Deryl's Western Road Trip!

 'Moraine Lake and Lake Louise'

After driving up from Calgary, Deryl made it to Moraine Lake in time for lunch. It was tough to take a photo with so many people around, but he managed to get this scene which is a former picture on the back of the Canadian $10.00 bill!

Morraine Lake was the only location where he found the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. Although striped like our Eastern Chipmunk, it was 2- 3 times larger.

Columbian Ground Squirrels are abundant. 

They are easy to find; just listen for the whistling.

Clark's Nutcracker: They are used to being around people and will pick up seed from the ground. Due to the pandemic, bird feeders weren't being filled, so they had to look further for food.

Black-billed Magpies were easy to spot, but hard to photograph.

An Ermine mom was attempting to move her young across a very populated walkway, darting through the legs of unsuspecting tourists.

But the young had other ideas. They kept running back across the path so Mom had to make multiple trips for EACH of her young!

White-winged Crossbills were abundant in the area. They pry open the 

cones of Spruce and Tamarack trees with their crossed bills to access the seeds.

Deryl spent the night in an overflow parking lot right beside the highway at Lake Louise. Early the next morning as he was driving away, he saw a Black Bear. Somehow, he thought it would be a good idea to get out of the car to photograph the bear. Fortunately, common sense kicked in and he retreated to the relative "safety" of the car to snap this photo.

A soothing rocky stream, typical of the area. He managed 

to shoot this scene at a low shutter speed without a tripod!