Having not been to the Parc for a little over two months, we finally made it on Ground Hog Day, February 2nd. The temperatures were seasonably below zero, the sun was full on. The photography conditions were not the best what with the deep shade of the bright sun, the heat waves coming from the car, the brown sanded roads and plowed snow banks. So I kept what I could of the shots that day.....
The bird feeder by the Parc Store has a new location and no squirrel guard. So the red, black and grey squirrels are having a great time at the expense of the birds.
The elk must have set an alarm clock as there was a full contingent of tollkeepers/welcomers at the Parc entrance when we arrived at opening time
There were still lots of antlers on the heads of the elk in particular, but also the red deer. They will be falling off in the coming weeks
Seems some of the antlers have been used to dig through the snow
The various lakes within the Parc were well frozen, covered with snow, and added to the nice winter scenery, but one of the red deer walking through the deep snow, wasn't careful moving onto the road
While some of the red deer were busy eating the corn put out by the Parc staff, most of the bull elks were relaxing
What was a bit surprising was the number of new antlers covered in velvet. These antlers have grown after the original set fell off* prematurely in the fall. They will fall off, again, in the coming weeks to make way for the new spring growth.
* Some of the antlers are removed by Parc staff if a male becomes overly aggressive during the fall rut in October/November
On the left, a bull elk with velvet covered antlers, and on the right another bull with the "scars" from where his antlers have more recently fallen off.
There was still one red deer maintaining his harem. He was ensuring none of his ladies wandered off.
Of course as soon as we left the scene, he let out a loud bellow. Something I always want to catch on video - not this time!
A few of his harem kept a close eye on us
The white-tailed deer were about as always. How can you resist the look from a white-tailed deer?
Most of the fallow deer were gathered in groups, some around the ol' feeding trough...(or in it)
I used some Ai "magic" to remove the fencing in front of the moose. The before and after photos.
None of the moose escaped from the digitally removed fencing. I thought the photo on the right was still interesting enough to use despite her eye being mis-shapened by the digital fence removal
The buffalo were gathered in a wooded area, but one was enough in the clear enough to get a photo and a video.
The caribou were flaked out in the snow way off in the distance. (Two young ones from last year were fenced off in a separate area.)
The Przewalski horses were closer to their gate by the road which provided a good photo op
The bighorn sheep were relaxing in a plowed area, with the Corsican mouflon staying a bit higher up from the road. The mouflon seem to have acclimatized themselves to the visitor cars now and don't run off when a car approaches
The wolves have been scattered around a bit to provide enclosures with mixed inhabitants. The wolves in the original wolf area (right) were relaxing, while the wolves in with the still hibernating brown bears (below) were uneasy
The coyotes, in with a hibernating black bears, were uneasy as well
The younger Rocky Mountain goats were frisky, with the adults busy chillin'
I had seen mouse tracks in another area, and there obviously had been a mouse in with the silver foxes. One of the foxes calmly watched another one play with a mouse before having it for a snack
Videos of three different lengths of the fox and the mouse
It was a nice sunny day, with the temperature at about -6°C. One of the black bears, in honour of Ground Hog Day, decided to come out its den and parade along the back fence.
The boars have been making good use of their condos at night, but they make sure to be out for the corn dropped off by staff in various locations in the morning.
There is a large platform (as seen in previous PhotoStories) that staff cover with a mixture of sunflower seeds and corn. Blue jays, chickadees, wild turkeys and squirrels all enjoy the free pickings. Today it was just a red squirrel and several black squirrels
There were a few wild turkeys in sight. One large tom was busy preening himself
The large patio/deck behind the Parc Store is closed due to renovations. So we had to look out from the restaurant windows to see the arctic foxes. There were 5 of them. I didn't have my real camera with me and was quite surprised by the passable quality of "telephoto" photo and video of one of the foxes
