A new bear greeted us at the Parc House - a glass bear. Some of the carved benches and other features seem to have disappeared.
The Parc has seemingly been moving away from the more rustic to a more "sophisticated(?)" feeling. The overnight accommodations, the sound and light show at night, this bear, and now "Walk With An Alpaca" are some of the changes contributing to that "feel".
New antlers are in many cases fully grown. The velvet looks deep and luxurious. Even the young fallow deer wanted to show off their new antlers
As with many things, not all antlers are created symmetrical. An "elder statesman" elk with different features per antler. Then there was this red deer.....
Some of the elk hadn't lost their winter coats yet despite the very hots days, one chose to cool off in the lake.
Two red deer, already having lost their winter coats, were relaxing in the shade
A bit of posturing was going on amongst a small group of elk
There seemed to be quite a number of newborn bison but we only saw one young elk
One Rocky Mountain goat had given birth to twins
The bighorn sheep were relaxing, although one of the females was in the "briar patch" having a snack.
Tiko's friend was enjoying some freshly delivered branches, while one of the bulls in the other compound was having to fend for himself
The Przewalski Horses had seemingly switched (temporarily?) paddocks with the bison. The horses were out in the big field but obviously wanting to head back to the old paddock. (The gate was open)
One black bear was active, the others along with the cinnamon bears were resting in the shade
Fallow deer in nice sidelighting....
Two pairs of longing eyes....
A raccoon was looking for corn and seeds leftover from the feeding table above.
A closer inspection of the left eye showed either a serious cataract or blindness
There were other new arrivals at the Parc. Canada geese had new families. Two families with triplet goslings and then there was a large conglomeration.... The large group seemed to have come ashore by a red-winged blackbird's nest and the male blackbird was successfully driving the geese away.
A family of mallards checking out a clean water stream
We've had our share of ravens at home, so why not at the Parc too....
A snapping turtle surprised us on the path by one of the ponds. It is egg laying time, but normally that takes place in the early hours. This was high noon. She/he stayed there for quite some time and then made a quick turn and headed back into the pond.
A few other other "observations" in closing.....
Dot-tailed whitefaced dragonfly and common blue damselflies
Fern shadows
Blue flag iris blossoms
