Whistler’s Campground, Jasper Nat’l Park
After nearly a week spent enjoying the big city life of Edmonton, AB, we headed west to Jasper National Park. In 2008 when we visited Jasper in mid-May, the elk were calving and there was still significant snow on the ground. This trip the elk were bugling (mating behavior).
This elk is in the classic bugling stance. Notice how he raises his chin forward. When he does this he emits a high pitched squeal and corals the females together.
We found several fields of elk where one large male had rounded up a group of females and on some occasions watched while he sent a smaller male on his way.
This male chased a younger male away from a group of about 8 cows.
Here’s one of his girlfriends.
While we observed this elk encounter from a distance, we watched a disaster in the making. Elk are notoriously dangerous animals, especially during the mating season. Shortly after the large male had chased the junior male into the woods, a man started walking off the roadway toward to woods trying to get a picture with a credit-card sized camera. Robert & I were standing in the back of our truck working with a long lens on a tripod. We watched as the man approached the annoyed male elk and anticipated an imminent elk charge.
It’s a little hard to see in this photo, but the man is standing just to the center of the picture. The road and the sane spectators are out of sight to the right of the picture.
Lucky for the human, a ranger took off at a fast run to the scene and shepherded the man back to safety. We had fully anticipated documenting an elk goring. While elk appear to be only large deer, they actually stand over 7 ft. tall at the shoulders. An annoyed elk can easily stomp a person. They also use their antlers as aggressive weapons.
The mountain sheep also gave us a wonderful show.
There was a herd of about 50 mountain sheep spread out about 1/4 mile along a lake and nearby mountain.
Watching them climb is a sight to behold.
Sometimes they seem to look right at me.
A bit later we met this cute lower member of the food chain building his winter nest. I think he is a Marmot.
He worked for hours gathering grass and carrying it under a rock further down the mountain.
We also appreciated the stark beauty of the rugged mountains.
Although the weather forecast for Jasper was terrible, we were fortunate to capture several hours every day to photograph the wildlife. Whistler’s Campground is exceptional. We had full hook-ups in a beautiful national park setting. That’s our ideal site.
Next we're heading south along the Ice Fields Parkway to Banff.
No comments:
Post a Comment