Sharpies, Grizzly tracks. (20140411) A snowy morning at the ranch.

Jamie and I were anxious to get out to the ranch to check on a couple of bodies that we found and have been trying to keep an eye on to see what is going to get at them first. We found four RLH's on the drive in, three of them in the same small grove of trees.A trip along Sharpie ridge netted us a fence bird that vacated the immediate area. I spied a couple of birds in an aspen stand and they flew in closer to us so we stopped and watched. Jamie saw one running around under one of the bushes, so we waited a bit then one popped up in a tree.

After just a bit a second bird flew in.

In a little bit a third bird joined these two. SO just like my old Chevy truck, we had 3 in the tree! Her are two of  them.

Then we watched as they left, and joined another dozen birds in a flyby. I managed to grab a shot of two of them leaving. This is the first time I have been able to catch their eyebrow colour.

This next series of shots deal with our best discovery of the day. As we were headed down one of our favourite roads in the area, we found some fresh tracks. When we went back and investigated it become immediately apparent that a grizzly had crossed the road right there sometime with just a couple of hours.
Here is a shot of where it crossed under one of the roadside fences, leaving a little hair behind on the barbed wire.

I had to darken up the image to try and get some better definition. This next shot is of the only track where we were given in indication of claws.

Up the road a couple of miles we ran into the tracks of this bear once again. These footprints were from earlier in the morning as they had quite a bit more snow in them. It had walked right up the middle of the road for about 2 miles.

It was a real treat to find this sign in an area where I am yet to find a grizz.  Our nexrt find was a Northrn Shrike that we didn't get any images of  but there were a couple of Juncos that were willing to pose for a minute.

Our last bird of the day was this redtail that was enduring the wintery storm.

This wrapped up our tour as I had to get back to town. Kerri was speaking at a "Celebration of wildlife" conference and I was going to provide support. Tomorrow is a new day, let us see what it brings.
Turbo