Our majestic mountains
Heading into the mountains
Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail
Kananaskis, through the windshield
Pika - tiny fluffball
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond
Thirsty Bighorn Sheep
Beginning to look like fall
Columbian Ground Squirrel / Urocitellus columbianu…
Sedge
On the way to Canmore - seven Swans a-swimming :)
Twice the beauty
When the land turns white
Dazzling sunlight on distant peaks
Time to rest
A white world
A patch of blue
White-tailed Ptarmigan camouflage
White-tailed Ptarmigan
Walking in a winter wonderland
The beauty of erosion
Start of the storm
Learning from Mom
Storm arriving at Quarry Lake, near Canmore
A drive through Kananaskis
Town of Canmore, Alberta
Bighorn Sheep on the slope
When the storm moved in
A view from Quarry Lake, Canmore
Bighorn Sheep, mom and youngster
A mountain meadow, Kananaskis, Alberta
Cattle drive in the mountains of Kananaskis, Alber…
Heading for the mountains on a hazy morning
Kananaskis before the snowstorm
Lichen on the rocks at Rock Glacier
Road through Kananaskis
Farm in the foothills
Pika, on a windy day
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
Strawberries and cream fungus / Hydnellum peckii
Colour among the mosses and lichens
Upper Kananaskis Lake
It's those white birds again
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American Pika - such a cutie
Fall began just 10 days ago but "winter" arrived this morning, 2 October! Maybe five or six inches of the white stuff so far. I have an appointment this afternoon to go and get my snow tires put on - the snow beat me by just a few hours. Our temperature is -3C (windchill -7C) and we are under a Snowfall Warning.
On 28 August 2018, I drove SW of the city to Highway 40 and through Kananaskis. Almost a month later, on 25 September 2018, I did part of the drive again on the spur of the moment, after waking up and seeing sunshine, which seems to happen so rarely these days. I thought this might just be my last chance to see fall colours and, if I was lucky, a little Pika.
A good thing I did go, now that snow has arrived. Sometimes, one is out of luck, but I was able to get a few Pika photos, mainly more distant shots. It was a relief to find that there was no snow on the ground, as walking on a talus slope that is also covered in snow and ice is really treacherous.
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.
"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/OQ2IgcjVIfc
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
On 28 August 2018, I drove SW of the city to Highway 40 and through Kananaskis. Almost a month later, on 25 September 2018, I did part of the drive again on the spur of the moment, after waking up and seeing sunshine, which seems to happen so rarely these days. I thought this might just be my last chance to see fall colours and, if I was lucky, a little Pika.
A good thing I did go, now that snow has arrived. Sometimes, one is out of luck, but I was able to get a few Pika photos, mainly more distant shots. It was a relief to find that there was no snow on the ground, as walking on a talus slope that is also covered in snow and ice is really treacherous.
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.
"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/OQ2IgcjVIfc
youtu.be/US_Hy_eGPtg
Jean-pierre Dethor has particularly liked this photo
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