The last two weeks of July is not the optimum time to visit Parc Omega. Aside from the extra influx of summer tourists, many workers in Quebec have those weeks off. Fortunately the Parc is large enough to absorb a lot of people, but I've never seen it so busy. Many of the deer and elk had their fill of carrots much earlier in the day than normal.😊
While nothing to do with Parc Omega, this car in the parking lot at the entrance, caught my eye
The animals at the Parc store/restaurant have been changed again. Now there are 3 (or 4) arctic foxes and two black bears. The foxes have always been different colours, some were molting. One fox and one bear were very relaxed, one bear seemed to be sitting by the gate wanting to get out, or maybe looking for a food delivery
The toll keepers at the front gates were in full enforcement mode
Not sure what the collective noun is for a group of antlers, but there sure were a horde of them looking for treats.
(The caged golf carts are available for rent, but to my mind don't give you the same adventure as the animals can't stick their noses and heads inside the caging.)
And they were heading for us next
The one on the left had a great expression on his face, the other just looked very relaxed
In the heat, the elk and red deer often head into the ponds to cool off and escape the flies
The white-tailed deer were making themselves available for carrots, but were tending to stay in the shade. I'm not sure if the third deer was sticking its tongue out at me, or was just hot
The fallow deer always have hard time reaching the open car windows.
Fortunately they have never developed the habit of standing on their hind feet and scratching the car with their fore feet the way the ibex do
I sometimes watch the smaller ones in the rearview mirror
As mentioned earlier some elk were getting their fill of carrots earlier than normal with the added number of visitors. In this sequence the elk comes over to the vehicle, checks out the carrots, but turns up his nose and moves on
We only came across one buffalo/bison, the others must have been deeper in the woods. It was one of the "big guys", quietly chewing his cud.
The moose were seeking the shade as well. Tico and his friend were in their shelter - we could barely make out the friend. Looking very hard, we spotted one of the trio of moose in the other enclosure
A new arrival, bighorn sheep, are in the drive through section with their European cousins. The new comers seem VERY habituated to cars driving by as they were right down by the road. One stuck his nose in the car window to say hello, but I missed the shot🙄
The Rocky Mountain goats are molting their thick coats as quickly as they can. In the enclosure with the goats was a raven with its mouth wide open. That is how birds cool off as they have no sweat glands.
One of the big ibex was sitting up on the slopes of their "mountain". We are always happy to see them over there and not in close to the cars. (A few years ago, one jumped up on the hood of our one week old car)
A workman adjusting something next to the wolves enclosure had the attention of some of the wolves, others were more relaxed about it
A coyote in one of the black bear enclosures was sitting out the heat
Mum cinnamon bear with the triplets seemed to be feeling the heat as was another bear in the enclosure (with a more unusual cinnamon coat variation).
A few great blue herons were about, only one within photo range
A trio of very young mallard ducklings were in the small pond in the rest area
A blue jay had lost one of its feathers
The wolverines were nowhere to be seen when we first went to their enclosure. Arriving closer to their presentation time, one appeared and then a few minutes later the second.
The prairie dog area is no longer a walk-through, but you still can see them quite clearly
A red squirrel was gobbling down a very young green pine cone. Hope he didn't get indigestion from it
We mistook a resting wild pig for a rock as he was lying next to a rock wall and a rock almost the same colour. Normally the wild pigs sleep in "dugouts" they create in a sandy location
It seemed that many visitors found themselves with leftover carrots when they exited the Parc. There were all kinds of carrots strewn over the ground at the exit gate and only one lone young elk working on them
While one doesn't go to Parc Omega to see insects, there were so many dragonflies at one small pond I couldn't help but photograph them. Scroll over for ID
twelve-spotted skimmer
common whitetail
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Chalk-fronted Corporal
And while I didn't achieve quite the result I had hoped for, I did try photographing them in flight....
