Elk, Brown-Black Bears (20130918) Waterton Park Day 2 morning run.

Out of the sack early and on the road inspite of the heavy rain.We were not expecting to see much due to the weather and were pleasantly surprized by the results:)  Our sightins started with this bull elk and his harem.

Just up the road, Jamie spotted a couple of elk close to the road and I managed a shot of this cow.

He seemed to have the "hot side" of the vehicle as he also spotted this little Whitetail Buck. We had to back up slowly hoping he would hold, and he did.

The poor weather drove many migrating birds down to the ground for protection. As a result we were able to find a Mountain Bluebird that was well off track.

We took a little spin around other areas of the park and found a Swan and this Great Blue Heron, along with Hairy woodpeckers, and even a Belted Kingfisher.

We were able to find a couple of bears later in the morning including this rotund unit I will refer to as Dopey. I love its eyebrows, they look like that great uncle of yours that never trims their eyebrows:)

This bear is doing pretty well as far as getting a winter belly in place, this is a beautiful example of a Chocolate colour variation.

We are hoping to find this bear again tomorrow in some bright light. I'll end this post here, and an afternoon post is coming soon. I hope you get to enjoy some wildlife this week!
Turbo