I get to see this female grizzly about once a year, and normally at the start of the summer. I'm assuming she then moves to the back country, rarely seen in the front country during the summer. Each time, I see her for few minutes, after which I move on or she will walk into the forest. This summer I came across her eating along side a very skittish young black bear. The black bear ran into the forest, she sat down and stared into the distance for few minutes. The she stood up and started to eat before walking toward the forest, I was on my way before she moved away. Until next year.
Grizzly
I have been lucky enough to see this big guy few times this year, on this occasion he was visiting the town area one early morning.
Mountain Goat
Nanny and her week old kid make their way to the bottom of the valley for some well deserved minerals. The mountain goats spend most of they time above the tree line throughout the year, moving up and down within their range. Kids are born in May or June after a six month gestation period. Normally a nanny gives birth to a single offspring after isolating herself from rest of the group. The kids weighs about 3 kg when born, within few hours it begins to run and climb. A nanny will protect her kid when faced with predators and protecting it from steep slopes with her body. Kids stay close to their mother for a year, end of which the nanny gives birth again.
Grizzly
Most times the bears pass by, they are too busy looking for food. Not looking to come in human ways, but humans have other ideas. The bears just need space, not to play but to survive. But not all of us willing to share, not even for part of a year willing to give a place over to the bears for them to make a living.
Bighorn Sheep
It has become a funny habit of mine, getting pictures of various animals having their tongue sticking out. In most cases they are eating and simply the animals seem to be cleaning their lips. In the case of this bighorn sheep, the male was licking minerals off the ground and the tongue came out to remove anything that might be on its lips.
Grizzly
Grizzly bears are referred to as an umbrella or keystone species. If we can protect land where these bears can survive and even flourish, then we are also safeguarding many other species found in the ecosystem. Globally grizzlies have lost 50 percent of the original range, that number is not much different in North America. That is why it's so important to protect these two four (today six) month old grizzly bear cubs. That in turn protects so many of their wild friends and out connection to nature.
Grizzly
I was well ahead of the grizzly, he was making his way toward my direction. With light rain falling and low light toward the end of the day, I took my time to take the picture. With slightly slow shutter speed, made the rain drops more visible and at the same time getting the grizzly in focus.
Bighorn Sheep
A male bighorn sheep makes it look so easy moving down on a rock wall that is crumbling piece at a time.
Grizzly
Always a treat seeing a bear cub, in this case it's a four month old grizzly bear cub. Its mother would have given birth to it in mid January, being under a pound at that time. The cubs will normally end up spending their first four months in the den with their mother, nursing on her milk until they come out of the den around May. By then with mother by their side, they are ready to face the outside world.
Grizzly
This large male grizzly has been busy during the mating season. At the start of the season he was following a female in the Lake Louise area. Then few weeks later he decided to cover about 60 kms over few days to see another female. Yesterday he was back near Lake Louise with another different female. And only he knows what he was up to during the times he has not been spotted between those three encounters. He has been busy, covering the distance and keeping ahead of the larger males to mate with a willing female. And he still has few weeks to go before the mating season is over. Just a small window into the life of a male grizzly bear.
Until next moment,
Amar
Mountain Goat
During the summer the goats will make their way to the bottom of the valley to look for minerals. This male was just doing that along with few others. There is no guarantee which day and what time, because I'm out there on a regular basis, there is always a chance I will be seeing them. Most of the time I see them high up on the side of the mountains, but I can't complain when I get to see them bottom of the mountain.
Black Bear
The black bear does not get the same attention as the grizzly does. In North America black bear is easily the most distributed bear on the continent, and globally it's not considered threatened. In many parts of Canada you can see a black bear, most likely you have already seen a black bear. But in Banff, where we have a small growing season and much of it being rock and ice, we have about the same amount of black bears as we do grizzlies. Grizzly, the dominant predator get most of the attention in the park. The black bear is not bothered by the lack of publicity, give it some space and it goes about its merry way.
Grizzly
A large grizzly male spotted walking on the road one evening. Had a very determined fast paced walk, he seems to be headed to a certain location. It's the mating season and perhaps he was searching for a female that might be where he was headed.
Grizzly
In the Rockies it's rare to see more then one grizzly togetherunless it's a mother with her cubs or it's the mating season. Breeding for the grizzlies begin in May and goes until early July. For the males, when not sleeping, it's all about eating, eating and looking for a female during the mating season. Even after searching far and wide and coming across a female, there is no guarantee she will mate with him. He'll follow her for days, courting her as she plays hard to get and might even charge him. The males rarely go on the offensive, but wait until the female is receptive and ready to mate. Once that occurs, they may mate over few days and then go their merry way.
Until next moment,
Amar
Elk
Not sure what was going on, but I saw these three elk while birding. They were rising back and forth in different direction. I looked around to see if there was a a predator, none spotted. After a while they ran away from me and did not return. Maybe they were excising.
Bighorn Sheep
It was a sunny day, these three were licking minerals and taking in the sunshine. It's amazing how easy they make it look, standing on the very smallest ledges. Only mammal that gives the mountain goats run for their money when it comes to maintaining balance in the Rockies side of steep slpoes.
Moose
The mother is there from the time the calf is born. Helping to locate and eat food, providing safety from predators. Helping to get you through the first winter. Helping to survive all the challenges nature and at times human throw at the calf. Then just as the calf starts getting closer to being a year old, the mother turns on her calf. Becoming aggressive and starts charging, trying to drive the calf away. The mother is pregnant and needs all her energy to look after the new calf that will be born soon. After several days of pushing, this calf moved on.
Black Bear
So far it has been a good season for seeing large male black bear. This one was one of the first one, he was also one of the first black bear to wake up from his winter sleep. It seems the bigger they are the slower they travel. Having lot of confidence, not too worried abut other bears or predators. I saw him later in the day slowly making his way through the valley.
Grizzly
She's five and half years old and has more or less established her territory that is her home. Taking few trips each season to visit the surrounding neighbourhoods, always returning home. Her territory was previously he mother's home, who passed away when she and her two siblings were two and half years old. Her next chapter will be when she starts her own family, this year she came out of the den on her own, will next year be the big year in her life?
Moose
It has been a good year for seeing moose for me this year and also seeing them in different places in the park. Getting close-ups and also pictures from distance in their habitats. In this case it was the moose with her calf again, the calf is out of the picture.
