Photo-Finish Friday -- A Bear in the Woods

A black bear forages for berries along the Columbia Icefields Parkway. May I suggest clicking on it to get to Flickr and then selecting full screen?

Gratitude Monday -- County Creatures

I live close to the wilderness. It's being built up, torn down, clearcut, and drilled, but it is still there.
Going out for a drive usually means spotting someone or something from the bush or the air.
Last week we went on two long drives and were treated to wildlife during both.
The first one gave us this fine fellow.

He (or she) has an ear tag on the left. I'm not sure why. Mike suggested it was a problem bear. Whatever the reason for the tag, this black bear was minding its own business on a lovely June morning along the David Thompson Highway near the Banff Park border.


On Saturday we checked out the south end of the county. This glorious great gray owl was sitting on a fence post when we went by.  We backed up for a photo, but it wasn't having any of it and took off. This was the best I could do.

Later on along a back road we saw this woodchuck enjoying a moment of not chucking wood. 

I am so grateful to live in an area where I can see these creatures, and grateful that they've let me photograph them.

Tasty Tourists

Tourist try for that perfect picture of a feeding black bear.

Sometimes I think we've gotten too far away from nature for our own good. This is an all too typical sight. Visitors to bear country want to get a good picture and forget all common sense in doing it.
Bears, no matter how engrossed they are in their food, simply cannot be trusted. These men are doing something that no one should do.
As for my pic of them, I have a healthy respect for any bear. I used a zoom lens, shot quickly, and knew that the bear would have to eat his way through both of them before it got to me. I had plenty of time to get away.

Gratitude Monday - Baby Bear Edition

-photo by Mike Mayrl

We went for a drive out west toward the Banff Park gate on Saturday and were blessed to see the three bears. This is the young one who was about to cross the road. This was our second sighting of him (or her).
When we saw it earlier it was on the right side of the road and I was the passenger so I was closest. Within a few hundred metres, if that, we saw mama bear on the opposite side of the road, and a few hundred metres later papa bear.
Much as they scare me I enjoy seeing them. I especially enjoy the fact that I am in a running vehicle and can get away if they take exception to my presence.

I am grateful for the photos I took and Mike took, and I am deeply grateful that the black bear elders were okay with us photographing their offspring.