penning involves taking wild, pregnant caribou and placing them in large enclosures in their native habitat for about 3 months. During this time they are protected from predators, given lots of lichen and other high quality caribou food and provided with a safe place to give birth to their calves. Disturbances from people are kept to an absolute minimum so caribou are not conditioned to human presence. The calves are born in May-June and kept in the enclosure for the next 1-2 months until they are strong enough to easily keep up with the herd and to be able to outrun predators like wolves and bears. At this point the mothers and calves are released back into their natural habitat and monitored to track calf survival. Previous application of this technique in the Yukon showed promising results and so the technique was adapted for use in the mountainous areas of British Columbia.
A few months ago maternal penning projects were undertaken for two declining herds in BC. One was in Revelstoke and another near Chetwynd. The later is a unique initiative spearheaded by the West Moberly First Nations in partnership with biologists and the provincial government. The West Moberly first nations have suspended their treaty right to hunt caribou for the past several decades and have recently used this treaty right to drive the process of caribou recovery in their native lands. They created their own caribou recovery plan that met the requirements of the Species at Risk Act, which in turn has led to the maternal penning project that was implemented earlier this spring.
It is too early to say whether all of these efforts will pay off, and some may argue that the resources put into mountain caribou conservation would be better spent elsewhere. In my opinion caribou are just a symptom of much bigger problems that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. While governments decide on what to do to combat climate change as a result of habitat destruction and pollution, those of us on the front lines will continue to try to treat the symptoms until the bigger issues are finally addressed.
If you’re interested in learning more about mountain caribou click on the below links for additional details.
Mountain caribou herds facing extinction
Alberta government sells off caribou habitat to industry
US government downgrades mountain caribou federal status despite continued declines
Putting it mildly, mountain caribou as a whole are not doing well. Several of the southern and central mountain herds are down to less than 50 animals! In fact, these two populations were just listed as endangered by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). The northern mountain population was listed as ‘special concern,’ which is one step away from threatened status.
On my drive up to a conference to discuss current research on caribou I was lucky enough to come across some of these iconic animals along the way. This bull was hanging out near the border between BC and the Yukon, where many bulls were feeding on plants in the valley bottoms. Unfortunately, in the near future sightings like this may become exceedingly rare.
Next week I will post on some of the intensive conservation measures being undertaken to try to save this species.
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.
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!
Seeing and photographing wild wolves is always a thrill, even more so this year since finding any has been a lot more challenging. On the few occasions when I have been lucky the glimpses were always fleeting or with lots of trees and bushes obstructing my view.
On one day late in August I got my best glimpse this year. Some of the pack was resting deep in the forest near a kill site and the only way I knew they were there was from the periodic howling. After awhile I noticed some movement between the trees and it soon became clear they were on the move. I had a pretty good idea of the path they would take and where they would come out of the forest for a few seconds so I drove ahead a few minutes, parked my car and set up my camera. With the settings dialed in, I didn’t have long to wait. The two year old female emerged from the trees and came trotting along the clearing. She stopped not too far from where I was parked, turned and looked behind her as if waiting for something.
It didn’t take long to see who it was. One grey and one black pup soon appeared and followed in her footsteps through the clearing.
With the pups close behind I only had a few seconds to get some photos before the adult lead the pups back into the forest and out of sight.
Owen Slater Photography 