I should have set my alarm for this morning (12 December 2015) after all, as my 'traumatic' afternoon yesterday seems to have tired me out even more than I realized, lol. I actually had to go to a shopping mall, something that I normally avoid at all cost - and just two weeks before Christmas! This insanity was caused by an electric kettle that had finally worn out the evening before and I knew there was no way around it. This trip reminded me why I dislike this time of year so much!
Later, to calm my frazzled nerves, I started looking through some scenic shots in my archives. This was one of the first ones I came across, taken more or less a year ago. A change of colour for my photostream, too.
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 (zoomed photo that made the mountains appear closer than they actually were). This is always such an amazing sight to see. Full moon for us was 6 December, about 24 hours before this day trip began.
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 day, they did well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the side 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 can 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 might 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.
Tags: Alberta Canada W of Calgary Foothills Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies nature scenery landscape snow mountains pink sunrise day after full moon beautiful spectacular majestic peaks mountain range late autumn late fall like winter outdoor FZ200 annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2014 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
Sorry, I'm back to Pika posting again. I took quite a few photos of two of these beautiful little Pikas - enough shots to keep me from feeling like going through them all straight away to find a few that were OK to post. So, every now and then, I will dip into the file of photos from that day. When this little animal ran over towards us and froze for a few moments, it gave us a wonderful chance for close images.
On 19 August 2014, I was lucky enough to have the chance to try and photograph a couple of these absolutely adorable little creatures : ) After a while, I was beginning to despair of ever getting any decent shots at all. These tiny Pikas, also known as Rock Rabbits, hardly ever remain still and they are extremely fast! Imagine a mountain hillside covered in sharp, jagged rocks of all sizes and then try to picture how difficult it is to find in the viewfinder the single rock on which one of these Pikas might happen to sit for a second or two, lol! As time passed, I managed to take quite a few photos, though many needed to be deleted. A couple of times, this Pika came bounding over the rocks near to where we were standing and just sat there, long enough to get a few very close shots. They are about 15 to 23 centimetres (5.9 to 9.1 in) in body length, so really are pretty small, especially when off in the distance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika
I found this excellent and amusing YouTube video, 3:30 minutes long, It is The American Pika in the BBC's Life of Mammals series.
youtu.be/Sifk9uphr2Q
The weather forecast was not good for that day, but we were so lucky that, apart from a few raindrops, the rain stayed away. The sun actually came out at two locations we stopped at for a short while. Our 18-hour day (from 6;00 a.m. till midnight!) started off with the thrill of seeing these Pikas and ended with a brief sighting of a black Wolf crossing the road ahead of us in the dark. It disappeared into the blackness, but shortly afterwards, we heard three (possibly four) separate Wolves howling way off in the distance. We just stood there, in total awe, listening to this amazing sound. The only wild Wolf I had ever seen before was when I was in Yellowstone National Park two years ago. Friends and I saw two Wolves feeding on a Bison carcass across a huge valley - so they were just distant specks, that became slightly larger specks when my camera was in full zoom.
In between these two highlights, we saw several Deer, a small group of Mountain Sheep on the road, a tiny Chipmunk, a few Cedar Waxwings, Columbian Ground Squirrels, a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk that sat on a branch out in the open for a long time, and two tiny Bats that flew very close over our heads when it was getting dark. We also saw an adult Spruce Grouse with two young ones.
Then, of course, there is the scenery! Blue sky to go with the splendour of the mountains would have been wonderful, but we had been having cold and gloomy weather for a while before this day out. Highway 40 and the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail both run through such spectacular scenery, so it was a real treat for me, especially as I won't drive to those areas myself.
Tags: Alberta Canada Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies Highway 40 nature animal mammal wild wild animal wildlife American Pika Pika Ochonta princeps Lagomorpha Ochotonidae Ochonta 6-9 inches long side view native close-up rocks scree cold climates © Anne Elliott 2014 © All Rights Reserved season summer August annkelliott Anne Elliott Panasonic DMC-FZ200 FZ200 Lumix
© All Rights Reserved
I took quite a few photos of two of these beautiful little Pikas - enough shots to keep me from feeling like going through them all straight away to find a few that were OK to post. So, every now and then, I will dip into the file of photos from that day. When this little animal ran over towards us and froze for a few moments, it gave us a wonderful chance for close images.
On 19 August 2014, I was lucky enough to have the chance to try and photograph a couple of these absolutely adorable little creatures : ) After a while, I was beginning to despair of ever getting any decent shots at all. These tiny Pikas, also known as Rock Rabbits, hardly ever remain still and they are extremely fast! Imagine a mountain hillside covered in sharp, jagged rocks of all sizes and then try to picture how difficult it is to find in the viewfinder the single rock on which one of these Pikas might happen to sit for a second or two, lol! As time passed, I managed to take quite a few photos, though many needed to be deleted. A couple of times, this Pika came bounding over the rocks near to where we were standing and just sat there, long enough to get a few very close shots. They are about 15 to 23 centimetres (5.9 to 9.1 in) in body length, so really are pretty small, especially when off in the distance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika
I found this excellent and amusing YouTube video, 3:30 minutes long, It is The American Pika in the BBC's Life of Mammals series.
youtu.be/Sifk9uphr2Q
The weather forecast was not good for that day, but we were so lucky that, apart from a few raindrops, the rain stayed away. The sun actually came out at two locations we stopped at for a short while. Our 18-hour day (from 6;00 a.m. till midnight!) started off with the thrill of seeing these Pikas and ended with a brief sighting of a black Wolf crossing the road ahead of us in the dark. It disappeared into the blackness, but shortly afterwards, we heard three (possibly four) separate Wolves howling way off in the distance. We just stood there, in total awe, listening to this amazing sound. The only wild Wolf I had ever seen before was when I was in Yellowstone National Park two years ago. Friends and I saw two Wolves feeding on a Bison carcass across a huge valley - so they were just distant specks, that became slightly larger specks when my camera was in full zoom.
In between these two highlights, we saw several Deer, a small group of Mountain Sheep on the road, a tiny Chipmunk, a few Cedar Waxwings, Columbian Ground Squirrels, a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk that sat on a branch out in the open for a long time, and two tiny Bats that flew very close over our heads when it was getting dark. We also saw an adult Spruce Grouse with two young ones.
Then, of course, there is the scenery! Blue sky to go with the splendour of the mountains would have been wonderful, but we had been having cold and gloomy weather for a while before this day out. Highway 40 and the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail both run through such spectacular scenery, so it was a real treat for me, especially as I won't drive to those areas myself.
Tags: Alberta Canada Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies Highway 40 nature animal mammal wild wild animal wildlife American Pika Pika Ochonta princeps Lagomorpha Ochotonidae Ochonta 6-9 inches long side view native close-up rocks scree cold climates
© All Rights Reserved
THANK YOU TO ALL MY FRIENDS (and people that I don't know) FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE LOSS OF MY OLDEST DAUGHTER, FIONA, EASIER TO BEAR! YOU HAVE ALL MADE SO MUCH DIFFERENCE - I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH!
Hard to believe that today, we have the celebration of life service for Fiona. We will be getting together with various friends to share memories of our brave daughter. It will have been two weeks since she passed away peacefully (though suddenly and unexpectedly), in hospital, with her family at her bedside.
This photo, that I almost titled "Beyond the clouds", was taken on 7 December 2014, on the way to the Kananaskis area of the mountains for the day with friends, Cathy and Terry. Sunrise briefly turns the mountain peaks and slopes a glorious pink.
Tags: Alberta Canada W of Calgary Foothills Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies nature scenery landscape autumn fall like winter snow mountains fields pink sunrise beautiful peaceful spectacular majestic peaks mountain range clouds annkelliott Anne Elliott FZ200 Lumix © Anne Elliott 2014 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
What a day I had yesterday (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 (zoomed photo that made the mountains appear closer than they actually were). This is always such an amazing sight to see. Full moon for us was 6 December, about 24 hours before this day trip began.
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 yesterday they did well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the side 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 can 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 might eventually come close. All this 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 this 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. Full moon was 6 December this year (i.e. the day before this photo was taken).
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 yesterday, though I always tell them that just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me. Yesterday, they did really, really well! Be warned that I took a lot of photos, so I hope you won't get tired of seeing Moose and snow-covered mountains! Guess I'll have to throw in the occasional Weasel or Pika photo to break the monotony for you, ha.
Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for such a great day - including the delicious chili that you brought along. Hope you are enjoying going through your own photos and video today : ) Most of the time, the female was in the shade, which made taking photos a bit of a challenge. What a difference in the colour of her coat when she occasionally moved into the sun.
Tags: Alberta Canada W of Calgary Foothills Kananaskis K-Country Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies nature scenery landscape autumn fall like winter snow mountains pink sunrise day after full moon beautiful spectacular majestic peaks mountain range annkelliott Anne Elliott FZ200
© All Rights Reserved