Friday 3rd October – Wildlife Day!
Waiting patiently for three days in Bear’s Den for its namesake to appear, in desperation we finally went on the hunt for the Big Five. Fully camouflaged with tomahawk and war paint and covered in the scent of a grizzly bear in season, we stumbled across a large group of rutting elk surrounded by a strange camera clicking people from the east. Bedlam ensued as vehicles were abandoned willy-nilly and the Japanese risked their very lives to get another photograph of themselves riding an elk.
Our next wildlife encounter was an air raid attack from a grey jay. We first spotted it as we left our car to visit the huge icebergs floating on the lake at Mount Edith Cavell. It waited to ambush us upon our return and leapt on the boot of our car. In a very loud voice it demanded our bag of trail mix. Prolonged negotiations ensued but we resisted this sustained attack as we believe ‘wildlife should be kept wild’.
At the bottom of Athabasca Falls, Kate stopped to take photos of the First Nations’ rock sculptures but jumped out of her skin when a ghostly white face with big black eyes popped its head out from under a rock right close by. This cute little ermine continued to pop up and disappear, flashing the black tip of its tail as it tried to pass, and finally like a ribbon of light, whizzed back along the shore into the woods.
Next, a black raven coolly posed for our camera. And finally on our way back, we ran over a sweet little red squirrel, who thoroughly lost his game of dare. Sob!
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