With temperatures reaching the low 20's today I was back out in the elbow valley enjoying the sunshine this afternoon. Just being able to walk around in a t-shirt made it a very pleasant 6 km hike along the river, past the beaver ponds and back on a circular route. The pond had fewer birds but I think that was down to the amount of foot traffic. The weather had brought out dozens of people desperate to enjoy the sunshine after that drawn out winter in Calgary this year. I still made a few shots (as you would expect) and have shared them below in a small captioned gallery.
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I was watching the skies outside the house this morning as a red tailed hawk circled around looking for a bite to eat. After seeing him numerous times I got the camera out to try and catch a shot. I made one of him in the air and later when he dropped into the meadow and grabbed a vole I made a couple more just to show that beautiful red fan in all it's glory.
After a few phone calls I got the bike out and made the first ride of spring along our usual 25km circuit. It was great to be out on the bike but hard work in a stiff breeze. I've shared a few shots below for the record. Cecil and I set out today to make the short hike to Troll Falls in the hope of making some images with water cascading over them rather than ice. As we made our way along the transcanada highway I asked Cec if he fancied taking the more scenic route rather than the direct one. With this agreement we hopped onto highway 68 and made our way west on the dusty potholed road away from the crowds. What a great decision that turned out to be. As we approached Stoney Creek Recreation Area, Cec spotted a grizzly in the roadside forest.
I quickly made a u-turn and we drove back to his location, with telephoto lenses to hand we grabbed shots as quickly as possible. In a very short time he tired of us and headed into the forest and ploughed his way through the deep snow on a slope that was tough going, he sunk up to his middle a couple of times and appeared as fed up of the snow as the rest of us. Checking my images later I was able to zoom in on his tag, bear 164. This was great as I was able to look him up on the internet where he is described as a young adult with brown and blonde colouring. It seems he has been in trouble in the past and the aversion teams have had to chase him away from campgrounds. As bears age they tend to disappear into the forests and stay away from human contact but young bears are still inquisitive. 164 was radio and GPS tagged as part of a group of 10 young bears being studied by the aversion team. His history includes getting within 2 metres of a pair of hikers and chasing mule deer along highway 40. He's never shown aggression toward humans but doesn't seem to be overly concerned by them. So, because of his penchant for campgrounds the aversion teams will find him and use bear bangers, rubber projectiles or 'shotgun fired' bean bags to dissuade him from pestering campers. His last reported bad behaviour seems to have been in 2016 so perhaps he's learning, he did scoot away from us pretty quickly today, let's hope he continues that behaviour and stays safe in the forests of kananaskis. The day was already a winner and we hadn't even got our boots on. Unfortunately, after getting them on and hiking in to Troll Falls we found we were still too early for water over the falls which are still frozen solid for all but a short upper section. Around the snow covered base muddy footprints killed any photo opportunities and we returned to the main trail unimpressed. As we hit the main trail we turned away from the exit route and headed north for a while before turning east toward the river. We found a lovely short section of river filled with photo opportunities and suddenly we were in business. Incredibly vibrant dogwoods in red, yellow and orange burst from the riverbank heading skywards and the snow capped peaks behind them completed the image perfectly. We walked the banks and through shallow water onto a small island. After shooting for about 10 minutes our island got a lot smaller, the snowpack was melting as the day heated up and the river was now far too deep to splash across dry footed. After some rockhopping and log throwing we gave up and just plodded through in our boots laughing all the way like a pair of kids as our boots filled with water. Ultimately it was a great day, we saw the first grizzly of the year, walked a few kilometres, made a few images and enjoyed the spring temperatures. It's great to finally see the back of winter and be out in Kananaskis again. Sarah and I made our usual sunday stroll from the house today and down to the river. We crossed the bridge making an 8km circuit back to the house. It was nice to see spring birds arriving in good numbers at last and I find myself using them as photo practice if nothing else. The main shot is a Northern Shoveller and the gallery below has captions for each image.
The melting continues this week (albeit with an occasional heavy snowfall) so local areas available for hiking are still few and far between. This is why I found myself heading back to the beaver ponds in the elbow valley today, this time with Cecil for company. We met up in the small town of Bragg Creek and had a coffee and banana loaf in the cafe there before heading down highway 66 to the winter gate.
There were far fewer birds around than I saw just a few days ago but I think this was due to other people wandering around the area making plenty of noise. It was still nice to be out doing something and grabbing a few images so I made a small captioned gallery to share. It's a sign of how bad winter has been this year that we are well into april, and today was our first walk by the river together. There is still a significant amount of ice on both banks and in the middle making islands but spring really has begun (at last). The sap is rising in the trees and branches are beginning to bud along the pathway and birds are returning to the river.
It's only a 5km round trip to the bridge and back but it's a nice leg stretcher and kept us on clear pathways. The main image below (click for larger) is taken from the bridge looking downstream and shows just how much ice is still hanging on around the river. The small gallery features a few images including a nice common goldeneye duck in flight and has captions to support each shot. Spring sunshine illuminated western canada today and I seized the opportunity to get out for a short walk. I chose the beaver ponds in the Elbow Valley as I knew the snow would be trampled on the walkways making for easy going. I still found myself above waist height in snow and struggling to get out after spotting a small beaver and trying to get closer to make a shot. There was little to see owing to thick snow cover but I did see a Varied Thrush in the forest (the first I've ever seen) and a dipper, canada goose, beaver and a few squirrels.
All in all it was nice to be out in the sunshine and (other than swimming in snow the one time) really enjoyable. Well OK, the title should say "no sign of spring in West Bragg", but still, at least it was warm today. I honestly thought that the trail network at West Bragg would be almost clear of snow by now, perhaps a bit muddy at worst. I was genuinely surprised by just how much snow remains and it sure made for weary legs after 13km of plodding through it. On the up side I did get to ask "why the long face" as I saw moose too tired to run away, he kind of plodded away similar to myself, sick to death of the prolonged winter.
It was nice to be out and a timely reminder that I need to start working off the excess of my winter hibernation. There's a small captioned gallery below showing the meagre sights available in the snow covered forest. Winter continues to fight the inevitable springtime but is slowly losing the battle. Even though it was -9 today and felt much worse with the wind chill, I needed to get out. I took a long walk by the Bow River heading north for the first time since we moved here.
I walked along the cobbles between the remaining ice and the river for a few Km's before eventually climbing a steep bank and ascending a hill that led toward a more traditional footpath. During that ascent I came across a beautiful Pileated Woodpecker, these guys are pretty rare this far north and I hardly dare breathe as I took my rucksack off and got out my 200mm lens. I left the bag on the narrow dirt trail and inched forward slowly getting as close as I dare. When he saw me and stopped his endeavour momentarily I froze and looked at the ground as if uninterested, luckily I heard the tap, tap of his beak again as he pursued whatever it was that was keeping him in situ. At a range of 16 to 19 inches tall the Pileated Woodpecker is a significant bird and I was genuinely interested in what he was going to find. I shot frame after frame as he dug into the wood until I was sure I had caught him, then I just sat on the cold dirt trail and watched his relentless pursuit. Eventually he pulled out a huge grub and as I raised the camera again to grab a shot he gulped it down and licked his lips....luckily I caught that too. The last 5 shots in the gallery below are him and his feast but the preceding captioned images are worth a look too I think. Still -12 today and I'm hanging out of the window this morning handing fresh almonds to Sarahs adopted pet squirrel 'squeak'. He has seen off another Canadian winter with a constant stream of almonds, chestnuts, peanuts and the occasional bite out of the fat balls we hang for the woodpeckers. There is good heat in the sun now and the spring melt is really underway, hopefully just a few more weeks will see the back of winter altogether and we can focus on the year ahead.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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