Little Blackfoot has been hanging around the garden for quite a few months now but has proven elusive whenever the camera came out. Fortunately the cold days of winter have forced him to take more time over his feeding so I can capture him on camera at last.
He has watched one of our other squirrels (peg leg) come in through the house window and get peanuts, so now if we sit quietly little blackfoot will sneak in cautiously and grab a peanut before 'escaping' at speed. He is quite timid compared to the others and titch has already bitten a lump off the end of his tail in an effort to drive him out, and it has made him even more cautious. Blackfoot is the second tail tweaking victim of Titch who recently bit a kink into another squirrels tail (echo). Titch has 'little squirrel syndrome'. Anyway, here's to another year of entertainment from our squirrel army and the rest of the garden critters. We wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.
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Last week Cecil and I drove out to Spray Lakes Reservoir on highway 742 just a few miles south of Canmore. Along the way we stopped at Whitemans Pond to shoot some of the ice that caught our eye as we drove past.
At Spray Lakes we struggled initially as the surface was well covered with snow but we continued south looking for opportunity and somewhere adjacent to west wind pass we saw a few clear patches where the wind had swept the snow from the icy surface. We were surprised to find the snow almost knee deep as we made our way down to the lakeside but once out on the ice there was much less volume to worry about. As we walked toward a large ice dome we saw thousands of methane bubbles trapped in the ice. For the second time in a few days I found myself laid flat out on the ice shooting this wonderful phenomenon, this time with clearer skies. After returning to the truck we had a moment of 'consideration' when the truck slid down the embankment into deep snow as we started away from the roadside. I had parked with the passenger side off the highway in the snow and as soon as we tried to set off we slid away. I confess I've driven my tundra out of some dodgy places in my time but thought we were stuck here. I grabbed the shovel and ice tracks out of the back and cleared a bit of snow away before booting it hard in reverse up the steep snow covered bank. To my surprise it bounced out of the snow and back onto the highway without issue and we were back in business in no time. All in all another exciting adventure in kananaskis. It's christmas eve now in Canada and christmas day at home in England, so seasons greetings to everyone. Sarah and I wish you all a wonderful holiday. We hope to get out between now and new year so we'll save those wishes for later. The main image below shows the cold north face of 'the windtower' on the east side of highway 742. All of the methane bubbles shots in the gallery were taken on Spray Lakes Reservoir and the first few images have captions for clarity. Cecil and I took a ride out to Lake Minnewanka and Johnson Lake in search of a change of scenery last week. I confess much of the scenery around here looks the same in winter but we tried.
Johnson Lake is located at the south end of Banff National Park off the circular road that leads to lake minnewanka . On arrival we found it almost completely iced over but one small pool remained liquid, close to an outlet stream. The stream itself looked like a great option for a few images but turned out not to be so. The small pool at the outlet did produce a nice reflection of the Fairholme Range that lies to the east which provides the main shot for today. We stopped at Two Jack lake briefly but it was full of people ice skating, lovely to see but not the best thing for landscape photography. We continued on to lake minnewanka where we found some great ice chandeliers along the shoreline which saved the day. I've captioned the gallery today to show which location is which. Earlier this week the weather conditions were perfect for finding the wonderful phenomenon of methane bubbles trapped in the ice on local lakes. These curious stacks of gas form every year in almost every lake in Canada (and elsewhere in the world where winter temperatures are as severe)
Methane is produced year round by bacteria digesting dead organic matter on the lake bed and in some places by natural seepage of methane pockets built up over eons. In winter when the first layer of ice forms it prevents the escape of the gas, and as methane does not dissolve in water this results in a bubble trapped beneath the ice. Then as it freezes deeper, that bubble becomes suspended within the ice layer and another gets trapped beneath, as the process repeats the stacks are formed. Whilst it occurs every year it goes unseen quite often because snow covers over the ice very quickly. But occasionally we get a continual series of very cold days and nights with little snow. That was the case this week and a good strong wind promised to sweep the ice clean of what little snow had fallen. I set out to the upper lake with my wide angle lens, ice spikes and some warm clothing and was happy to have each item. The wind was howling through the nearby mountain pass and along the length of the lake, whipping snow across the surface and lowering the temperature considerably. It was great to see the lake frozen solid and swept clean of snow, now all I had to do was find some good 'stacks'. I chose the north shore as I have seen methane bubbles along here before and wasn't disappointed this time. I found some great collections, and even with the snow trying hard to get in the way I made some nice shots of this wonderful phenomenon. The gallery has no captions today as the images are all from the upper lake and speak for themselves. Earlier this week I found myself wide awake at 6am so decided to seize the opportunity to shoot the sunrise over Calgary. It's unfortunate that there wasn't any cloud about to fill the skies but the shots still worked out well I think.
I went to Enmax Park in the east of the city on Scotsman's Hill. I've been here before for a night shoot but was a little further south in the same park. Today I wanted to get a different angle so stayed in the north end of the park. I arrived at 07:20, over an hour before sunrise so I could set up and catch a few shots of the blue hour first. I really like the blue hour shot (first in the gallery below) and I'm pretty happy with the others from the morning too. Even without any interest in the sky, the sunrise lit up the reflective windows of the downtown core and made for some nice shots. It's a lovely place to stand and watch the sunrise in Calgary, but at -16 with a slow breeze it was a long 2 hours all the same. I used my 70-200 mm telephoto to pick out some detail in the city too and got some good shots of the tower and surrounding buildings. I've captioned the gallery today just to add a bit more interest. The first 4 shots are a nice walk through the colour spectrum during the sunrise. The main shot is almost the last of the morning made by stitching 4 images from the telephoto lens at 70mm. If it's -7 and a bitterly cold wind is blowing, then it's time for Cecil and I to grab the photo gear and head out to kananaskis. The cold keeps most people at bay, snow blows over old footprints and there's going to be plenty of ice for the foreground.
We really had a good day today and got better shots than I first thought. I seemed to be struggling to find new topics and when I did the light just wasn't right. We hit the usual hotspots, Barrier Lake, the river beneath the bridge to Nakiska Ski resort and of course kananaskis lakes. The lower lake is frozen over entirely now, though not yet thick enough to walk on. The bitter cold wind had swept the surface clean of snow so we could still get a reflection of the mountain ranges across the lake. We walked the western shoreline today where we discovered plenty of stumps and some nice light. After that we went to the upper lake but the wind was relentless up there and after a few shots we returned to the truck. Realising it was only 45 minutes to sunset we decided to go back to the lower lake and see if it was worth setting up the tripod. It wasn't the best sunset we've had but it made a nice close to a really great day, albeit a cold one. It's going to be all ice and snow from now onward I think, but I'll try to come up with some different locations and topics as the winter wears on. There are captions in the gallery so you can see the different locations and a larger version of the main shot looking across the lower lake is available by clicking the image. |
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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