American Marten

The American Marten can be found throughout Canada. A male can have a territory as large as 7.8 square km, while 2.6 for the female. The male will cover its territory in 8-10 days, hunting along the way. Defending it against another male, but they will be more tolerant of females. Being part of the weasel family, martens have the same typical body shape, long and slender as other Mustelidae. Their diet consists of small mammals, but will also eat fruits, nuts, insects, carrion and birds. I just recently came across what was left of a waterfowl that was eating underneath the car’s hood. Even with their small size, they are tough like other members of their family.  They will go after larger mammals, like snowshoe hares and marmots.

If spotted by birds, they will alert others. In the case of the Black-billed Magpies, they will mob it until the marten has left the area. Witness this a few times. It can be entertaining to watch. Before I saw this one, I heard an agitated red squirrel and a Song Sparrow. I was trying to figure out what was going on, when I heard a sound above my head. I looked up and saw this marten perched on a branch like a cougar. When it feels threatened, as it did when I arrived on the scene, it will climb up a tree for its safety. Once it feels safe, it will either come down and run away or go back to what it was doing.

White-tailed Ptarmigan

I was watching my every step as I made my way down a steep slope, on what was an animal trail made by hoofed mammals. I was a few minutes in when I heard a sound of a bird flying near me. I stopped with both feet well placed. I looked to my right. A few meters away, a White-tailed Ptarmigan was looking at me and a second one, who had taken to the air, had landed a couple of meters from the first. It was the first week of October and both birds had started the process of going from their summer grey and brown feather colours to pure white for the winter. As they do in October.

These high elevation birds spend their summer above the timberline, where during warmer weather they have many options for various vegetation and insects. During the winter, they do not fly south, but instead have adapted to the winter by molting their feathers to white to blend in with their snowy surroundings and losing some altitude. They have feathers on their feet to be able to walk in the lightest of snow and to get away from the cold. They borrow under the snow and are also great for roosting.

Back to the two birds on the side of a steep slope. With the hopes of getting a few pictures of both. I slowly turned my back toward them and placed my pack on the ground to get the camera out. Way too many times, the bird take-off just when you are about to point the camera at them. But this time when I slowly faced them again, both were still there. I squatted to get the beautiful glow coming off trees from below, where I was heading, as the background for this image. A couple of minutes later, I was all packed and started my way down. Not a minute passed when I heard a loud sound of a large descending bird. Three ptarmigan who were out of my view took to the air for safety some forty meters in front of me and the same did the two I left behind, but in the opposite direction. Soon the reason came into my view. About fifty meters in front of me, at eye level, was a Golden Eagle in the air. I did not even bother getting the camera out this time. A few seconds after the eagle saw me, it was out of there. With a smile on my face, I watched my steps again as I made my way to the sun-covered bottom. With the future technology, we’ll get the image of the eagle downloaded from my head.

Canada Jay

During the winter of 2018, the common name for the Gray Jay went back to Canada Jay, thanks to a 9-to-1 vote by the American Ornithological Society. The same society but different members had taken away the name Canada Jay in 1957 and it was replaced with Gray Jay. Canada Jay is mainly found in Canada, residing across the country year around. It’s also sometimes called a camp robber. Find out why by eating near them. The jay itself doesn’t seem to care what we call it, it’s too busy looking for its next meal.

One reason it can live so far north throughout the winter is because of its ability to store food. It uses its sticky saliva to glue food to tree branches above the height of the coming snow. As well, the Canada Jay is helped during the cold temperatures by its thick, fluffy plumage, which can cover legs and feet. Even its nostrils are helped by feathers.  It’s a close relative, the Siberian Jay, which can be found in northern Eurasia. Together they form a ring around the Northern Hemisphere. 

On a sunny afternoon, when I came across this jay, it was too busy looking for its natural food surrounded by larch trees. My chocolates were well hidden in my backpack as I took pictures of it.

Grizzly

We had just gotten out of the woods on our hike, I started scanning the slopes on either side of us. I would say about eighty or ninety meters away from us were two large, dark-like objects. I thought, those can’t be rocks. We stopped so I could take my binoculars out and have a look. As soon as I got them in focus, I could see two young grizzly bears. Both were sitting back and looking around. They looked to be three years of age. I wondered if they were two cubs that were pushed away from their mother this year and were going to spend a year or two together before going their separate ways. A minute later, I saw something moving below them behind a tree. It was a large grizzly. It was their mother. She looked at us for a few seconds and went about her business. Then they moved into the trees near her, with her cubs right behind her.

 Our hiking plan was to continue walking away from the general area, and that’s what we ended up doing. Looking in their general direction a few times with no luck of seeing them again. All three looked very healthy. The mother had done a good job of gaining the weight they needed to survive the coming winter. We could see she had been digging in the area for roots, a lot of work for the much needed calories. Until it's time to sleep, the search for calories will continue. October is the month when most bears will go to sleep for the winter. It was not a good berry season in the valley in some of the places this year, and not much better higher up. The bears had to move around to find food elsewhere they needed. This mother, with experience behind her, knew where to go to find the food she and her cubs needed. She would be passing this knowledge on to them so they could survive on their own. And one or both were females, they would know how to look after their cubs one day.

Sunrise

The warm summer days are in the past now, and the fall colours are starting to show on the ground vegetation, shrubs and trees. Yesterday I was looking up at the larch trees from the bottom of the valley, I’m thinking next weekend they will be ready for me to photograph. As temperatures cools and days get shorter, photosynthesis stops and trees start saving nutrients. Larch needles start turning golden yellow before drying up and falling to the ground.

The attached sunrise image, there were some fall colours on the ground with a minus 1 or 2-degree temperature during the morning, but not enough to add to the final image. I was enjoying the cold morning, it felt great. After trading in sunset pictures for a good night sleep over the long summer days, I’m looking forward to catching as many sunrises as possible until late spring arrives. The Canadian Rockies look amazing at any time of the day, but even more so during sunrises and sunsets. During the shorter days, the light from lower angles provides a much bigger window for dramatic landscape photography opportunities. And with calm water, it’s almost a sin not to stop and take a picture.

Feather

I was sitting back on the rocks in an alpine meadow watching marmots and pikas. After 45 minutes, a small plane that was going in circles above me went away. Soon after, I started enjoying the surrounding sights and sounds. The marmots were gaining weight for the coming hibernation season, and the pikas were busy storing food for the winter. I heard a warning call from pikas, about 150 meters away from me a Prairie Falcon was trying to catch breakfast. Unsuccessful, it decided to fly off. Soon after, I heard a sound as if something was coming down on me and then flying by me. It was a Golden Eagle. It flew to the top of the cliffs in front of me, about 200 meters from where I was sitting. It shook its body, and two feathers took to the air from it. One went straight down and the other was pushed by the light breeze toward me. With its light weight and surface area, it slowly made its way down with the blue sky in the background. It landed some forty meters from me among the quartzite rocks.

Hoary Marmot

Epigenetic changes are a chemical modification that occurs in DNA and can be used to measure aging by studying the blood samples of an animal. UCLA researchers while studying yellow-bellied marmots. They discovered that the biological aging of these marmots’ stalls during their hibernation stage and continues during the active season. During hibernation, the marmot only uses one gram of fat each day and with a lowered temperature, it feels like a cold rock. Well, a cold furry rock. This adapted way of surviving the cold months helps the yellow-bellied marmot live up to 15 years. Longer than expected for an animal of its body weight. 

For us two-legged mammals, many of our species look at spending just one third of our time sleeping as a waste. But many researchers are studying the biological advantages of humans adopting hibernation for long-term space missions or for saving organs for transplantation. 

For the young hoary marmot in the attached picture, it was not thinking about a healthy lifestyle. It was time to take a break from eating when it was spotted early one morning. It was less than two months old and the size of three pikas, showing the camera how cute it was.

White-lined Sphinx

I was standing among the flowers under the heat, taking pictures of bees, hover flies, butterflies and more. As I was about to pack up and walk away, a large moth came into view. I thought I had my first sighting of a hummingbird moth, later learning it was my sighting of a white-lined sphinx, a moth with an 8 cm long wingspan. With the camera in hand and the moth providing me with about 15 seconds before disappearing, I got all the pictures I wanted.

Because of their birdlike size and the way they move, they are sometimes referred to as hummingbird moths. As caterpillars, they are the size of a finger or the gummy worm you enjoy. They eat many different types of plants as caterpillars and pollinate various flowers as adults. As adults, they normally fly before, after and during the nights, but sometimes during the day.  Seeing one in the middle of the day among the wild sunflowers was a nice surprise.

Glacier Lily

With the hiking season going full on, I need at least one good hike each week to keep my legs strong. Healy Pass is a fun morning hike. Staying in shape is always a great reason for hiking, along with the chance of seeing amazing views and summer flora in the form of wildflowers. My visit was about a week late to the prime glacier lilies show. The signs were there before I even got close to the main stage. It just made it more challenging to get a few good pictures of this beautiful yellow flower. I had hiked this trail several times, so I was on autopilot as I scouted for possible pictures on my return to the trail head. At the top of the pass, it was good to feel the cool air coming from the west. Another reason to like early morning hikes during hot weather. I had a quick snack as I pondered if I was going to pop up there to see the fall colours. I probably will during my favorite hiking season.

On my way down from the pass, I had several possible spots to stop and take a picture of the remaining lilies. The plants’ leaves were still showing their rich green colour, even on an overcast morning. Helped the few remaining lilies pop from their surroundings.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

This Northern Rough-winged Swallow is one of the six species that can be spotted in Banff NP. So named because of the small hooks or points found on the leading edges of their outer wing feathers. Swallows slender, streamlined body and long, pointed wings allow them great manoeuvrability and endurance in the sky. Which is needed as most of their diet consists of eating insects caught in the air. The rough-winged swallow in the image was doing just that, along with a few other species. With both wings fully open along with the tail, it almost came to a complete stop to change direction toward an insect it was trying to catch. Swallows' body shapes allow them to be very efficient flyers, their metabolic rate can be up to 72 percent lower than other birds of the same size. They have great lateral and frontal vision to track prey. The form and structure of their eyes have evolved similar to that of raptors, providing them with great vision. They have short bills, which does not matter. With their strong jaws and wide gape, they can easily catch their prey. 

Every year I take up the challenge of trying to get their pictures in flight. You have to stay calm and be ready to enjoy the journey. Lot of pictures are going to be taken with very few keepers. As always, I looked for patterns as up to 30 swallows of a few different species flew back and forth over the wetland, catching insects. I would prefocus at a certain distance, when one would get into that space, I would pan my camera trying to get it in focus and then keep taking their pictures until I lost them in the frame. And repeat again and again and again. Nature photography is a very calming experience for me. With so many variables in play while trying to take pictures of the swallows flying, you can’t help but be in the moment.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail

Like us, butterflies have their mouthparts where you expect them to be. But they have developed different mouthparts to adapt to their environment and eating habits. They have a long straw-like part called the proboscis. It remains curled up when not being used like a straw. For example, butterflies do not eat but instead suck the nectar from the flower to meet their dietary needs. 

Now, where they and other insects differ vastly from us mere humans, is in how they taste their food. They taste their food through their feet. It serves as a taste organ, containing taste receptors. Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera; both are “leg tasters”. Their taste buds, called contact chemoreceptors, are attached to nerve endings. When chemicals come into contact with the chemoreceptors, the nerves are activated, which passes on the information to the brain. The tarsus, which is located furthest away from the body on the leg, is used to sense sweet, bitter, sour, and salty through its chemoreceptors. Not only is this method used to decide what to eat, but it also helps the butterfly choose a mate and where to lay eggs. The closest my legs get to food is if I spill some. From my experience, chocolate always tastes better when it goes straight into the mouth.

Grizzly

Dandelions grow from seeds that have germinated, after remaining in the seeding stage for 8 to 15 weeks. As the plants grow up from the ground, the roots go deeper into the ground. The plant grows leaves that are between 9 to 30 centimeters long, the roots can be 18 to 54 cm long underground. The bud will sprout from the upper part of the roots. The flower can bloom during all of the growing season, but tends to bloom most often in spring in The Rockies. The flowers will open and close depending on the weather. Each plant can produce up to 12 flowers each year. With each flower producing 174 seeds, one plant can produce over 2,000 seeds. On an acre of land, 240 million seeds could be produced annually. Each seed comes with its own “helicopters”, called the Pappus. The seeds spread by the wind and by all of us who have blown on them. The seeds that find a sunny area will grow into a new dandelion. But for some dandelions, the ending is different.

Sandhill Crane

I was trying to get into a position to get a picture of a Lewis’s Woodpecker, a rare sighting in Banff National Park. I had only seen one once before and I was trying to see if I could get at least one good picture of the species. Just as I was ready to get a good picture, it would move as it searched for food. It was not moving away from me, but kept going to the other side of a fallen tree.

All of sudden I heard loud calls from a Sandhill Crane, also a rare bird during spring in Banff, according to the new Banff NP Birding Checklist. The intense calls went on for more than a minute, coming from the other side of the trees that were beside. After several minutes, still trying to get a good picture, the woodpecker flew where I could not follow. I decided now it was time to look for the crane.

I walked through the woods and about 40 meters away was the crane. It was moving and I kept my distance, moved parallel to it. I have seen Sandhill Cranes in Banff several times. But, I was still waiting for a good picture. Unlike the experience with the Lewis’s Woodpecker, I got the picture I wanted. As well an out of focus male Bufflehead Duck in the background.  And later I learned from friends the reason for all those calls had to do with two coyotes that were in the area. This large bird with a wingspan of two meters was not going to let the coyotes get anywhere near it.

Lake Louise

Lake Louise was one of the first places I hiked in the Canadian Rockies and since then I have gone over all the trails a few times. It does not seem long ago when we would show up in the middle of the day and get parking and go for a hike. Now you have to plan ahead. I still like to hike there, at least once a year. For me, it's not just the landscape that’s the attraction, but the wildlife too. I have been able to see large megafauna, the likes of goats and bears. As well, seeing birds and smaller mammals, including coming across a porcupine sticking its head out of the den. The day this picture was taken. I might have been the only one taking pictures of Cliff Swallows, flying and catching insects just over the lake’s turquoise waters.

But the craziest adventure was when the three of us scrambled to the summit of Mount Niblock in July. Clouds moved in with snow, but we also heard a buzzing sound. We quickly realized it was an electrical cloud and quickly ran downward. One of us got a nice electrical shock to the head, other than that, we were safe. We watched the clouds move away, followed by blue skies when we reached a safe spot. We then headed for Mount Whyte's summit. The best part of that day was descending toward the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. We slid on a long patch of snow leftover from the previous winter. A much bigger patch of snow is waiting for this hiking season.

Paintbrush Flowers

I wanted some quiet time on my day off. So, I left home early in the morning and decided it was going to be flower day. I found a place away from it all, surrounded by nature, with no planes circling overhead and most of all no cell coverage. Calls and texts from work had to wait until midday. With flowers, I wanted each image to be simple, it was just about the flower and the background. Seeing variations of the paintbrush flowers, they became the main subject. Looking at each flower from all directions, sometimes I was on my feet, other times on the ground. It all depended on the flower and what was around and behind it. When I was hiking in, I scouted the area where I wanted to stop to take the pictures. On my way back, with the camera in my hands, I took the pictures. Since the flowers were not moving, there was no hurry. Each picture was taken after I decided it was the best one of the flowers I was looking at. Calm comes over me whenever I look at the images taken that morning.

Long-billed Dowitcher

It was the second time in my life I had seen a Long-billed Dowitcher, the day before was the first. But during my second encounter, it was my day off and I was going to get a picture worthy of this beautiful shorebird with a long bill.

 This species breeds in tundra lowlands and foothills in wet sedge meadows. When we’re lucky, we get a rare look when one or two do a stop over in Banff NP on their migration route from southern to northern North America. Their long bill comes in handy as they forage for food in water that’s less than 7 cm deep.

 The conditions were perfect. I was alone and could take my time to get the pictures I wanted without the two dowitchers that ended up spending a few days in the Bow Valley, being scared off. There was enough light to show their colours, but there was a slight breeze to create ripples in the water. I was far enough from them to behave normally. I lay down on the grass next to the water to get a better background, to hide the ripples and to get them to pop in the picture from their surroundings. Then I waited for them to get into the right spot. They kept busy foraging for food, even after I got the picture and walked away slowly from the area.

Black Bear

Cubs are born in January and when we see them in the mountains, they are already four to five months old. They weigh less than a pound, have a very light covering of fur and crawl very slowly. The mother will eat their birth membranes, lick the cubs and warm them by placing them next to her less furred belly. She will move and adjust to her cubs’ comfort sounds and cries, always making sure not to place too much weight on the cubs. The nursing mother loses about a third of her body weight with full-time babysitting and nursing, compared to non-nursing bears, who lose 15 to 25%.

 The cubs, when getting out of their dens, can’t out-run predators, but can climb trees for safety. The cubs depend on their mother for food, as their chewing teeth don’t come out until later in spring. Until it’s time to nurse, the cubs will be busy hanging out, exploring near their mom or, like this cub, practising its climbing technique. Since the cubs are not able to eat at first, being up in a tree is a safe place to be. When the mother is ready to move or time to nurse, she will call them down. The mother may also climb up a tree when there is danger or just to be in a safe spot with their cubs.

 Around this time of year, if you see an adult female black bear, maintain a safe distance and scan nearby trees for little shadows.

Egg For Breakfast

The journey of a bird egg starts with a tiny ova, which grows into an egg yolk. When ready, the yolk is released along the oviduct. The egg white is first to be added at the start of the oviduct, which consists mainly of protein, water, and minerals. As the egg carries on along the oviduct, it grows two connecting strands, one at the top and one at the bottom. Which helps anchor the yolk to the shell and keeps it in the center of the egg. After this, the egg continues down into the uterus, where the shell is added. Which is made from calcium carbonate. In order for air and moisture to pass through the pores, it’s made up of a semipermeable membrane.

 Two pigments, one greenish in colour and the other is reddish-brown.  When used in different combinations with the white calcium carbonate of the shell, they can provide egg colours from greenish-white to rich brown and deep blue. And speaking of deep blue. A study was conducted to see how a male robin would react if its mate laid eggs that were a brighter shade of blue. The idea was to test if brighter egg colour was a signal of the quality and health of their mate, and in turn, the healthy mate would create healthier babies. In conclusion, the males whose nest contained the brightest blue eggs, fed their young twice as much. Thus resulting in healthier young.

 Biliverdin is the pigment that is responsible for the American Robin egg colour. It is possible that higher biliverdin levels in female robins indicate a healthier female capable of producing healthier young.

Now the next experiment should be, is eating brighter blue eggs healthier for you?

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Birding is never a quick walk. To be able to listen and see as much as one can, it involves slowly moving at nature’s pace. And a sparrow can never be just a sparrow. In Banff NP along we can see as many as 20 different types of sparrows. And a few others that don’t have a sparrow in their name, but are part of the same family. When most people think of a sparrow, they are thinking of the House Sparrow. A European species that was introduced to North America in the 1850s. Spotted just about anywhere humans reside.

 But in the spring and summer we get to see many other types of sparrows. Like the white-crowned, song, lincoln’s, savannah, white-throated, chipping, clay-coloured, and the Fox Sparrow to name a few. So when birding and you see what looks to be a sparrow moving on the trail looking for food. You want to stop and make sure you identify them. In my case, a few weeks back, it was the Golden-crowned Sparrow among the White-crowned Sparrows. It was not calling, just moving at the edge of the trail and flew up to perch on the willow branch as I stepped closer. I don’t get to see this species that often. I slowly moved, so as not to scare it away, but at the same time I had to act fast as hikers were coming my way on the trail. Just as I got the rare picture, the hikers unaware of the sparrow came through and the bird went into hiding. The memory and the pictures will do until perhaps next year I see one again passing through the area.

Eurasian Collard Dove

Every birding season there are a lot of frustrated birders, having problems identifying birds. And to think you’re getting out to enjoy nature and have some time to relax. But, learning to identify birds requires the same effort as mastering any other subject. If Malcolm Gladwell is correct about his “10,000-hour rule”, then 10, 000 hours are required birding to become a good birder. After that you know your birds inside out. Let’s say we have four good months of birding and you put in four hours at a time, and can get out two times a week if not retired. That can take 78 years to become an expert. But of course, you can get out in the evening or an hour or two before work. As well, there is some good birding to be had outside the birding season. But, not everyone wants to be an expert, most want enough knowledge to enjoy their walks. Where they are able to identify fair numbers of birds in their local area. Not everyone has enough time to become a good birder, not even a fair birder.

In the end, what I’m trying to convey is that people should go easy on themselves. If you are out there to enjoy the social aspect of birding, then there will always be a limit to how fast you learn. All the good birders I know became so by spending a lot of time alone in the field with a pair of binoculars and possibly a good guide book. I know of one birder friend who could hear the bird, but ended up spending nearly an hour or more trying to see it. He will never forget what LeConte’s Sparrow looks and sounds like for the rest of his life.  If you’re birding with a large group, it’s great for socializing, but not ideal for becoming a good birder. In a group, you never end up putting in the time to listen and look at the markings to identify the bird. Someone is always there to help fill in the blanks. Books, apps, websites, and birding groups are great aids for birding. But to get good, you have to spend a lot of time just walking with nature. Either way, have fun, no matter how you want to be birding. The more fun you have, the more you want to be outside. And that’s the most important goal.