Nature

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Bears Without Fear

Bears Without Fear

Kevin van Tighem started his Parks Canada career in Kootenay National Park. The bears are out and, within the next month, Kevin’s new book will be too. It is intended to make western North America’s ...Full story

Screech — almost another one

Screech — almost another one

“The bighorn sheep population near the village of Radium Hot Springs, B.C., have a high rate of highway mortalities. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of bighorn highway ...Full story

Stuffing face

Many of us have the good fortune on Thanksgiving of eating until our bellies are full, and this golden-mantled ground squirrel seems to be doing the same. It was feeding on Penstemon ellipticus ...Full story

Doesn’t get any cuter

Doesn’t get any cuter

You can tell that this is a young pika by it’s smooth and babyish looking fur, compared to the rougher looking coats of the adults. It is also about half the size of a fully grown pika, which is pretty ...Full story

Knock knock — whoos there?

Knock knock — whoos there?

Retired Kootenay Park warden Hans Fuhrer noticed and photographed this boreal owl while skiing in Taynton Bowl at Panorama Ski Hill. Hans said “it poked it’s head out the hole when I knocked on the ...Full story

Grand slam of chickadees

Grand slam of chickadees

Chestnut-backed chickadees are uncommon residents in BC’s eastern southern interior and they are very rare in the southern Rocky Mountains. So when John Pitcher, former Kootenay National Park naturalist, ...Full story

Cone skeletons

This time of year red squirrels are busy cutting coniferous cones to store and eat. It doesn’t take them long to strip the cone bracts and extract the numerous seeds from each cone with their teeth. The ...Full story

Drying preserves

Drying preserves

This time of year red squirrels are busy collecting and storing food from early morning until dusk. One well known trait is their love for Douglas fir cones, but they actually eat a wide variety of other ...Full story

Nature

Looking for golden-mantled ground squirrels

Looking for golden-mantled ground squirrels

Golden-mantled ground squirrels, distinguished by their prominent stripes, emerge a bit later than Columbia ground squirrels but seem rarely to be seen in spring. In the 1980s golden-mantled ground squirrels ...Full story

New bird species for Kootenay National Park

New bird species for Kootenay National Park

The Eurasian Collared Dove is native to Asia and Europe. It was introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s, spread to Florida in 1982, and has been rapidly expanding its range across North America. There ...Full story

Swivel ears

One of the mule deer’s most distinctive features is its big mule-like ears. Each ear rotates independently like a scanning radar. Without this early warning system, the mule deer could not detect as ...Full story

White-tailed ptarmigan

White-tailed ptarmigan

This master of disguise is all but invisible as its mottled plumage blends in with the surrounding rocks. The bird itself seems well aware of the efficacy of its camouflage for it is reluctant to flush ...Full story

Columbia ground squirrels — have you seen one this spring?

Columbia ground squirrels — have you seen one this spring?

Columbia ground squirrels are still, as far as we know, down in their winter burrows, but they will be emerging soon. The average date for first emergence is about April 10th at low elevations, but it ...Full story

Mule deer rut

The aspen leaves have fallen and it is now time for the mule deer rut. Sparring is a ritualized contest in which two bucks approach each other, lower heads and carefully join antlers. Each pushing and ...Full story

Marmots at Stanley Glacier

Marmots at Stanley Glacier

Last summer Kootenay’s wildlife specialist, Alan Dibb, saw many marmots at the head of the Stanley Glacier Valley near the end of the trail, including two family groups. This year, on several visits, ...Full story

Nature

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