One of the iconic images from Banff National Park is the view of Mount Rundle reflected in the Vermillion Lakes, usually at sunrise or sunset. I had never had a chance to make one of these images before since I had never been able to get there at the right time on a day in which the weather cooperated. I finally had a chance to do so this past weekend.
Making images of Rundle was actually a side trip (as many of my photographic expeditions are) while on the way to do something else. A friend and I were heading to Lake Louise for a day of skiing so we planned to get early enough to see the sunrise over Rundle. This is the perfect time of year for a trip like this since you can shoot the sunrise and still make it to Lake Louise in time for a full day of skiing!
We actually got to Banff a few minutes later than planned, but the timing worked out well anyway. We quickly found an open pool of water in the icy lake and got set up for the reflection shot. There was even on old dead tree laying on the ice that was all covered in frost, and it was oriented perfectly to lead the eye directly to the mountain. I made many beautiful images, and the one above is one of my favorites from the trip.
Every once in awhile the local birding community goes crazy about a special visitor to the area. Recently reports have been coming in daily about a trio of Northern Hawk Owls living north of Cochrane. I was was lucky enough to see two of the three birds today.
Although not endangered, these birds are considered to be rare in the Calgary area. For there to be three of them located in such close proximity is very exciting. Reports of these birds have been popping up on Alberta Bird since before Christmas and I was eager to see if I could find them. Fortunately these particular owls have been staying in the same spot for a long time, and they don’t seem to care that they are being watched by a lot of people. One of them actually flew onto a tree only a few feet away from me several times.
This particular bird has a regular behavioral pattern in which it perches in a high tree (or power pole) while preening; every so often it will fly down to a lower tree overlooking the adjacent farm field, and then patiently search the field for a meal. When it finds something it swoops down low over the grass and strikes from behind. Sometimes it eats the meal right there on the ground, while other times it flies off with it to enjoy it from a higher vantage point.
The nearby fields appear to be abundantly stocked with prey and these birds make many such trips throughout the day. I stayed to watch one of the birds for quite a long time and it was very exciting to be able to observe it so closely. I managed to make a few good sequences of images of it hunting, and I’ve put together a slideshow of one of these sequences…
When this sort of excitement crops up there is always the inevitable talk about the ethics of human interaction with wildlife. In this particular instance there have been huge numbers of people traveling down the same road eager to see and photograph such beautiful birds. Some people would say that this is very stressful to the bird and that it can really disrupt their lifestyle. I’ve already mentioned that these birds don’t seem to care very much about the people that are visiting them, and my personal belief is that birds and animals are generally very good at letting humans know when they are being bothered. In fact they usually do so very quickly…
As an aside, I have to say I don’t support feeding wild birds or animals just to get a better picture. There have been some reports that people have been baiting these birds (with pet store mice for example) to do just that. I certainly didn’t see it happening while I was watching the owls, and I would even go so far as to say that it would be completely unnecessary in this case. The adjacent field appears to be teeming with mice and these birds have been on a very steady diet of fresh food. Having said that, it happens all the time, and not just by photographers. But that’s a topic for another post…
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been seeing huge herds of deer lately. Not only are the herds large, but there are also lots of them. Deer are generally pretty skittish; they often take off running as soon as you even start to slow your vehicle down, and if you actually stop the car they are gone! Not lately though. I guess its a bit of herd mentality kicking in because it seems that as long as there are more than about 10 deer together, they don’t seem to mind posing for a few pictures before slowly wandering away.
Yesterday I was able to stop my truck and enjoy a few quiet minutes with two different large herds of at least 30 animals.
This large buck watched me for a little while, but he never bothered to walk away, even when the rest of his family left.
I’ve seen hundreds of deer in the fields every day around sunrise and sunset over the last couple of weeks. I often see deer on my daily commute but I’ve never seen such a high concentration before. I’m really not sure why there are so many around all of a sudden, but it’s been pretty exciting to watch!
These three checked me out very carefully before deciding they should leave.
