Coyote,Mountain Chickadee (20141102) The morning half of a full day trip.

Trying to make up for the slow day yesterday, Jamie and I set up a trip for today. Tim called me later in the evening and made it a trio of Photogs looking for subjects. The previous evening had left fresh snow all around so we were pumped that we could run into just about anything with fresh white stuff. We started the day headed out to the Ranch where there is usually no hunting so we knew the traffic would be much lighter than most of the other tracks that we have. Our first opportunity was this disgusted Redtail Hawk. It looked like it was hating this recent snow.

Well, in spite of all of our grand hopes for the Ranch things were pretty slow again for the morning, and, like yesterday, light was at a premium. So we decided we would take a sweep through Hwy 40 through to Canmore and see if things would pick up. Our spirits were buoyed as the closer we got to the mountains the more sun we were seeing. This Doe presented in one of those bright moments.

We kept an eye on things and soon started thinking of Zel and his love of this section of the country, we even stopped on occasion to take some "yard work" shots.

Our next sighting was of a Coyote. I wad busy trying to get shots when Jamie and Tim spotted a second. I was fortunate enough to get a couple of shots of the first.

Jamie and Tim got side-tracked with the landscape opportunities, I stuck to looking for the local wildlife and managed this shot of the second Coyote.

Our next opportunity was presented by this lone American Tree Sparrow. Jamie had spied it on the way into one of our little roads, and we stopped it again when we came out, so we stopped and shot.

We next stopped at the end of the Rabbit road, and Jamie was able to find a couple of Mountain Chickadees. We spent some time with these birds as the conditions were excellent. I like how this shot provides most of the field markings that allow for a quick identification.

Here is perhaps my best ever Mountain shot. These little guys have not been easy to find nor shoot.

It was great to find these birds with such lovely skies and bright light.

This area also provides great views of the mountains, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

What a terrific day to be in the mountains, with sun, and high rising cloud. I love how the trees on the mountain look like they are coated with icing sugar:)

I'll end this post here with the promise there is more to come from the afternoon of this fabulous day.
Turbo