Hungry little Chipmunk
Water Smartweed / Polygonum amphibium
Love those little Pika feet
Red beauty on a scree slope
Pika pose
It's Pika time - again
Colour from Ornamental Cabbages
Rocks near Little Tobago island
Cacti on Little Tobago, Day 3
American Dipper / Cinclus mexicanus
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
(Yellow?) Morel mushroom
Sheep River Falls, Alberta
Small and fast .... and adorable
Wide angle on the Bighorn Sheep ridge
Waiting for the herd to descend
Painted Lady
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel in a Pika's cave
On the way down
Semipalmated Plover / Charadrius semipalmatus?
Killdeer / Charadrius vociferus
Townsend's Solitaire / Myadestes townsendi
Ferruginous Hawk
Columbian Ground Squirrel / Urocitellus columbianu…
Black-necked Stilt (juvenile?) / Himantopus mexica…
Black-necked Stilt (juvenile?)
Day 6, Tadoussac, Quebec
Day 7, Harbor Seal, Saguenay Fjord, Tadoussac
Harlequin Duck / Histrionicus histrionicus
Afternoon trip to the mountains
Bighorn Sheep
Growing in the cracks
3 Nature's artwork
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
It's that little guy (gal) again
It's beginning to look a lot like winter
Almost above the clouds
A vanishing world
When sane people do crazy things
Mid-squeak!
Hiding between the rocks
Light-coloured Pika
Periglacial feature, Plateau Mountain
Puffballs on Plateau Mountain
Chinook arch over Calgary
Push!
Between a rock and a hard place
A brief moment of rest
A brief moment's rest
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
The cutest little furball
Above the tree line
Mountain Bluebird from three years ago
Pika / Ochonta princeps
Just look at those toenails
Comma butterfly - one of my favourites
Munch, munch, munch ....
African Crested Porcupine / Hystrix cristata
Purplish Fritillary / Boloria chariclea
Lance-leaved Stonecrop / Sedum lanceolatum
Pika, up close
Love a Pika's ears
Love those big ears and big feet
Such a cute little thing
Gathering food for the winter
A moment of closeness
Inukshuk Santa
Stocking up on food for the winter
Pika storing food for the winter in its cave
The art of ice
Sleepy Snow Leopard
Just a small mouthful
Living in a rocky world
What fall is all about
Chipmunk with Foxtail
A moment to ponder
A change from Marmots
Pika, busily feeding
Oh, so cute
What could be cuter?
A colourful rocky spot
Caught between a rock and a hard place
Clouds at Red Rock Coulee
Juvenile Herring Gull?
Lower Falls, Johnston Canyon, Kananaskis
Small rocks, Red Rock Coulee
Narrowleaf Stoneseed
Moraine Lake
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler in a garden paradise
Roseroot
White Mountain-avens
Eye contact with a Mink
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476 visits
A brief close encounter
Well, it's all over - the United States now has a new President-elect, Donald Trump. What an historic moment! Sad that about half the country is rejoicing while the other half is in shock. Hopefully, there will be a way for everyone to come together, rather than stay divided.
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These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running backwards and forwards over the scree (talus) slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come close, usually for just a quick moment.
"The American Pika is a generalist herbivore. It eats a large variety of green plants, including different kinds of grasses, sedges, thistles and fireweed. Although pikas can meet their water demands from the vegetation they eat, they do drink water if it is available in their environment. Pikas have two different ways of foraging: they directly consume food (feeding) or they cache food in haypiles to use for a food source in the winter (haying). The pika feeds throughout the year while haying is limited to the summer months. Since they do not hibernate, pikas have greater energy demands than other montane mammals. In addition, they also make 13 trips per hour to collect vegetation when haying, up to a little over 100 trips per day." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
A couple of short YouTube videos in case anyone wants to hear and see these absolutely cute creatures:
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
youtu.be/OQ2IgcjVIfc
The only time I had ever driven to Kananaskis (the mountain area closest to Calgary) was fairly recently, on 10 September 2016, when my daughter came with me. I wasn't too impressed with the photos I took on the first drive, especially of the little Pikas (Rock Rabbits) that we went to see, so I wanted to go and spend a bit more time with them. A drive like this also helped me get a bit more used to my new car - before the roads are covered in snow and ice! Actually, there was a bit of snow on the ground in places close to the trees when I got to where I see these Pikas.
I left home at 8:45 am, later than I had intended, and drove southwards via Millarville and the back way to Highway 40. When I Googled the distance via that route, it gave me 134 km, 1 hr 41 mins from home to the Highwood Pass. Needless to say, I kept stopping to take photos, so it took me longer than that. By the time I got back home around 5:00 pm, I had driven 299 km. This day was a Monday, so not too much traffic anywhere, which makes a huge difference.
The weather cooperated very nicely. A little chilly to start with and a sky full of beautiful cloud formation early morning. This time, I only drove as far as the Pikas, just north of the Highwood Pass, especially as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't driving home in the dark. The Highwood Pass, at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft) is the highest paved pass in Canada. In past years, I have hiked the Ptarmigan Cirque, Pocaterra and Arethusa Cirque trails, but can no longer do hikes like these. The scenery is breathtaking in this whole area (indeed, for the whole drive), some mountain slopes covered in forest and other mountain faces displaying bald, breathtaking folds above the treeline.
There was only one scary incident on this trip. I had stopped to take a few scenic shots when I was on the backroad to join Highway 40. I didn't close my car door completely and when I went to open it, I discovered it was locked! Pressing the fob to open all the doors did nothing. I just could not get into my vehicle. Thank goodness, I had read on the Internet that there is a key hidden away inside the fob - otherwise I would never have known and might still be standing there, lol!
Feels so good to know that I am now comfortable enough to do this drive on my own, after so many years of wishing I had the courage to do it. Not sure if I'm brave enough to do it in the winter, but we will see. Thank you, little Pikas, for being so adorably cute, that I was determined to drive back to see you : )
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running backwards and forwards over the scree (talus) slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come close, usually for just a quick moment.
"The American Pika is a generalist herbivore. It eats a large variety of green plants, including different kinds of grasses, sedges, thistles and fireweed. Although pikas can meet their water demands from the vegetation they eat, they do drink water if it is available in their environment. Pikas have two different ways of foraging: they directly consume food (feeding) or they cache food in haypiles to use for a food source in the winter (haying). The pika feeds throughout the year while haying is limited to the summer months. Since they do not hibernate, pikas have greater energy demands than other montane mammals. In addition, they also make 13 trips per hour to collect vegetation when haying, up to a little over 100 trips per day." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
A couple of short YouTube videos in case anyone wants to hear and see these absolutely cute creatures:
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
youtu.be/OQ2IgcjVIfc
The only time I had ever driven to Kananaskis (the mountain area closest to Calgary) was fairly recently, on 10 September 2016, when my daughter came with me. I wasn't too impressed with the photos I took on the first drive, especially of the little Pikas (Rock Rabbits) that we went to see, so I wanted to go and spend a bit more time with them. A drive like this also helped me get a bit more used to my new car - before the roads are covered in snow and ice! Actually, there was a bit of snow on the ground in places close to the trees when I got to where I see these Pikas.
I left home at 8:45 am, later than I had intended, and drove southwards via Millarville and the back way to Highway 40. When I Googled the distance via that route, it gave me 134 km, 1 hr 41 mins from home to the Highwood Pass. Needless to say, I kept stopping to take photos, so it took me longer than that. By the time I got back home around 5:00 pm, I had driven 299 km. This day was a Monday, so not too much traffic anywhere, which makes a huge difference.
The weather cooperated very nicely. A little chilly to start with and a sky full of beautiful cloud formation early morning. This time, I only drove as far as the Pikas, just north of the Highwood Pass, especially as I wanted to make sure that I wasn't driving home in the dark. The Highwood Pass, at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft) is the highest paved pass in Canada. In past years, I have hiked the Ptarmigan Cirque, Pocaterra and Arethusa Cirque trails, but can no longer do hikes like these. The scenery is breathtaking in this whole area (indeed, for the whole drive), some mountain slopes covered in forest and other mountain faces displaying bald, breathtaking folds above the treeline.
There was only one scary incident on this trip. I had stopped to take a few scenic shots when I was on the backroad to join Highway 40. I didn't close my car door completely and when I went to open it, I discovered it was locked! Pressing the fob to open all the doors did nothing. I just could not get into my vehicle. Thank goodness, I had read on the Internet that there is a key hidden away inside the fob - otherwise I would never have known and might still be standing there, lol!
Feels so good to know that I am now comfortable enough to do this drive on my own, after so many years of wishing I had the courage to do it. Not sure if I'm brave enough to do it in the winter, but we will see. Thank you, little Pikas, for being so adorably cute, that I was determined to drive back to see you : )
, Don Sutherland, , and 9 other people have particularly liked this photo
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