Farm in the foothills
Road through Kananaskis
Lichen on the rocks at Rock Glacier
Ah, those glorious Larches in their fall colours
Things are not always what they seem
Kananaskis before the snowstorm
Heading for the mountains on a hazy morning
Cattle drive in the mountains of Kananaskis, Alber…
A mountain meadow, Kananaskis, Alberta
Bighorn Sheep, mom and youngster
A view from Quarry Lake, Canmore
When the storm moved in
Bighorn Sheep on the slope
Town of Canmore, Alberta
A drive through Kananaskis
Storm arriving at Quarry Lake, near Canmore
Learning from Mom
Start of the storm
The beauty of erosion
Dazzling sunlight on distant peaks
When the land turns white
Sedge
Columbian Ground Squirrel / Urocitellus columbianu…
Beginning to look like fall
Thirsty Bighorn Sheep
American Pika - such a cutie
Our majestic mountains
Heading into the mountains
Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail
Kananaskis, through the windshield
Pika - tiny fluffball
A usual pose of an American Pika
Fall colour in Kananaskis
An unexpected find - Shaggy Manes / Inky caps
Old log cabin/barn seen through the trees
Orange False Dandelion
Shaggy Mane / Inky Cap
Kananaskis on a mixed-weather day
Tiny mushrooms on a rotting log
September snow in Kananaskis
Old cars in Kananaskis
Late September in Kananaskis, 2019
A favourite view in Kananaskis
American Pika
Bighorn Sheep / Ovis canadensis, Kananaskis
Black Bear, Kananaskis
Wedge Pond, Kananaskis, Alberta
Bighorn Sheep, Kananaskis
Buller Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond
Terrible photos - but it was a GRIZZLY : )
Bighorn curiosity
Grizzly & one of her two cubs
Bighorn Sheep female
Kananaskis 'winter'
Grizzly female (#152) and cubs
Wedge Pond in fading fall colours
Barrier Lake, Kananaskis
Bighorn Sheep
Kananaskis
Bighorn Sheep licking salt off the highway
Wedge Pond, Kananaskis
On the way down
Scenery along Highway 40, Kananaskis
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel in a Pika's cave
A favourite road
Painted Lady
Waiting for the herd to descend
Wide angle on the Bighorn Sheep ridge
Keeping watch over the herd
Small and fast .... and adorable
The beauty of our mountains
Clouds over the mountains
Star-flowered Solomon's Seal / Maianthemum stellat…
Arnica sp.
A splash of much-needed colour
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
(Yellow?) Morel mushroom
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
Tall Lungwort
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
White-crowned Sparrow / Zonotrichia leucophrys
American Dipper / Cinclus mexicanus
Shooting stars / Dodecatheon sp. (and Dandelions)
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Kananaskis - a winter wonderland
Arethusa Cirque trail, Kananaskis
Chocolate chip lichen / Solorina crocea
Strawberries and cream fungus / Hydnellum peckii
Colour among the mosses and lichens
Upper Kananaskis Lake
Moose in the mountains
It's Pika time - again
Moose from the archives
Winter in Kananaskis
Pika pose
Before the snow
Before the snow came
Red beauty on a scree slope
Mushroom at Rock Glacier
Love those little Pika feet
One spectacular fall day
Hungry little Chipmunk
Two winters ago
Hiding in the shadows
A brief close encounter
Shingled/Scaly Hedgehog fungus / Sarcodon imbricat…
Osprey on the hunt
Growing in the cracks
A beauty from mushroom season
01 The glory of fall
02 Hidden in the clouds
3 Nature's artwork
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
The beauty of fall
A patterned sky
Sometimes it's wildlife, sometimes it's .... cows
When fall colours are just a memory
Peninsular area, Lower Kananaskis Lake
It's that little guy (gal) again
Peninsular area, Lower Kananaskis Lake
Mid-squeak!
Hiding between the rocks
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193 visits
Pika, on a windy day
These little Pikas/Rock Rabbits are only 6-9 inches long and are usually seen far away, running back and forth over the massive scree (talus) mountain slope that they call home. Very occasionally, one happens to come a bit closer, usually for just a quick moment. Love their little front paws and their round ears. This one's fur was being blown all over the place, as it was so windy.
"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
On 18 August 2017, I made a very last-minute decision (just after midnight) to return to this location. Last year (2016), I had finally made myself do this long drive (293 km), after longing for years to be able to get there on my own. I was determined to go again this summer, and this was the day.
I left home a few minutes before 8:00 am and took the scenic back road to Highway 40. Unfortunately, we are still getting the smoke from the British Columbia and Alberta wildfires, so distant shots are not the best. However, the landscape on this whole drive is spectacular and I could never tire of it. I would imagine most people drive the whole loop along Highway 40, but my destination was a place where Pikas live, keeping my fingers crossed that at least one of them would show up. I was in luck and saw two of them, and managed to get a few photos, though I have taken better photos on previous visits.
While I was standing near the base of this huge talus slope, I started hearing the sound of rocks falling! The first thing that flashed through my mind was that I was not standing in the best place if a rock slide happened, and then I remembered seeing someone's photo of a bear with her two cubs walking across the rocks just above where I was standing. Looking around, I could see nothing - and then, suddenly, I could just make out the tiny silhouette of a Bighorn Sheep on the very top of the ridge, and then several others came along. In a short time, one of them walked to the end of the ridge and stood there, on guard the whole time it took for the rest of the herd to slowly make its way down the rocky mountain side. They ended up passing me on a closer ridge and finally reached the road. What a journey they made in order to get salt off the road surface! I watched them for maybe an hour, while they hung around just below me, refusing to leave the road when cars came along. Nothing would make them budge! It was just as interesting to watch the reaction of the drivers - most slowed right down or stopped, and most people stayed in their vehicles.
After calling in again at Highwood House to pick up a much-needed coffee, I carried on with the drive home via various backroads, including the Priddis area. My early morning drive had given me just two birds - a Northern Harrier and some other Hawk. The return drive gave me maybe four Hawks, none of which stayed long enough for a photo. A strange, empty feeling, as two days earlier, friends and I had seen dozens of Hawks during a day's drive.
"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
On 18 August 2017, I made a very last-minute decision (just after midnight) to return to this location. Last year (2016), I had finally made myself do this long drive (293 km), after longing for years to be able to get there on my own. I was determined to go again this summer, and this was the day.
I left home a few minutes before 8:00 am and took the scenic back road to Highway 40. Unfortunately, we are still getting the smoke from the British Columbia and Alberta wildfires, so distant shots are not the best. However, the landscape on this whole drive is spectacular and I could never tire of it. I would imagine most people drive the whole loop along Highway 40, but my destination was a place where Pikas live, keeping my fingers crossed that at least one of them would show up. I was in luck and saw two of them, and managed to get a few photos, though I have taken better photos on previous visits.
While I was standing near the base of this huge talus slope, I started hearing the sound of rocks falling! The first thing that flashed through my mind was that I was not standing in the best place if a rock slide happened, and then I remembered seeing someone's photo of a bear with her two cubs walking across the rocks just above where I was standing. Looking around, I could see nothing - and then, suddenly, I could just make out the tiny silhouette of a Bighorn Sheep on the very top of the ridge, and then several others came along. In a short time, one of them walked to the end of the ridge and stood there, on guard the whole time it took for the rest of the herd to slowly make its way down the rocky mountain side. They ended up passing me on a closer ridge and finally reached the road. What a journey they made in order to get salt off the road surface! I watched them for maybe an hour, while they hung around just below me, refusing to leave the road when cars came along. Nothing would make them budge! It was just as interesting to watch the reaction of the drivers - most slowed right down or stopped, and most people stayed in their vehicles.
After calling in again at Highwood House to pick up a much-needed coffee, I carried on with the drive home via various backroads, including the Priddis area. My early morning drive had given me just two birds - a Northern Harrier and some other Hawk. The return drive gave me maybe four Hawks, none of which stayed long enough for a photo. A strange, empty feeling, as two days earlier, friends and I had seen dozens of Hawks during a day's drive.
ROL/Photo, autofantasia have particularly liked this photo
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