Caribou

Posted by Paul Skoczylas on Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:53 pm

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Yesterday, I saw wild caribou for the second time in my life. (My wife has been coming to the Canadian Rockies since she was a baby, and this was her first time seeing them.) And not just the one, but a small herd of at least five and maybe six, feasting on the road salt on the Maligne Lake Road.

I'm not thrilled about the ear tags, but this population of Woodland Caribou is listed as "threatened", and therefore is subject to various research programs...

I've cropped this a bit on all sides, but now I'm not so happy about the crop I chose--I gave it room to move down and left, but now I think there's too much snow showing. What do you think?

Any caribou experts out there want to comment on whether this is a male with new antler growth, or a female who hasn't shed her small antlers yet. Several of the 5-6 animals had little antlers like this...

It was a pretty good weekend in Jasper--this sighting alone would have made it so! Check out Birds and Landscapes for information.

-Paul

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Last edited by Paul Skoczylas on Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by Dick Ginkowski on Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:02 pm

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Love to see more, Paul.

I've seen lots of caribou in Denali.

Jasper is a special place. Thanks for helping me understand it better.

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by NDCheryl on Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:11 pm

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Nice one Paul. I would like more cropped from the bottom for my tastes. I have no clue which sex it is.

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by Herman Blockx on Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:58 am

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very fine shot! agree on cropping off a bit of the bottom;

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by Carol Clarke on Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:11 am

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Nice catch Paul and I agree a touch off the bottom would be better for this one.

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by Dennis Olivero on Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:16 pm

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Great subject Paul. Would love to photograph these guys.. Agree a little off of the bottom would be fine to get the pano type crop.. Good work and congrats on the sighting.

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by AForns on Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:34 pm

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Great find Paul !!!! Must have been exciting !!!!!

Another vote for the bottom crop !!!

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by Tim Grams on Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:51 pm

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Your second sighting and you even got a picture- now that's johnny on the spot! Congrats on the sighting and the image.

It looks like a healthy, thoroughly modern animal with the pierced ears and all...

Without out seeing some telltale anatomy, it could be either sex. Preganant females are suppose to carry their small antlers through most of the winter. However, small bulls sometimes carry them later into the winter also. Here in AK, the mature bull have long since dropped their hardware.

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by Paul Skoczylas on Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:39 am

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Tim, I got a shot of my first sighting too--complete with the wolf in chase.

(http://www3.telus.net/avrsvr/S099A-05.html) Actually, I got lots of shots this time; this was the closest I got, though. I might have tried to work closer if cars hadn't spooked them--which is why this one is running here. They did come back onto the road a ways behind me, but I didn't want to set a bad example by trying to get close to them where tourons would see me.

One day, I'll make it up to the NWT where Caribou sightings would be the norm rather than a rare exception!

I wondered if it might be new growth on a male. I noticed several elk in Jasper with new growth already... (Or else there were a lot of "spikes" around with last year's spikes still on...)

-Paul

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