Coyote, Blue Jay, Great Blue Heron (20141005) No Whoppers this trip

Tim talked me into chasing Cranes on Sunday, so we were out early and on the highway south. We received a tip that the elk rut was in full swing the night before so we swung into the park to see if we could find any remnant animals in the morning light, but they had all dispersed. We took a run up the bear road and found this healthy critter on trip out.

Tim spotted a moose on the move (a first for both of us in this area) but we didn't get close before it disappeared, maybe some other time. We then suffered quite a long dry spell until we found this Blue Jay with the mountains in the background.

We continued our dry spell, and decided to drop by and meet Terri and her husband Mike, they have a super B&B on the Waterton river. Mike pointed us to a road that we should run. With time running against us we headed out just after noon and found this Roughlegged Hawk.

Then a couple of minutes later both Tim and I got a chance at this Redtail on the wing, while we were driving. I think this is a terrific capture of these tough to get close to birds.

Next up was this little Ruffed Grouse hen, she and at least two of her nestmates were picking up some midday gravel

Then one of fabulous finds of the day was found just 200 yards up the road. We found this Cow moose with the young son enjoying a little water and chow on what was turning into a warm day.

Then Tim spotted "big daddy" coming out of the buck brush. We spent quite a bit of time with these three, I even took a couple short video's. Take a look at "big daddy" here. Or maybe below. He might have the largest "bell" I have ever seen, a beautiful ornament!

As I was reviewing the images of this majestic boy I was amazed at how well they use their antlers to keep their eyes in the shade. As we were starting coming down from an exceptional encounter we found this Great Blue Heron on the river.

It was time to head for home, so we were headed out pretty much full bore when Tim caught this Coyote. We stopped and watched as he hunted. After several "pounces" he finally came up with a meal, that we watched him eat, reminding us we had to grab some chow soon.

So we found something to eat and grabbed a beverage. We came back Highway 22 so did a quick swing through the "Ranch". We had a long distance moose and in fading light a couple of guys in a pick up pointed out this GGO.

Then Tim spotted a first ever for him, a North American striped Skunk. While I have posted one on the blog before, this is a first of the year critter!.

We also picked up a Ruffed Grouse on the way out and finished off the day strong. On a day when the morning very much left us wanting, Alberta delivered us a fabulous variety of shootable subjects. What a great place to live!
Turbo