Sunlight on the low cloud

What a day I had a year ago, on 7 December 2014, with friends Cathy and Terry, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink (see yesterday's photo). This is always such an amazing sight to see. There was low cloud in some places, too, which I always love to see.

Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that is still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day!

My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose and on this trip they did well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a youngish male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the sides of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they approached the car. You may stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance :) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free carwash, anyone??

We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the same female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow among some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around either.

I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. My friends were so delighted to be able to let me experience this, though I've always said that just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me.