Autumn animals… before the season is too long gone
In between the absurdly early snowstorm in September and the first winter cold snap that started last week, we had a great autumn here in the Foothills between Calgary and Banff. I spent a fair bit of time on the prairies and enjoyed some good encounters with their wild residents. The Great Horned Owl above was from a stand of trees west of High River during a great day where I had two separate encounters (one and two) with these beautiful owls. The one below is closer to home being a few miles south of Cochrane.
A beaver in the lake at Wild Rose, west of Bragg Creek, let me watch him swim on an overcast day where the ripples were soft and provided some nice opportunities. On another visit a pair of muskrat preened on the lake’s shoreline before returning to the water.
White-tailed deer are regularly seen in the fields as they stock up for winter. It was cool to see the young stag in the second image that was stag traversing the blackened earth in a much less recovered section of the Sawback prescribed burn that was done in 1993.
Another White-tail on the prairies stood on alert in a field south of Cochrane where I watched two stags rutting.
Christopher Martin Photography 
Great series of photos ~ I am a huge beaver fan (coming from Oregon, we have a few)…those shots, with the light on the water are brilliant!
November 23, 2014 at 2:59 am
Fantastic pictures special the first one.
November 17, 2014 at 8:14 am
Thank you Godfried!
November 17, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Absolutely beautiful photos of all these gorgeous creatures. Thank you so much for sharing. I love the owls.
November 17, 2014 at 4:37 am
Hi Allison,
Thank you for visiting and for commenting.
I’m very happy that you enjoyed them.
Have a great day!
Cheers,
Chris
November 17, 2014 at 3:00 pm
That first photo is just wonderful with all that colour. Your photos remind me of the wonderful fall we had on the prairies.
November 17, 2014 at 12:20 am
Glad to hear you enjoyed the season too. Has it left your part of the prairies now in favour of winter as it has here?
November 17, 2014 at 3:01 pm
I had to talk myself out of the truck to photograph a snowy owl yesterday in a howling cold wind and shovelled snow today. It’s here!
November 17, 2014 at 11:02 pm
so beautiful…and free…
November 16, 2014 at 6:53 pm