The Geese Are Back!

The beautiful red sunrise this morning gave way to a beautiful Alberta day.  +16C!  What a difference from a few days ago when the overnight temperature was -26C.

I had to go for a little drive to see what was happening at Elk Island Park.  There were a lot of other people that had the same idea.  The vehicle count in the park was high.

On the way to Astotin Lake, there were a number of small groups of bison along the roadside.  Two young ones decided to lag behind the group and hold up traffic on the highway.  They stood in the middle of the driving lane and were not moving.  Once they decided that it was kind of boring to have a stare-down with me, they moved and I made my way to Astotin.  I got to the lake and noticed a couple of adult bison searching for food amidst the trees bordering the parking lot.

I parked close to the picnic area.  The Canada Geese were back.  Today was the first day that I saw them.  Poor things are going to have to wait quite awhile for the snow to melt and the ice to break up.  There's at least two feet of snow on top that lake ice.  They didn't seem bothered by it.  Their honking could be heard on the lake shore.

I was hoping to walk the trail a bit but the snow was so soft that I kept sinking into it.  Rather than go for a walk, I opted to travel to the northern end of the park.  Along the way, there were more bison making their way across the deep snow in the open meadow areas.  I was not the only one sinking out of sight.

Close to the north park gate I noticed some elk nibbling on the branches on the edge of a forested area.  There were about 4 of them in one spot.

Funny how I've been visiting the park for a number of years now and have never seen an elk there and during the last month, I've seen ten or more.  Amazing!

It was a beautiful day for a little drive.  I think I'll go on a longer road trip tomorrow; sticking to the highways where it is dry vs the back roads where the snow is breaking up into a slushy mess that one could get stuck in.