No matter how many sunrises and sunsets I have experienced, they remain one of nature’s wonders to watch. Now, with shorter days, I’m back to looking out for sunrises and sunsets to enjoy, and, when time allows, to take pictures of. Most of the time, I prefer having clouds in the sky, ideally high enough for the sun to light them up. If the picture is taken near any body of water, little to no wind enhances the quality of the image. In the end, when we take a picture, it’s a personal preference, as we try to capture the feelings we experience while watching what is happening in front of us. After taking thousands of pictures of sunrises and sunsets, I still find that images fall short compared to the experience in real time. However, the images I keep provide enough memory of the moments to go out again and again.
Mountain Goat
I can still recall a school field trip as a child when we were looking at lichen on a rock. Lichen can tell us how healthy the quality of air is since they get the food they need to survive directly from it. In the U.S., scientists in the Forest Service and Park Service use lichen to assess the quality of the air. When the air has too many pollutants, like sulphur, heavy metals, or nitrogen, it can be deadly to lichen.
Lichen are made up of three layers. The outer layer is fungus, the middle layer is algae, and the lower layer helps it stick to surfaces. When it comes to surfaces that lichen adhere to, it can attach to nearly any surface, including rocks, trees, soil, and even glass and metal. Lichens can grow in extreme conditions where most other life forms cannot. The algae layer produces food using photosynthesis, the outer layer protects it from too much sun, and filters water down for the algae layer to thrive. They are quite self-sufficient and can survive without water for a long time; this feature is important in extreme or barren habitats. They can reproduce sexually, asexually, or both, and some lichens can live up to 4,000 years.
Lichens play a role in the first step of weathering the rocks on which they live by creating tiny crevasses into which water’s freezing and thawing action can occur. The rock disintegration provides the raw material for soil building. In these cryptobiotic soils, lichens bind soil particles together. This crusty soil will trap blowing dust, preventing erosion and adding nutrients. The decay of dead lichens adds nitrogen to the soil.
Mammals such as caribou, mule deer, mountain goats, moose, and pronghorn forage on lichen, particularly in winter. Birds, including hummingbirds, use them in their nest building. Lichens have been used to make dyes and are used in perfume. Lichen growth patterns can also be used for dating stone structures.
During my hike a few weeks back, I was watching a two-year-old mountain goat grazing for a while before moving over the rocks. For just a few seconds, it stopped on rocks covered by lichens. I quickly got my camera, pointing it at the goat and making sure I zoomed out to include the lichens as well. Just a note: the goats do not feed on the lichens shown in the picture; they instead feed what is called white foam (or snow) lichen.
Northern Harrier and Common Raven
I wanted to talk about the birds, but I think you might be more interested in what is going on in the image and how I got this picture. Perhaps another time I can discuss the Northern Harrier, which has a face that is owl-like, allowing it to hear voles and mice underneath the vegetation. I would also have talked about how this long-tailed hawk glides over the marsh or grassland while hunting for its prey. How they primarily hunt small mammals and birds, but they are also capable of taking larger prey like rabbits and ducks. I guess I will talk about this beautiful bird another day.
I also wanted to discuss the Common Raven. While the harrier is found across North America, ravens are found throughout North America and around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. They have followed people for centuries, for a chance at a quick meal. I would have liked to talk about how they are one of the most intelligent birds. Young ravens enjoy playing, often dropping sticks and diving to catch them. And how they work together to distract adult incubating birds at seabird colonies while another raven grabs an egg or a chick. They have also learned that the sound of a gunshot may mean a carcass nearby, providing an opportunity for food. They are excellent flyers; one bird was even seen flying upside down for nearly a kilometer.
But for now let’s talk about how this picture came about. If you haven’t guessed by looking at the image, there is only one raven and one harrier represented. I was taking pictures of the harrier when the raven flew into the frame. Ravens never miss a chance to mob eagles, owls, and hawks. While I was photographing the harrier, this raven was perched on a nearby tree, calling out. Then it flew in from the back right, going over the hawk and out the front left. By using continuous shooting mode, I was able to capture several images of the raven’s flyby. To avoid overlapping of the raven, I chose five images of it and one of the harrier, then layered them together using an application. With the background having the same exposure, I digitally created one image from six.
Cattail
The day before, I was able to do a long hike, covering both elevation and distance. But this morning, the plan was to walk a certain distance near home before the forecasted rain arrived. I walked along a road to a short looping trail. I kept my pace while listening to the birds that had no plans of going south for the winter. they were too far to take the camera out for, but there was a picture to be had around the loop. Not of wildlife, but of the fall colours I was seeing in the cattail leaves. I slowed down to look at the leaves at different stages of fall colours, my eyes searching for the picture I wanted to take. I continued walking, thinking about what I saw and how I wanted the picture to look. On my second walk around the loop, I slowed down even more, considering what the background would look like. The picture was starting to take shape. But I was determined to cover a certain distance that morning, so a third walk around the loop was needed. Now two pictures were coming to mind from this one small area with cattail plants. During the final lap, I stopped and put my pack on the ground. Out came the camera, and I zoomed in to take a picture of a small section of the leaves standing in the calm air. But it was the second picture that ended up being my favourite that morning: the cattail flower surrounded by summer-green leaves, with the background green broken up by out-of-focus fall-colored cattail leaves.
Boreal Owl
At night, the Boreal Owl becomes active in the spruce and fir forests, hunting for small mammals and birds with its talons. If you're out there, you might hear its hooting sounds from late winter through spring. Boreal Owls spend the entire year in the boreal forest, only migrating south when food is scarce. Like other owl species, the female is larger than the male, but with Boreal Owls, the size difference is especially pronounced. Sometimes the female can be twice as heavy as the male. Additionally, Boreal Owls have asymmetrical ear openings, with one opening positioned higher than the other. This asymmetry helps the owl better determine the direction of sounds, which is crucial for hunting.
Boreal Owls tend to be solitary. Even during the breeding season, mated pairs do not roost together and only come together at the nest site during courtship and feeding. The male courts the female with food and calls, feeding her for up to three months before nesting, and continues to bring food throughout the nesting period. Due to their nocturnal habits, Boreal Owls are not commonly encountered, making it a special occasion when I spotted one a few months ago.
Clouded Sulphur Butterfly
A few weeks back, I did a morning hike to reach the alpine region. With the goal of seeing the wildflowers and the insects that are attracted to them. On an open slope meadow, just below the tree line, I ended up spending a couple of hours taking pictures of flowers and butterflies. Of course, if I could capture both together, that was even better. Movement had to be slow to avoid scaring away the butterflies I wanted to photograph.
This butterfly in the picture landed on an arnica flower. I got on my knees to get close, but it took to the air. However it did not go far, it ended up landing on top of a fireweed flower a meter away from me. I started taking its pictures, slowly moving closer until I zoomed all the way in and did not need to crop the image later. Once I got the picture I wanted, it was just as important to move back slowly without startling the butterfly. I got back on my feet and started looking for and photographing other flowers and butterflies. A relaxing way to spend the morning.
Calliope Hummingbird
There are 360 species of hummingbirds in the world, and their colour palette is just amazing. The iridescent rainbow of colours found on hummingbirds exceeds that of all other bird species combined—by 56 percent when hummingbird colours are added to the existing inventory of other bird colours. Hummingbirds create these amazing colours by capturing, bending, and reflecting beams of sunlight using tiny structures built into their feathers. Feathers alone are limited in their ability to produce colour pigments.
Hummingbirds have what are called barbules, tiny structures on the outermost part of their feathers. They help create shiny, reflective iridescence. Hummingbirds have flat barbules, which contain layer after layer of flattened, air-filled discs called melanosomes, stacked on top of each other. When light hits the top layers of melanosomes, some light is reflected and some passes through, refracting as it goes. This process is repeated as the light passes through the other layers. When the waves of light from these reflections align, we get the brilliant colours. The colours are amplified when the peaks and valleys of the light waves are aligned.
This male Calliope Hummingbird is not as colorful as other hummingbirds, but it is still worth the wait to see its magenta rays light up.
Coyote
When it comes to being misunderstood and hated animals, the coyote would be at the top of the list if we consider how this species has been treated in North America. In the United States, a lab called the Eradication Methods Laboratory was created to work on various types of poisons to eliminate coyotes from the continent. This organization persuaded Congress to pass a bill in 1931, which allocated $10 million to continue their work. From 1947 to 1946, this agency killed 6.5 million coyotes in the American West. This figure does not even account for the numbers killed privately and in Canada during the same period. In November 2009, the Saskatchewan government ran a program for four months that resulted in the killing of 71,000 coyotes. Hundreds of thousands of coyotes are still killed every year in North America. The reasons for this are varied, but the main factors are misunderstanding their role in nature and mismanagement.
However, coyotes have a way of fighting back. They can function as pack predators or as singles and pairs. When attacked by humans using guns or poison campaigns, they abandon the pack strategy and spread out across the landscape as singles and pairs. Additionally, when their populations are suppressed, their litter size increases from 5 to 6 pups to as many as 12 to 16 pups. So, if their population is reduced by 70 percent in a certain area, it will be back to or near its previous size by the following summer. To gauge their population in an area, coyotes use their howls and yips. If their howls are not answered, it triggers a response to produce larger litters.
Moreover, coyotes’ range has expanded due to settlers hunting wolves to extinction in many parts of North America. Unlike other predators, coyotes have expanded and thrived over the past 150 years. Moving into farm areas and cities, their diet has also broadened. Coyotes in eastern North America are larger than their counterparts elsewhere due to the wolf genes inherited from their ancestors through interbreeding. They now have the ability to bring down adult deer. I always have a soft spot for any species in nature that fights back.
Sun
Yesterday morning, I was able to look toward the rising sun without any negative effects on my eyes. As a matter of fact, I was able to look directly at it and take a picture with my camera without any side effects, which is not normally the case. But when it comes to weather, the new norms are here. With shorter, warmer winters and longer, warmer summers, the fire season now plays a dangerous role. Every summer, we wait to see which community will be affected by the fire season, all while wondering if it will be our turn this year. We learned about Jasper and its community being devastated by powerful winds that blew the wildfire into the town. Our hearts went out to the people. After evacuating, they, like everyone else, learned about and saw the devastation caused by the out-of-control wildfire.
Yesterday afternoon in Banff, as rain arrived after a few weeks of above-normal temperatures, we were happy with the moisture but worried about the lightning that accompanied it. We were reassured by the helicopter taking to the air after the lightning passed, ready to catch any wildfire that might have started. This would give time to prepare and fight it if needed.
This is also the new norm that goes through our minds, alongside the new norms for weather. Living in the mountains, the topic of wildfires is always on our minds and is a frequent topic of discussion. Trails that used to be an escape from a troubled mind and a troubled world are now also a reminder of what is happening to the environment around us.
I took these pictures while ashes were falling on me from a wildfire far away. The Sun, which has been around for five billion years, has changed very little on the surface. Earth, which has been around for 4.5 billion years, has. And it's changing even faster today. But, like the Sun rising in this picture behind all the smoke, once the wildfires are gone, the heart of Jasper and its people will rise and rebuild, as we humans have done so many times before. And I hope to visit soon after on one of the most beautiful drives in the world.
Moose
The way this July is going, it may surpass July 2023, which was recorded as the warmest July. Moose are one species looking for cooler days. Climate change is causing concern for their population and harvest dynamics in parts of the United States and Canada. Warmer temperatures and decreasing snowpack favour white-tailed deer, while stressing moose physically and exposing them to diseases spread by the increasing deer population and changes in food sources. Moose in the Midwestern United States have seen their numbers drastically decline in recent decades. In Michigan and Minnesota, moose are considered species of special concern.
However, climate change might provide positive signs north of the moose’s range. Rising temperatures and shorter winters have helped moose move into new stretches of territory in Alaska and Canada. Foraging animals are finding more food in the tundra region. Studies have shown increasing vegetation due to the warming Arctic, in the form of alder, willow, and birch plants. But, as always, when looking at the southern range of moose, there are positives and negatives for species of flora and fauna. The same goes for flora and fauna in their expanding northern range. For example, ptarmigans once had a little bit of shrub life to themselves. Now they will have to contend with 450-kilogram herbivores, as well as predators like red foxes and lynx moving into their territory.
Glacier Lily
It was only a few days ago that I went for an early morning hike. I wanted to be back in the parking lot before the temperature rose too high. The forecast called for clear weather with temperatures reaching up to 31 degrees Celsius. I’m a fan of cooler weather hiking but need to keep my legs in shape for fall weather hikes. Being a morning person, it was pretty easy to start the hike just before sunrise. I was looking forward to seeing the glacier lilies and perhaps coming back with a few good images. This past winter, we did not get our normal snowpack, but during spring, it snowed a number of times at higher elevations. Snow was still lingering in shaded areas, including at the Healy Pass I was hiking to. With cooler temperatures, bugs were not a problem. It was still cool in the open, and I ended up spending about 45 minutes taking pictures of the wildflowers, going up and down the trail looking for opportunities. Being up there early, I wasn't getting in anyone’s way. I had the whole beautiful place to myself until I made my way down. I think I missed the prime time for the glacier lilies by a few days; I would have rated what I saw six out of ten chocolate bars. That's still a lot of chocolate. When I got back to my car, the temperature had just reached 24 degrees Celsius. I spent the rest of the day taking it easy and going over the flower pictures while eating chocolate ice cream.
Mallard Duck
How many eggs or clutch size varies among bird species. Depending on food and calcium availability, latitude, age of the female, weather, and time of year. The Black Swift lays just one egg, but a Wood Duck may lay 7-14 eggs per clutch. Birds incubate their eggs to keep them at the proper temperature to ensure normal development. Many songbirds begin incubation after laying all their eggs so they hatch around the same time. Common Ostriches can have about 50 eggs in a single nest, but they are laid by several females. An ostrich egg is also the heaviest, with an average weight of 1.36 kg. The Vervain Hummingbird, found in Jamaica and two nearby islets, lays an egg weighing 0.365 grams. The Mallard Duck, shown in the picture with 11 ducklings, can lay up to 13 eggs. The newly hatched birds are covered in down and are alert; they are ready to leave the nest within 13-16 hours of hatching.
Grizzly Bear
Almost a week after I had seen an adult black bear on my bird walk around the stables, I came across one of the larger local grizzly bears, M136. Initially, as I walked around the fence, listening and looking out for birds, I noticed the horses seemed more apprehensive than the previous week. They were bunched up together farther back from the fence. I thought perhaps the same bear had returned. However, as I rounded the corner and looked through the fence, I saw it was a much larger grizzly bear. The horses were giving him far more breathing space. I wasn't sure which of the larger grizzly bears it was. I kept my distance the same from him but moved away from the fence so I could have a clear look at him. He glanced toward me, and I could tell from his lighter face and from having seen him many times before, it was "Split-lip". He was given the number 136 when he was first collared several years back.
Now, this stable is not a hot bead for bear sightings unless you spend 24-7 there. I can count on one hand all the bears I have seen over the years in this area. This year, however, I happened to come across a few. Like the horses, I gave M136 more space and did not attempt to walk around him, no matter how far away I was. I knew he was going to walk through the field soon, heading east. The mating season had not yet finished, and he was still focused on that, grabbing food when he could. Soon after, while chatting with my colleague who had responded to a call about this grizzly bear sighting in the area, ensuring the bear had space as he moved through the area. We watched him make a beeline in the direction we thought he would be heading. Recently, I saw him again, now deeply focused on eating. It seems he might have found a good source of protein. He looked even more impressive than he did that morning when I saw him during my bird walk.
Western Wood-Pewee
This Western Wood-Pewee had found a perch it was content with. There were enough flies in the area for this member of the flycatcher family to take off from its perch, catch an insect, and return to the same spot. This pattern made it easier for me to capture its pictures, along with a few shots of it leaving and returning to its perch. I ended up spending about an hour there. However, the pewee wasn't the only bird I encountered. I also observed Yellow-rumped Warblers, and at least one or two of each Townsend’s, Yellow, and Wilson’s Warblers. Every few minutes, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet would join the party, while Song Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, and a few other species could be heard contributing to the evening's symphony, though they remained out of sight. Halfway through, a Least Flycatcher made an appearance. Towards the end, a pair of Canada Geese, who I could hear, decided to enter the scene and stand in the background. You can just make them out in the image.
Black Bear
The great thing about birding is that it’s a low-risk activity. No birds to worry about. Other than the male Spruce Grouse I encountered on the trail a few years back. I still have nightmares about that encounter. It took seconds getting past it. But when you are birding in the mountains, you must be aware of all the other wildlife you can possibly encounter. Luckily, when you’re birding, the ears are working full-time and the eyes are scanning for any sorts of movement. That was the case when doing a bird count one early morning last month. I was walking around the stables when I noticed some of the horses seemed a bit nervous. Ahead, around the corner, was a black bear grazing outside the fence. The local black bear did not care about the horses, but they were staying back from the fence. I decided to use the open field to go around the black bear. Thanks to this action, I got to add two White-breasted Nuthatches to my list. I had not seen this species for a few years. The bear had a quick look toward me as I walked around it, not bothered by me at all. I called to inform Banff NP’s wildlife team of the bear sighting. Because an hour later, there were going to be several birders in the same area. I continued my bird walk, not seeing the bear again that day. I am sure this was not the first bear encounter for the horses, perhaps even seeing this same bear a few times before. As nervous as they were that morning, they were a lot more a week later. But that’s a story for another time.
Bonaparte's Gull
During winter, the Bonaparte’s Gull can be found on ocean coasts, lakes, and rivers. But these beautiful gulls breed and nest in the boreal forest, the only gull species that regularly nests in trees. They can move with tern-like agility, capturing flying insects and grabbing tiny fish from the water with ease. Around Banff, we generally get to see them during spring migration. A few weeks back, snowstorms brought several thousand waterfowl to open lakes and rivers. For a few days, we got to see Bonaparte’s Gulls throughout the Bow Valley. One late afternoon, I watched three of them spring out of the water to plunge their whole heads into the water to grab food. In this image, the Canada Goose seems to be watching this feat.
Grizzly
M122 (“the boss”) once again got the bear season started in Banff National Park, being spotted in mid-March at the bottom of the Bow Valley. It seems like a long time ago. Even with low snowfall this past winter, there was still lots of snow for him to deal with, particularly west of Castle Junction, heading toward the Lake Louise area. But he’s no stranger to dealing with winter conditions, having the habit of waking up in March in the Canadian Rockies. About three weeks later, M136 (“split-lip”) was up, seeming a few weeks earlier than his normal wake time from winter’s deep sleep. They both looked healthy, starting another bear season, with enough fat on them to wait it out until they start gaining weight from a carcass or green vegetation in early spring. With snow gone from the valley, except for the very shaded spots, both are busy covering large distances in the midst of another mating season. I came across M136 just a few days ago as I was doing my bird walk early one morning. That's a story for another time. It’s not long now before the remaining bears will be up, just in time as the dandelion season has started.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
There are believed to be around 10 quintillion individual insects alive on our favorite planet. That’s a 10 with 18 zeros behind it. Approximately 55,000 species of insects can be found in Canada; the giant water bug is most likely the biggest in our country. Around 90 percent of bird species rely on insects as food during some part of their lives. It’s believed that insectivorous birds around the world eat 400 to 500 million metric tons of beetles, flies, ants, moths, aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, and others. There are numerous places around the world where people get their protein from consuming insects as part of their overall diet. On the day I took these images, I enjoyed a few hours watching several species of birds, including the Yellow-rumped Warbler, making lunch of the insects fallen in the air and on the water.
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebes mostly breed in Canada and Alaska. Just as I witnessed several years back, they nest on shallow freshwater lakes that have some marsh vegetation around the edges. Their diet mainly consists of fish, crustaceans, and some insects. Hunting in clear water, from top to bottom, they swallow small fish whole before coming to the surface. With larger prey, they come up to the water surface before preparing their prey for swallowing. You can just make out their legs behind them. Due to their location, they would be terrible at getting around on land. Therefore, their nest is located on the surface of the water, made of floating aquatic vegetation anchored to emergent plants or piled directly on the lake bottom in shallow water. Either way, most of the nest lies underwater. Clutch sizes tend to be between 1 to 9 eggs. After hatching, the chicks will spend most of their time on the back of their parents until they are 10 to 17 days old, increasing the cuteness factor tenfold. The pairs usually separate once the young are fully fledged, at about four weeks of age. Wintering occurs at shallow water along the coastlines and at larger lakes with open water.
Fairholme Range
Things are changing fast now as spring pushes through. This sunset picture was taken just a couple of weeks ago, as I was looking for a spot with some calm water. Well before the sunset, the sky was already showing some red colour. I just needed to find a spot where the wind would be blocked off by the landscape. The ice was getting weaker, so I also had to make sure I was taking little to no risk where I stood on parts of the frozen river. Just the morning before, about a hundred meters down the river from my location, over seventy elk had crossed the river. Two days after this picture, there was not enough ice for a coyote to cross in the same area. Warmer temperatures, open water absorbing more heat, longer days and the sun getting higher up in the sky each day. All factors helped to open the river for the incoming birds from the south. Even with the three nights of low temperatures we are currently going through, other than needing an extra layer, the day’s temperature is keeping the water open. Providing more places to observe waterfowls after the sunrises.
