The Parc opened an hour later as it was the first day after March Break. The elk and red deer that showed up at 9am were getting bored and hungry.
When we arrived at 10am there were only 3 or 4 at the gate, with others just past the gate. But they were all looking back across the lake. Within a minute or two the ATV that brings feed to various feeding "tray" came down the hill across the lake. There was a mild stampede as the elk charged across the lake....
I tried to get a video of them all running, but I was interrupted by a photobomber. By the time he moved, the running was all over
The fresh white snow looked nice, but it was almost blinding and photography was difficult with it being so bright.
The beaver pond was still well frozen. The lodge, circled, was well ensconced, an open stream was flowing into the beaver pond, and icicles were formed where water dripped through undercut hillsides.
While some of the animals were still actively looking for breakfast, some had settled down for a mid-morning rest. Both elk and the Rocky Mountain goats
The wild pigs, aka boars, have delivered many new piglets. Both adults and the kids were busy picking up corn dropped along the road edge for the animals. The piglets were very active.
In part of the video there is a "race" back to the adult group.
There were still a good many elk and red deer with antlers
For whatever reason, this guy's antlers, somewhat mis-shapened by his forehead, made me think "Olé"
But lots of deer and elk were sporting antler buds of various sizes. Notice that the red deer, in the second photo, had damaged his antler bud a bit It bled (as there is a lot of blood in the buds) and left a dry blood stream on his cheek.
A group of fallow deer seemed to have rented one of the boar's condos for the night. 😊
Two fallow deer in another area were in active spring training for the fall rut.
The caribou had lost their antlers. One or two were out browsing for grass under the snow.
There was behaviour exhibited with the wolf pack. One wolf, who seemed to be at the bottom of the pecking order, showed submissive deportment when the pack arrived and they showed her where she was in the order of things.
You'll see in the video that there must have been a recent fight amongst the pack. One wolf was showing fresh blood on both his cheek and back leg (which he could not walk on)
A buffet of corn and sunflower seeds had been spread across a feeding station. Black, grey and red squirrels were gorging themselves. Blue jays were calling close by, but none came down, Wild turkeys likely found it after we left.
The squirrel chatter was quite loud as you'll hear in the video
The Przewalski Horse were just standing around the feed trough. They haven't been allowed out in the big field as it is open to the Sugar Shack parking lot.
One of the moose, that normally stays back in the woods, was out in the open presumably looking for some food. Using Ai, I was able to remove the fence in the still photo. The fence shows in the video. If you look closely, (click for full view) you can see the antler buds starting on the moose.
Visitors used to feed the buffalo carrots but since too many buffalo heads were getting stuck in car windows, carrots were banned. But some people still will offer a carrot or two. Thus some buffalo will come up to cars hoping for a treat. We had no treats, but my finger was on the power window if he head got too close.
The Corsican mouflon and bighorn sheep seem to have become more adjusted to each other and now group together.
One of the bighorns was on the road hoping to find a treat. We had no carrots to offer, but I quickly discovered he liked skritch treats. But first he had to check himself in the car mirror.
If I stopped skritching, behind his ear, on his cheek, or under his chin, his horn would hit the side of the car saying '' more"... "more"
Having had an ibex jump up on the hood of our car once, we are always careful around them. But they are great to watch as they clambour around on the rock edge.
There were no signs of any bears being up. The one we saw in February must have gone back to bed.
But the river otters that share the same enclosure were certainly up; running, hopping and sliding about.
With the exception of wild turkeys and ravens, birds were scarce. A few mourning doves, one hairy woodpecker and one pileated woodpecker. The pileated was down low and relatively close to the road
Wild turkeys were throughout the park. Busy picking up seeds at the side of the road, or foraging in the vegetation.
As we left the park, we smiled seeing that the elk and deer toll keepers at the gate had been replaced by turkeys!
