Road Trip! - The Lone Wolf

Even though I could 'bearly' contain my excitement over all the bear sightings on the road trip, there were more forest creatures that greeted us.

A couple of beautiful mule deer were enjoying the fresh grass along the ditch.  All told, there were more than 24 deer seen on the trip.  

We were making a pit stop at a campground west of Nordegg.  Just before the turn off, a great blue heron circled a roadside pond.  

When we hit the road again, we stopped at Landslide Lake.  Many small grey and yellow birds filled the branches of the trees along the trail.  They occupied the lower branches so it was easy to see them.  Their songs filled the forest.  I tried to photograph them so I could ID them back home but they were too quick for me.  It was not too difficult to find out that they were Yellow Rumped Warblers.

At the Mistaya River Canyon parking lot a couple of ravens were perched on the boulders waiting for a hand out from anyone with a snack.  I noticed one of them as I opened the truck door.  When I closed the door, it was gone.  I didn't see it because it was on the pavement directly behind me.

On the shore of the Mistaya River, a couple of chipmunks scurried along the branches.  In the blink of an eye, they were gone; hiding in nests below the pine and spruce trees.

Driving down to the canyon, I noticed a large nest at the very top of a spruce tree.  Little heads seemed to appear in the top of the nest.  I had the binoculars along so on the trek back home we stopped to have a closer look.  

An adult osprey could be seen a distance away from the nest.  With the binoculars we were able to confirm that there were babies in the nest.

Our road trip was a last minute decision and I'm glad we decided to go.  The day was incredible.  As my son and I were headed down the highway toward home, I said to him that the perfect ending would be to see a majestic bald eagle.  Well, the ending was even better.

As we were leaving the wilderness area, we noticed a black spot in the ditch.  We both thought that it was another bear.  As we got closer, we realized that the spot was not a bear.  A lone black wolf stood at the edge of the forest.  It's eyes met ours and it stared directly at us as we drove by as if saying goodby.  My son and I were in awe.  We turned around, but the wolf had retreated to the trees once more.  I had never seen a live wolf and to have it step out as we were leaving will be a moment that I will remember for a long time.