We had gotten up at 4:30am (which is awfully early for a Saturday) to drive HWY 40. This is a bit of a summer ritual for us. Kananaskis Country is one of our favorite places to be and early in the morning it usually chock full of wildlife. Today was different though, we had only seen deer and not much else. I had learned however that Rock Glacier was a good place to see Pikas if you knew where to look. Pikas are small mammals that sort of resemble a hamster. They exclusively live at high elevations, generally in loose rocky terrain, so Rock Glacier is a perfect habitat for them. When we got to the pull-out for Rock Glacier there was a solitary Rocky Mountain Sheep ram standing near the side of the road but we were here to see Pikas so we didn't pay much attention to him, this would later prove to be a mistake. After walking up the trail and finding a couple of Pikas that would stay still long enough to have there picture taken we turned to head back to the car. As we reached the slight crest of the trail we came back into view of the Ram we had forgotten about. We must have startled him because he ran for higher ground. Which was unfortunately right about where we were standing, placing himself on the trail between us and the car. Rocky Mountain Sheep are large powerful animals with very large horns. If he had felt that we were a threat he could have really injured either one of us. We stared at each other for about a minute and slowly he moved further up the hill and out of our way. I snapped a couple pictures and we headed for the car before he could change his mind.
    We made it all the way to the rangers station near the end of HWY 40 before we saw our first bear of the day. A rather large Blonde colored Black Bear was feeding by the roadside across the highway from the rangers station. We pulled over and watched him for around 15 minutes while I snapped pictures, him completely unconcerned  that we were there. After a while he wandered back into the bushes and we called it a day.

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    We had gotten up at 4:45 to go out to Waterton. They had received a lot of rain and been under a flood watch so we wanted to survey the damage. Much of the town was under water and the Red Rock Parkway was closed due to water running over the road. We had done a trip up the Akamina Parkway and gone for a hike all without seeing any wildlife. On our last trip back down the Akamina before going home we were both really hoping to see a bear. We were pleasantly rewarded...I spotted the mother bear first and as we came to a stop I saw a cub behind her, then another, and another. I got a couple shots of the mother and then turned my attention to the cubs. All four of the bears were focused on eating so it was difficult to get a good shot of the triplets. This was mostly because the vegetation was taller then they were. One was more curious than the other two and stood up to get a better look at me. After a couple minutes we let them be and went on our way. We made on last trip around the un-flooded part of Waterton and came across a Deer and a very small Bambi as well.

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    Last weekend the Tree Swallows returned to our backyard. We had them frequenting our yard last year but they never made a nest in the birdhouse. This year as we were watching them we figured out the problem. The hole in the house was too small. The female was trying to go in the house but was struggling to make it through the opening. After a quick internet search for plans, a trip to Home Depot, and a couple hours I had a Tree Swallow nesting box. Within 24 hours of putting it up the swallows were already bringing nesting material into the box to claim it as their own. As of today it is almost non-stop nest building with the female doing most of the work while the male "guards" the nest. These two Swallows must be used to people as they don't mind us being outside while they build, which has allowed me to get some great pictures of them.

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    In this case the fox said nothing.
   
    We had gotten up at 4am to go to Waterton National Park for the day. South of Longview we started to see a lot of Elk but they were all on way up on the hills and out of camera range. Just past Chain Lakes there was a Bald Eagle perched on a fence post not more than 20 feet away from the road. As soon as we stopped he flew off before I could even get my lens cap off. We got to Waterton and did a quick drive around the Bison Paddock all the Bison were far off the road but I did get a few shots of a Mountain Bluebird, a bird I had been trying get pictures of for a few years. A drive down the Red Rock Parkway didn't yield any good pictures either despite seeing a Golden Eagle. We headed into the Waterton town-site and went for a walk down the beach and spent some time taking pictures of a Tree Swallow.

    By this time I was getting a little dejected from not seeing anything great to take pictures of. That was when I saw what I thought was a Fawn laying in the snow. When I zoomed in on it I realized(much to my delight) that it was a Red Fox. Getting pictures of a Fox was high on my "wishlist" as i had only seen them twice both time when the camera was at home. I fired off a couple shots and crept a little closer the fox ran off a little ways and sat down, so I crept closer again. This started what became almost like a game that went on for the next ten or fifteen minutes. I get closer take a few pictures and she back off a bit and sit down waiting for me. At times she even laid down and closed her eyes not seeming to care that I was there. When I ducked behind a building to get in some shade and check the pictures I had taken she came looking for me to see where I went. Getting to spend time like this which such a beautiful animal made this a day that I will always remember.

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I discovered this afternoon that I have what appears to be a breeding pair of Horned Grebes living in the pond across the street from my house. I had across gone across the street with the camera because I had seen a couple of Bufflehead ducks and wanted to get pictures of them. Instead I found the Grebes paddling around the pond. Today's sighting of these birds is a first for me so I don't have a lot of info share about them.

The Horned Grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater.

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I had been seeing quite a few pictures of some of the migratory birds in one of Calgary's S.E. parks. It had been warm all day yesterday, so after work we decided to head there in hopes of getting some pictures. We had walked all the way around the park including the back trails without seeing much of anything except for a few deer and a couple Waxwings. When we got back to the parking lot my wife stopped to tie her shoe. While I waited I was looking around to see if I could find the bird I could hear chirping. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something up in one of the trees beside me. When I looked up I realized it was an owlet. As we walked over to starting taking some pictures we could see the mother owl a little higher up and around the side of the tree. The owlet was doing a pretty good job of hiding but its mother was in full view. With the sun starting to go down I was losing the light I needed and the temperature was starting to drop. I was only able to get a few good shots before we decide to call it a day.

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