Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: not far from US border

This photo was taken on 27 August 2014, the second day of a three-day trip down south, to Waterton Lakes National Park with friends, Cathy and Terry. We were driving along the Red Rock Parkway when we noticed a bird crossing the road way in the distance. We weren't sure what kind of Grouse it was, but, when we got closer, I got out of the car and went to see if I could get a better view of it. To my surprise, there were also several young ones hidden in the grasses. Amazingly, they didn't hurry off, out of sight, but instead stayed where they were until my friends came to look. Then another car slowed down and stopped to see what we were looking at, shortly followed by a small van that carried quite a few people. Maybe everyone had perhaps been expecting to see a Bear, ha. After a while, yet another vehicle stopped and out got a Park Ranger. I suspect he thought we were a crowd of foolish people who had got out of their cars to get closer to a Bear. When he realized that all we were watching was a family of Grouse, a big grin appeared on his face. Makes me laugh every time I picture his expression : ) I have searched and searched for the ID of this Grouse, but photos and IDs left me more confused than ever! The closest I have come to is a Dusky Grouse female, but if anyone is able to either confirm or correct, it would be so much appreciated. Later: ID has been confirmed – a Dusky Grouse. The Checklist of Birds in Waterton Lakes National Park (a pdf file) says that Dusky Grouse are uncommon in the park.

This photo was taken at 6:47 a.m. on 28 August 2014, the last morning of a three-day trip down south of Calgary, with friends, Cathy and Terry. The first two days were spent in Waterton Lakes National Park We were up and ready to leave very early on the third morning, as we wanted to do a long drive eastwards before driving all the way back to Calgary. It's roughly a three-hour drive directly from Waterton to Calgary. Before leaving the park, we took a short drive part way along one of the roads within the park, the Chief Mountain Highway, from where we caught the end of the sunrise. The mountains and clouds looked so beautiful, bathed in pink. Waterton village (or hamlet?), where we spent the two nights at the Bear Mountain Motel, is some distance off to the left of the photo. Little did we know that this was such a different sight from the one we were to encounter late in the afternoon, when we saw a menacing cloud approaching and bringing with it a mesocyclone! We were soon engulfed by it when it came down to ground level, bringing pounding hail and tremendously strong winds. During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014), we saw so many things, including breathtaking scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including endangered Burrowing Owls (way east of Waterton, on our last day), a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me, and also way east of Waterton Park!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse that are uncommon in the park. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators. Definitely a great trip!

This photo was taken on 27 August 2014, the second day of a three-day trip down south, to Waterton Lakes National Park with friends, Cathy and Terry. We were driving along the Red Rock Parkway when we noticed a bird crossing the road way in the distance. We weren't sure what kind of Grouse it was, but, when we got closer, I got out of the car and went to see if I could get a better view of it. To my surprise, there were also several young ones hidden in the grasses. Amazingly, they didn't hurry off, out of sight, but instead stayed where they were until my friends came to look. Then another car slowed down and stopped to see what we were looking at, shortly followed by a small van that carried quite a few people. Maybe everyone had perhaps been expecting to see a Bear, ha. After a while, yet another vehicle stopped and out got a Park Ranger. I suspect he thought we were a crowd of foolish people who had got out of their cars to get closer to a Bear. When he realized that all we were watching was a family of Grouse, a big grin appeared on his face. Makes me laugh every time I picture his expression : ) The Checklist of Birds in Waterton Lakes National Park (a pdf file) says that Dusky Grouse are uncommon in the park, so we were lucky.

This photo was taken at 6:48 a.m. on 28 August 2014, the last morning of a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park with friends, Cathy and Terry. We were up and ready to leave very early, as we wanted to do a long drive eastwards before driving all the way back to Calgary. It's roughly a three-hour drive directly from Waterton to Calgary. Before leaving the park, we took a short drive along one of the roads, from where we caught the end of the sunrise. The mountains and clouds looked so beautiful, bathed in pink. You can see the road leading back to Waterton village towards the bottom of the photo. Little did we know that this was such a different sight from the one we were to encounter late in the afternoon, when we saw a menacing cloud approaching and bringing with it a mesocyclone! We were soon engulfed by it when it came down to ground level, bringing pounding hail and tremendously strong winds.

This photo was taken on 27 August 2014, the second day of a three-day trip down south, to Waterton Lakes National Park with friends, Cathy and Terry. We were driving along the Red Rock Parkway when we noticed a bird crossing the road way in the distance. We weren't sure what kind of Grouse it was, but, when we got closer, I got out of the car and went to see if I could get a better view of it. To my surprise, there were also several young ones hidden in the grasses. Amazingly, they didn't hurry off, out of sight, but instead stayed where they were until my friends came to look. Then another car slowed down and stopped to see what we were looking at, shortly followed by a small van that carried quite a few people. Maybe everyone had perhaps been expecting to see a Bear, ha. After a while, yet another vehicle stopped and out got a Park Ranger. I suspect he thought we were a crowd of foolish people who had got out of their cars to get closer to a Bear. When he realized that all we were watching was a family of Grouse, a big grin appeared on his face. Makes me laugh every time I picture his expression : ) I have searched and searched for the ID of this Grouse, but photos and IDs left me more confused than ever! The closest I have come to is a Dusky Grouse female, but if anyone is able to either confirm or correct, it would be so much appreciated. The Checklist of Birds in Waterton Lakes National Park (a pdf file) says that Dusky Grouse are uncommon in the park.