Elk Island National Park: Mama Lemming

Good day Ladies and Gents

I didn't want to whine about covid for 30 days so I stayed quiet, I was too sick to think for the most part. Talk about a kick in the pants that was. Long story short, I got the awful version not the mild headache...yuk. I'm still sick and on antibiotics but I'm getting better. Standing for long periods is hard but I went from 10 minutes to 2 hours at a time in the last week so I suppose that's good. I have been forcing myself to get out and go for a walk in the park here and there just to get out of the house and rebuild some sort of stamina. It's been too hot to stay inside anyway with this heat wave we are experiencing. For the most part I just do slow flat hiking for short periods of time, my head doesn't get too spiny that way. It somehow makes me feel accomplished for the day even if it isn't much.

Today we decided to go to Elk Island Park because it was pretty warm and sitting in an air conditioned truck with the odd short hike here and there sounded nice. It's been like a year since we last been here, it was time. It's BABY SEASON, all the newborns are here or at least starting to. This post will have a mix of the week's pictures. The birds are from the local park but I don't have much to say about them so I will just include them with this post, it's a good place for them since you can find them all at Elk Island and it will give you some variety to look at even tho the bison alone are pretty cool.

Like any other time, on our way, I was looking out for the Wood Bison on the other side of the road, suddenly we came across a herd right by the fence, unfortunately they were too close to the fence for me to go stick my camera lens in there, these guys are kinda mean too compared to the Plain Bison considering they are not use to people either. I'll post one pic anyway just because I like them but the best shots will be from it's close cousin the Plain Bison. They roam the main park where everyone visits. The 2 herds are kept separate to prevent cross breeding and territorial fights since the Wood Buffalo is still considered an endangered species here but slowly recovering in numbers with the help of Elk Island National Park.

For those of you just joining, Elk Island is one of 3 Bison Sanctuary in the province (Wood Buffalo National Park and recently Banff are the others) otherwise, there are no other wild buffalo since they were overhunted to near extinction. Our first stop was of course Bison Loop, we always try our luck but rare we see any here, today would turn out to be a Buffalo gold mine. The first time around, it was still early in the day, there was only two, still pretty exciting since it's been a year and right at the entrance, we didn't have to look for them.

They were at the end of the loop but we drove all the way around just in case the rest were hiding behind the tree line and it's a one way. For the most part, Bison don't move fast unless it has a reason to and these ones were taking a nap so, I don't think they were in a hurry to get anywhere, we had time to do the full loop and reach them at the end of it without skipping a beat. They were still there...just sunbathing unlike the rest of the herd probably hiding from the sun and heat in the shade of the forest. The best time to see them is after dinner, like 7 pm until sunset or early in the morning, then they are everywhere in the fields trying to get away from the bugs.

We just sat here and watched them, an hour flew by and 2 sleeping Bison is less cute then what it was an hour ago. Still pretty adorable. We figured based on their habits, we could probably go for a bit of a hike and come back and they might still be here if we come back later. We went back to Moss Lake trail for our second hike. The first one we had taken the long loop and turned around halfway. It's a good spot to find Elk in the fields. Today we knew our strength wasn't up to par so we took the shorter loop since it's much less hill, compared to the other and it was shorter...so we thought...we were still on the trail for 2 hours.

I didn't take much photos for scenery on the trail because it's not that scenic, it's just a nice walk in the woods along the pond as the name suggest. Of course we came across many ducks taking a swim. I didn't attempt pictures, they are skittish here compared to the local park so why even try but it was nice to admire nonetheless. We came across many toads some as tiny as my pinky finger nail. They are tricky, they blend in very well and they stop moving and hide under branches or debris on the trail so they are hard to see and you really have to watch out for them, well at least I do, I don't want to crush them.

As we walking, we noticed that the tracks in the mud were pretty fresh and the poop piles looked even fresher lol. Gross I know but you do have to look at skat on the trail and build a timeline, it's a safety feature. When sharing a trail with a herd of Bison, you might want to see it coming because random encounters face to face with them on a trail is very possible and there really isn't anywhere to hide because they trample he flimsy trees, it has happened to us before to meet them on a trail, 4 of them at once to be exact. It's nerve-racking but not a catastrophic moment. These guys are mostly chill and don't even care. They are herbivores so they don't want to eat you or even hurt you unless you are moving fast towards them.

I'm not saying go chasing buffalo but if you meet them on a trail just stop until they have time to understand the situation and once they ignore you, slowly back out of sight behind some trees or something until they pass. Easy peasy! No it's not! Could be a while, they don't move fast...Remember? Over the years I have had so many encounters with them, so much time spent observing them, learning their patterns, their behaviors...They are an amazing animal. Some encounters scarier than others but 99% of it is good! lol

Luckily, we didn't meet any on our way. Instead, we ran into one of the smallest mammals we have ever seen, well 2 of them but one left an impression on us. I always look down where I step to avoid stepping on tiny wildlife like mini toads and it paid off for this little guy, he just looked like a fluffy tiny rock. I saw this little thing no bigger than my thumb just clumsily stumbling along or very excited, we weren't sure. It looked like a mini Lemming or something, too small to be a mouse and didn't really look like one either, just wrong nose, wrong body shape, wrong tail. We weren't sure what we were looking at until we got home and researched it to be honest.

This tiny little thing was still too adorable. It stopped right in front of my feet and it let me take a bunch of pictures with my camera and then with @silvergingerman's phone because he was looking right at me and it was a good angle since I was sitting on the ground, I could really get in there. None of these alien antics scared the little fellow, if anything, he was even more curious about us, his new giant friends. He would try to size us up but we were so big that he kept stumbling backwards. That part was soooo cute, I never thought I would get so much entertainment from a rodent let alone such a tiny one.

We sat there and watched it for quite some time, we let him watch us, he seemed to like it, he began eating. That's when you know an animal is comfortable with you. He still kept watching us as we were trying to chase mosquitos away and he still stuck around. Next thing you know, this thing decided I was mama or something. It ran seeking shelter under my shoe, trying to get in my pant leg so I moved my leg, then it went to cuddle up under my leg closer to my butt (on the outside of the pants thankfully...can you just imagine lmfao). It was cute and all but I think it was time to skedaddle because I didn't want to crush it, it was that tiny. I needed @silvergingerman's eyes so I didn't crush it getting up while it was under me. He was getting pretty cozy!

If I would have let my hand out on the ground, he would have climbed in it but we were on a trail with no way to wash my hands until I get home. A small percentage of rodents carry a serious pathogen Hanta virus (6% of rodents). The chances are small but I'm already recovering from a lung compromising illness, I really don't want another right now, I don't think I can handle it. Seriously! After doing some research, our little Lemming friend is indeed a Meadow or a Water Vole or commonly known as field mouse, a close cousin to the Lemmings with the same main characteristics. The catch is, these ones were babies, why we had a hard time to tell what they were! Tiny little baby vole! No wonder it felt like it just adopted me as it's mother, it's because it probably did! And I ran away, poor baby. The size of my thumb nail, that's how big it was. Dirt was bigger than him.

I was getting winded but pride was stopping me from taking a break but this little guy did the trick. I needed that break, I felt fresh after sitting down for a bit. We finished the trail pretty fast after that with no more distraction besides the butterfly that followed us for the whole trail. He never settled long enough for me to take pictures and I didn't try. Just an observation, I notice my animal stalkers. Red winged black birds like to stalk me around the local pond too along with the odd neighborhood bunnies...Seems to be a common theme with me, glad to see my animal whisperer abilities are still there but sometimes I got to back away lol, I have a safe distance too. Overall, it took us 2 hours but keep account for all the distractions and our recent slowness, most people should be able to do this loop in about an hour. It was a nice walk and I needed that.

We were all weak and tired after this, we weren't thrilled because it makes us feel old and hoping it's just temporary after a month because that could really mess up our careers if our stamina and lung capacity doesn't get back to normal. I have been out a month already and this is like my third time leaving the house, I can't even imagine trying to climb 200 ft of ladders 3 times + a day right now! I'm not sure what's going on with work. I have been on hold for covid but my job is probably done. They have other jobs going on but who knows. Our line of work is all grey areas and it's different with every company we work for and we work for many of them.

We were tired but the day was far from over, sorry it went off topic there for a bit. We figured we could just chill in the truck for a bit and drive back down to Bison Loop and see if those 2 wake up yet. Well there it was again both were still there and to add to the excitement, there was actually close to a hundred that joined the adjacent field. We couldn't see them at first because they were hiding behind the tree line and there is a few hills and small ponds. As soon as we turned the corner, they were everywhere, in the field, on the road and in the swamp and came in all ages.

From tiny babies and their mothers to yearlings and fully grown. We once again just parked the truck, open the sunroof and enjoy the show. We are going to be here a while again. There goes another hour well spent, maybe more! What a perfect day to get out of the house this turned out to be! We watched the babies playing in the field or drinking from their mothers, the bison were not bothered that we were there. They were walking in front of the truck, behind the truck. Some were as close as 10 feet and all this time I was just out the sunroof taking pictures from my birds eye view. Keep in mind I still use my 300mm lens to get that much closer with my shots. We were completely surrounded and loved every minute of it.

Cowbirds are normally found with bison hitching a ride, they feed off the bugs and parasites in the bison fur. They currently look messy because they are shedding their thick winter coats.

They all slowly made their way across the road to a near-by field and when they were too far for me to take pictures, we moved along to the other two. They weren't napping anymore, it was lunch time but they were still there. They seem pretty content with that area. It has a sandy dirt pile to lay in and good grass, why move! Once again, we just parked there and watched them slowly eating their way towards us, one of them I could have touched if I had tried he walked so close to us(the much bigger one, go figure). I actually rolled up the window in case he went funny. They are mostly nice but sometimes they can get aggressive with no warning. Just on the safe side. He didn't seem bothered by much today at all! After their snack, one of them went back to a comfortable nap in the sandy dirt pile 20 feet away from me(still out of the sunroof). What a show! OMG

This picture above gives you an idea of what type of light conditions the camera was working in and it still did well, impressive new toy! The next series of photo is a photo story on how the Bison decided to take a nap 20 feet away!

Oh wait, I think I got one more big yawn before my nap!

Yeah, now I'm good

This is the first time I really pushed my new camera and really tested it out and find it's limitations besides the local park. I got to say, I'm impressed at the sharpness and the fast shutter speed but it didn't do well on moving targets but still animals will come out so crisp on photos. It is light weight and easy to carry and smaller than any DSLR. It does well enough in low lighting, better than my old camera. It's overall less picky. It's limitations is with the adaptor and the smaller mm lenses like 18mm. I wasn't thrilled to find that out at sunset. It looked like I was taking pictures thru a tube and there is a black circle around the lens, more pronounced the smaller you go. Not good, this is my favorite lens and half of it is useless. For some pictures with a slight zoom turned out nicer because of it, it added an element but overall it's a pain and that threw a wrench in my photography now and in the future, at least with my favorite lens. Another flaw is the battery power. I killed a fully charged battery in 3 hours luckily, my old camera has the exact same battery so I have a spare but going on long hikes, I'm gonna need a couple of them spare batteries or a solar charger...gonna need something!

We went to Astotin Lake for the usual sunset, we didn't stick around much, by the time we left bison it was pretty much sunset. My battery died at the Buffalos but I plugged it in and got enough juice for the sunset thankfully. As per usual it was pretty busy here being the most popular recreational area in the park including the camp ground and the most photographed sunset near Edmonton. Most sunsets especially in the summer, many photographers line the sandy shore for a glimpse, it almost never disappoints. It's too early in the year to get the sun setting behind the mock island, it changes locations everyday so it's not quite that perfect view everyone comes for but later in the summer, maybe in a month or 2, I should pay attention to the timing next time. Everything has timing if you pay attention. Nature is predictable in it's unpredictability. I really notice that here.

Well that's pretty much it for now I guess. Hopefully I get to go out and take more pictures or maybe get back to work...something either way lol. All images were taken with Nikon Z-6.