What a busy wildlife day!!
We had seen big soaring birds walking along the main road in Jasper, but only as silhouettes against a very bright sky so identification was pretty tricky.
Our tour guide was quite a character but she was very knowledgeable and did deliver!
She started by showing us the elk we had stumbled across on the way into town. They were split across the road but they didn’t seem upset by our presence. This was a maternity herd so we did see a calf that was still slightly spotty.
Our next destination was to see the big horned sheep at a location we had already seen them, but they were shy and didn’t put in an appearance. She told us all about them anyway.
We then drove out along the river (not a lake but a knee deep flood plain), where we saw a man wading much further out than looked sensible before she explained. On the right hand side of the road, she stopped to show us a beaver lodge that had been in use for 70 years and then we drove along the edge of an enormous beaver made lake. She said she hadn’t spotted one for 4 years so I might have to let that one go!! We did see their dam and discussed how parks Canada have to keep water flowing to prevent the highway from flooding.
We failed to see the goats on a cliff a bit further up, even though we all squinted at it for a while. Again, she told us all about how their hooves work so they can climb ridiculously steep rocky slopes.
We then did a (nearly) emergency stop on side of the highway to see some white tailed deer, but we only really saw their white tails as they bounced away to hide.
All the way through the tour she talked about the fire last year and the long lasting effects. In summary, it was bad because a lot of the trees were already dead as they had been infected by pine beetles, so they burnt really fast. Pine beetles only die if the temperature stays below -30 for 3 weeks continuously, and that hasn’t happened for two years, so the problems continue. They are also getting unusually hot summers so the normally cool ground is warming up and all the virus and bacteria are damaging the trees. It is not expected that the 37 thousand hectares of fire damage will ever look as it did before. This is not necessarily a negative as the trees were too thick to encourage the plant growth required to sustain a large population of wildlife.
She also talked about the effects of the fire on Jasper. The town was evacuated in the middle of the night as the fire started at around tea time. Everyone hiking on the maligne trail was given a free helicopter ride out. 2000 families lost their homes and while there is some temporary housing, a lot of people choose to leave instead. There are “help wanted” signs in practically every shop window.
We turned off the highway onto the maligne lake road and started our ascent to maligne lake. This was on our list of hiking destinations so we were interested to see what we would see.
Our first spot was a pair of mule deer, identified by their enormous donkey ears. They were a bit shy but Keith snapped them before they disappeared.
Then we pulled over at the end of the lake to see if we could spot the hoary marmots that normally live there. I was very disappointed when we didn’t see any, but we did hear some interesting noises and a fellow British binocular wearer spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree further down the lake. We all hopped back in the bus to get closer.
Closer, we could see the nest, an adult and an all brown juvenile. Keith got an amazing shot of the adult and flight shot of the baby. If that wasn’t exciting enough, someone then spotted a hoary marmot wandering across the pebble beach below where we were standing and then another one sunbathing on a rock. I tried to get the bald eagles to sing for me, but caught a northern flicker instead. I didn’t manage to see it or get a photo which was disappointing as they are very pretty according to Merlin!
It took a while for everyone to have their fill of the eagles and the marmots, but then we were back to the bus. It didn’t feel like we had gone far when we stopped again at an osprey nest. The guide said there were two chicks but we could only see an adult head poking out the top.
We continued up the hill and drove across a bridge at the end of the lake that was teeming with gnats and (I worked out on the way down) masses of barn swallows. I watched a fat brown bird bigger than the swallows begging from an adult. I wondered if it could be a cuckoo chick, but subsequent googling has said they are not found here. Maybe just a fat chick then?
We had a comfort break in the (now empty) car park at the top of the lake. Wonderful flushing toilets instead of the normal open pit… Gulp! The guide showed us antlers of elk, moose and big horned sheep and then silicon footprints of both grizzly and black bears with a claw attached. A bit sobering to be honest. While we were passing them around, three more mule deer wandered out of the forest and then wandered away again.
Back to the bus and back down the mountain road, the guide talked about the bears and how to survive a “down and dirty fight” with either type. To be avoided. Another road based drama as she accelerated in response to a pair of moose (not meese, mice or mooses) crossing the road ahead of us. We arrived in time to see their haunches disappear into the trees, but she reversed expertly (with beeping) until the female could be seen through the trees. It was very tricky to get a good view/shot as she was eating with her head down and kept moving behind yet another tree, but Keith did his best out the door of the bus.
We saw the same (probably) mule deer in the same layby on the way back down and then surprised the guide by also spotting three buck elk split across the road a bit further down. The guide said that the male elk normally stay away from the female herds until at least mid august when they start getting more interested, but recently the local guides had noticed that the males were already identifying interesting females and following them around. Another potential consequence of global warming.
After some epic sunset photo opportunities, we completed the trip down the mountain and back to the hotel.
Highly recommended as an experience but you should be warned in advance that she may not remember to collect you, she will potentially deny any knowledge of you having been on her bus after a stop and she absolutely will not check you are back in before she leaves!!