We went for a walk at Weaselhead Provincial Park today and found several groups of very friendly Chickadees. These inquisitive birds are always curious and quick to make an appearance when walkers pass by. They are used to getting handouts from park visitors and as a result they are easily enticed to land on an outstretched hand. One of them even briefly landed on my camera before it realized there was no food there…
I went for a drive along the old Highway 1A between Canmore and Cochrane in Alberta the other day. This is one of those very rare “can’t miss” locations where you are bound to see some big animals. I have seen many Coyotes, Deer, and Bighorn Sheep along this highway, and Elk are also common. When you see a sign warning about Bighorn Sheep on the highway ahead, you better be prepared to slow down. Not only are you very likely to see some of them, but they are also very likely to literally be on the highway.
I saw several very large herds in a short 5 km stretch near Exshaw, and in total I saw at least 200 of these beautiful animals. While most of them were grazing, a few were simply wandering around or lying on the ground. I saw an unusually large number of juveniles, including a few that were very young. Here are a few of the images I made.
Sometimes you make the image you plan to make. Sometimes you get the butt…
NOTE – these birds were found while visitng my parents home in Winfield (near Kelowna, BC), not in Alberta. I had an interesting request for information from Jocelyn Hudon (Curator of Ornithology at the Royal Alberta Museum, and the Chair of the Alberta Bird Record Committee) wondering whether I had found these in Alberta. That would have been a much more exciting find since, according to Jocelyn, there have been fewer than 15 such discoveries in Alberta. This was not quite so exciting as that, but still interesting for me!
Check the Official List of the Birds of Alberta at http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/natural/birds/birdlist/intro.htm
