Ferrari, fox, moose (20150531) A quick return to Alberta

Well with the house in Calgary sold, and a bplace in Nova Scotia purchased it was time for me to fly back to Alberta and deal with packing for the movers. The bride had already did a lot of the packing, and a primary reason to fly back was so that we could do the drive together. So the first day back I was able to get out with Tim for an early, and very long, track. We headed into grizzly country hoping to scare up a bear or two. Very early in our drive we came across this youngster. Unlike a fair number of my bears this unit is tagged and collared.

So the start of the day was SUPER, isn't it great to be back in bear country? Next up was this young bull moose we found wading in a pond. Jamie is always after me to get him one of these!

Just up the road a bit and we found another bull. The boys antlers look like he is mature enough to breed this year.

Then as weswung through a really quite part of the park we heard this piece of anal fabric. I don't know who owns the car, but just because it is 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and there isn't likely to be anyone on the road it doesn't mean you can rip around at 80 or 90 KPH. Especially in an a 40 kph zone. If anyone out there knows who this clown is, please let me know. BTW I really like the blue tape holding the rig together.

Things were quite uneventful for a while. At the end of the "rabbit road" Tim and I decided to spend a little time with a Least Chipmunk. This might be the best portrait I have of one.

It won't be long, and I will be missing the ability to make this run on a regular basis. The Columbian groundsquirrels will be missed as well. Folks think that Bears have claws, these little guys out do any bruin with thier equipment!

The "rabbit road" has always been my "go to" spot to find Wilson's Warblers, today it didn't let me down. What a terrific environment in this area.

We had also spotted a couple of cow moose and a real nice Whitetail buck that just wouldn't present an acceptable shot (what can I say, even I have posting standards for regular subjects :). We headed out to the Pica place but instead ended up spending 30 minutes with this Hoary Marmot.

We started out quite a long distance away but were able to approach to the distance that I was able to take my teleconverter off and shoot it at 300mm. The morning was shaping up nicely!

We spent some time with this Western Meadowlark. These too are gorgeous birds. It is hard to get them to face you and show you their lovely yellow breast and black necklace.

We will always take the time to get a good image of a bird of prey, and this American Kestrel deserved our attention.

Staying with the bird theme for a bit, I captured what is likely my best ever American Goldfinch on this trip. Jamie and I had been in position on a couple of occasions, but capturing him showing him eating  dandelion seeds to be is just great!

While I'd like to get more Green-winged Teal shots I just can't seem to find them all that often, so I will settled for their more forgiving and approachable cousin, the Blue-winged.

Here is a bird that doesn't often make the blog for whatever reason. I couldn't pass up the chance to post this pair of Ring-neckeds. They just look comical in my eyes.

This next image is a shot that I try to get more often now. While Mushrats are great subjects, I find that shooting them when they are under water a real challenge. I hope you enjoy this image.

I'll wrap up this rather long post with this outstaning subject: a Red Fox. They appear from time to time, but not nearly often enough for my liking.

As it was a long day, so it was a long post. It is great to get back to Alberta to do some shooting. As always, find some time to put a little "wild" in your life!   Turbo