Ice carving at Lake Louise
Pika / Ochonta princeps
A day in the mountains
Meadow Creek area, Benchlands
Now they can't see me
Osprey take-off
Strawberries and cream fungus / Hydnellum peckii
Paintbrush - green flowers, red bracts
Mt Lorette Ponds, Kananaskis
Wind-blown Osprey
Unidentified fungus
Treasures of the forest floor
Slightly patterned
A joy to behold
Strawberries and Cream fungus / Hydnellum peckii
Green jelly mass on Buller Pond
Above the tree line
Unexpected closeness
Tiny Hummingbird at Highwood House
Female Spruce Grouse with one of her young
The cutest little furball
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Bighorn Sheep - she's a beauty
A bright splash of blue in August
Young Spruce Grouse
Northern Gentian
A gathering of female Bighorn Sheep
One of my favourite meadows
Mushroom in a wonderfully lush setting
Young Spruce Grouse
A brief moment's rest
Chipmunk with a yummy snack
Peninsular, Lower Kananaskis Lake
A brief moment of rest
Quite a typical view
Lower Kananaskis Lake at Peninsular
Lichens and moss at Rock Glacier
Between a rock and a hard place
The long road south
Lichen at Rock Glacier
Push!
Our beautiful foothills on an overcast day
Spruce Grouse, adult female
Light-coloured Pika
The beauty of Kananaskis along Highway 40
Distant haze
Hiding between the rocks
Mid-squeak!
Peninsular area, Lower Kananaskis Lake
It's that little guy (gal) again
Peninsular area, Lower Kananaskis Lake
When fall colours are just a memory
Sometimes it's wildlife, sometimes it's .... cows
A patterned sky
The beauty of fall
3 Nature's artwork
02 Hidden in the clouds
01 The glory of fall
A beauty from mushroom season
Growing in the cracks
Osprey on the hunt
Shingled/Scaly Hedgehog fungus / Sarcodon imbricat…
A brief close encounter
When winter really was winter
Taking the quieter road
Rent a canoe at Emerald Lake
The beauty of Lake Louise
Emerald Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Emerald Lake
Chateau Lake Louise and ice castle
A winter walk
Winter beauty
Snow, snow and more snow
Clark's Nutcracker
"Canoe with three warriors", by Team Sakha from Ru…
Now THIS is winter!
Clark's Nutcracker / Nucifraga columbiana
Spikes of ice
Sunlight on the low cloud
Morning awakes
Sparkles on Forgetmenot Pond
Deciduous yellow
Fence line in the fall
The joy of peace and quiet
Forgetmenot Pond
Emerald Lake, British Columbia
Emerald Lake - a little gem of the Rockies
Pika, up close
Love a Pika's ears
Driving in a winter wonderland
Mountain splendour
Love those big ears and big feet
Sunshine on a mighty peak
Gathering food for the winter
A patchwork of lichens
Columbian Ground Squirrel
Black Bear from last spring
A moment of closeness
Set from the movie, The Revenant
From shadow to light
Mountain Sheep
Rolling hills close to home
A different backdrop
Sunlit peaks
A final goodbye
Sunbathed mountain slopes
A place of peace and beauty
Happy New Year, everyone!
Light and darkness
Heading into the sun
Texture of burnt trees
Soaking up the incredible beauty
Yesterday morning's sunrise
Mountain view
Stocking up on food for the winter
Between the trees
Pika storing food for the winter in its cave
Just a small mouthful
Layers of blue
Forgetmenot Pond
Living in a rocky world
The beauty of low cloud
A moment to ponder
Eye-catching Fireweed
Cedar Waxwing with mountain bokeh
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Clark's Nutcracker
Winter of 2015/2016 has been unusually mild, apart from a few really cold patches and snow. I haven't plugged in my car one single time all winter, and only had to scrape snow and ice off my car a handful of times, which has been wonderful. If only every winter could be this beautifully mild!
This is one of the Clark's Nutcrackers that we saw in the trees near the Chateau Lake Louise parking lot on 22 January 2016. These birds equate people with food, so like to hang around places such as parking lots.
"High in the mountains of the West, gray-and-black Clark’s Nutcrackers swoop among wizened pine trees, flashing white in the tail and wing. They use their dagger-like bills to rip into pine cones and pull out large seeds, which they stash in a pouch under their tongue and then carry away to bury for the winter. Each birds buries tens of thousands of seeds each summer and remembers the locations of most of them. Seeds they don’t retrieve play a crucial role in growing new pine forests." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clarks_Nutcracker/id
On this day, I was fortunate enough to get a place on a bus trip to Lake Louise and the annual Ice Sculpture display, Banff National Park, in the Rocky Mountains. It is a two-hour drive west of Calgary. Of course, any time a bus trip is organized way ahead of the day, you have no idea what the weather is going to be like. The weather was grim all day, with snow all day long, turning to really heavy, wet snow when we stood in the parking lot at the end of the day. No sign of the sun, which made photography a real challenge. There were so many people visiting the area that it was almost impossible to get photos without at least a few people included. Even the mountains had mostly disappeared. Our bus driver, Tim, did a wonderful job of getting us to the lake and all the way back to Calgary. I was just so thankful that I wasn't driving!
Some of the group chose to snowshoe, others to walk/hike, and others to join Anne Belton's group for birding. I was expecting a stroll along the lake shore and around the Chateau grounds, lol, but instead, we did a hike along the creek all the way to Lake Louise Village, roughly 4.2 km! The trail though the forest was very narrow - wide enough for heavy winter boots and icers plus maybe a couple of inches on either side. If you were unlucky enough to walk an inch further, you would have one leg plunge into snow up to your knee or higher. I was so thankful that this didn't happen to me, but it did mean that my eyes were looking downwards all the time instead of soaking up the glorious, snow-covered forest. The snow was so thick on the trees and when it became just too heavy for a branch to support, you stood the risk of being snow-bombed from high above. A lot of the trail was downhill - not fun in such conditions, but we all took it very slowly, though there were several tumbles or someone would end up travelling on their rear end. Not the easiset hike, but the surroundings couldn't have been more beautiful. Thankfully, the bus driver had arranged to drive down to the Village ready to pick us up and take us back uphill to the Lake.
As for the birds, well, they obviously didn't particularly like the grey, snowy day and stayed in hiding, other than several Common Ravens, a couple of Magpies, one or two Clark's Nutcrackers and two House Sparrows. Back at the Chateau, two of the birders did see a very distant Stellar's Jay - always a lovely bird to see, but it was too far for them to get photos.
We had time to wander round the Ice Scuptures area, in front of the Chateau. Some amazing work created by sculptors from various parts of the world.
"Winter comes alive in iconic Lake Louise, Alberta. Ice Magic Festival, January 15 - 24, 2016 is a world class event with over 20 years under its belt. Talented ice artists from around the world delicately balance grueling physical labour with precision artistry in a 34 hour International Ice Carving Competition.
Jaw-dropping scenery sets the stage as ice carving teams of 2 create sculptures illustrating their interpretations of our chosen theme for 2016: Earth, Wind, Fire & Water - Elements of Life." Taken from link below. I love that the prize money for this competition is only a comparatively small amount, which I think shows that the carvers do what they do for love of the art, not for the money : )
Team Ice Carving Competition
1st Place: $2,500
2nd Place: $1,500
3rd Place: $750
Carver's Choice: $750
People's Choice: $500
One Carver, One Hour, One Block
1st Place: $1,000
2nd Place: $300
3rd Place: $200
People's Choice: $250
www.banfflakelouise.com/Area-Events/Festivals/Winter/Snow...
So, a wonderful day trip for us all in breathtaking surroundings. I am especially appreciative, as I don't drive to the mountains, so rarely get to see them. Many thanks to FLC for doing such a great job of organizing this most enjoyable day for us. Thanks to Anne Belton for taking some of us on a beautiful, though not easy, hike through the forest. Definitely a day to remember.
This is one of the Clark's Nutcrackers that we saw in the trees near the Chateau Lake Louise parking lot on 22 January 2016. These birds equate people with food, so like to hang around places such as parking lots.
"High in the mountains of the West, gray-and-black Clark’s Nutcrackers swoop among wizened pine trees, flashing white in the tail and wing. They use their dagger-like bills to rip into pine cones and pull out large seeds, which they stash in a pouch under their tongue and then carry away to bury for the winter. Each birds buries tens of thousands of seeds each summer and remembers the locations of most of them. Seeds they don’t retrieve play a crucial role in growing new pine forests." From AllAboutBirds.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clarks_Nutcracker/id
On this day, I was fortunate enough to get a place on a bus trip to Lake Louise and the annual Ice Sculpture display, Banff National Park, in the Rocky Mountains. It is a two-hour drive west of Calgary. Of course, any time a bus trip is organized way ahead of the day, you have no idea what the weather is going to be like. The weather was grim all day, with snow all day long, turning to really heavy, wet snow when we stood in the parking lot at the end of the day. No sign of the sun, which made photography a real challenge. There were so many people visiting the area that it was almost impossible to get photos without at least a few people included. Even the mountains had mostly disappeared. Our bus driver, Tim, did a wonderful job of getting us to the lake and all the way back to Calgary. I was just so thankful that I wasn't driving!
Some of the group chose to snowshoe, others to walk/hike, and others to join Anne Belton's group for birding. I was expecting a stroll along the lake shore and around the Chateau grounds, lol, but instead, we did a hike along the creek all the way to Lake Louise Village, roughly 4.2 km! The trail though the forest was very narrow - wide enough for heavy winter boots and icers plus maybe a couple of inches on either side. If you were unlucky enough to walk an inch further, you would have one leg plunge into snow up to your knee or higher. I was so thankful that this didn't happen to me, but it did mean that my eyes were looking downwards all the time instead of soaking up the glorious, snow-covered forest. The snow was so thick on the trees and when it became just too heavy for a branch to support, you stood the risk of being snow-bombed from high above. A lot of the trail was downhill - not fun in such conditions, but we all took it very slowly, though there were several tumbles or someone would end up travelling on their rear end. Not the easiset hike, but the surroundings couldn't have been more beautiful. Thankfully, the bus driver had arranged to drive down to the Village ready to pick us up and take us back uphill to the Lake.
As for the birds, well, they obviously didn't particularly like the grey, snowy day and stayed in hiding, other than several Common Ravens, a couple of Magpies, one or two Clark's Nutcrackers and two House Sparrows. Back at the Chateau, two of the birders did see a very distant Stellar's Jay - always a lovely bird to see, but it was too far for them to get photos.
We had time to wander round the Ice Scuptures area, in front of the Chateau. Some amazing work created by sculptors from various parts of the world.
"Winter comes alive in iconic Lake Louise, Alberta. Ice Magic Festival, January 15 - 24, 2016 is a world class event with over 20 years under its belt. Talented ice artists from around the world delicately balance grueling physical labour with precision artistry in a 34 hour International Ice Carving Competition.
Jaw-dropping scenery sets the stage as ice carving teams of 2 create sculptures illustrating their interpretations of our chosen theme for 2016: Earth, Wind, Fire & Water - Elements of Life." Taken from link below. I love that the prize money for this competition is only a comparatively small amount, which I think shows that the carvers do what they do for love of the art, not for the money : )
Team Ice Carving Competition
1st Place: $2,500
2nd Place: $1,500
3rd Place: $750
Carver's Choice: $750
People's Choice: $500
One Carver, One Hour, One Block
1st Place: $1,000
2nd Place: $300
3rd Place: $200
People's Choice: $250
www.banfflakelouise.com/Area-Events/Festivals/Winter/Snow...
So, a wonderful day trip for us all in breathtaking surroundings. I am especially appreciative, as I don't drive to the mountains, so rarely get to see them. Many thanks to FLC for doing such a great job of organizing this most enjoyable day for us. Thanks to Anne Belton for taking some of us on a beautiful, though not easy, hike through the forest. Definitely a day to remember.
Daniel Palacin has particularly liked this photo
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