Showing posts with label Mammals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mammals. Show all posts

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bison!

February.
My favorite month. I get to sit out on the deck. The sun warm again, the snow reflecting it. Today started cool, the sun came out, with a speck of snow falling once in a while. But pleasant enough to indeed sit outside.
Don and i had planned to go skidoing today.
But my husband, well.. i don't go in details.
I get the skidoos ready. Which i do need his help with. He gets so crouchy.
Guess what i compare him with.
Indeed a big old Buffalo.
A good provider, but watch out.
So first i go for a spin by myself. You know i just don't like skidoing that much.
I am not very good at it, feel insecure, get stuck etc.
It's a family thing. When Don is with me , i love it. I would still rather be the one riding in the skiff (being pulled along) But Don prefers if i ride my own skidoo. A little Bravo by the way.
After i do 2 spins, clear some snow, watch the birds, he is finally up to it.

Off we go! Following a wide trail. (It's a hunter thing, i can't tell you where...) cutting through the forest, out in the open on a bluff, into a deep dark forest.
It's a joy to see Don ride. He is so good; where i would get stuck , he stands up, leans over and revs up.
Following a levee,the trees here still laden with snow, out on a meadow. Lots of days old Bison tracks. On to a winding narrow trail in the forest.
We are in thick big willow bush, i see the meadow through an opening ahead.
Suddenly Don stops.


I see it too, scramble for the camera, wish i would have gotten a picture of the willows too. But they are running!


They do actually stand still once and a while. I don't know if that is because of the deep snow, or is that actually how they flee; watching where the perceived danger actually is.
As sudden as we saw them, they have disappear in the woods.
Don takes off like a rocket. (I imagine now what my brother went through hunting with Don, that's another story, far more exciting, but not mine to tell.)
He doesn't follow the Bison, but maybe he is wondering if he can see them again on the other side of the forest. Thank goodness there is his skidoo tracks to follow for me. Eventually i do catch up with him. But because of the speed, my hat always gets undone. while adjusting it, i push my contact lens away from my pupil. Now i am half sighted. What a life!
Good and frozen we arrive home before dark.
The photos maybe not perfect, well they're perfect for being wild, we're not in the zoo here(although).
But what joy to share them right away, by the means of this wonderful blogging.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Wood Bison

Yukon Wood Bison.
Bison bison athabasceae.
Finally i have a picture of Canada's biggest land mammal.
The quality of the photo minimal. It's the farthest reach of my camera, probably the animals are 5 km away from us.

Jane Vincent went skiing with me this morning. I still have a cold and am a little short of breath keeping up with her. On the bottom of a hill, she continued, and i slowly walked up to a bench, in the landscape. The seat i sat on ,was a dead branch.
Most of our trails here, are not round abouts, i would wait till she would come back.
As i sit there googling (can i use this word appropriately in this context?). I see some dark shapes in a far away meadow. The rest of the world more grey, with the snow coverage. Zooming it in with the camera, it looks like something, then like a truck(highly unlikely) and in the third photo i take, it definitely are Bison, it seems like 5 or so adults and 2 calves. My first sighting since March last year!

After we come back, we have some Moose soup (it could have been Bison).
I am not into cooking very much. Last night i took out a bone, with meat and fat on it. This morning I put it in the pressure cooker, and now don't follow this as a recipe, because.... well i just throw things together that are at hand. So there goes the bone, some sea salt, carrots, my own home grown potatoes, celery seeds, pepper, my home grown bay leaves. And then a hand full of dried wild herbs.
In season i pick several herbs, dry them on a rack with white cloth, put it in the sun, in the breeze. (this method works for me, because it is fast.) Store them in jars, with a few grains of rice, just in case some moisture was left in the herbs.
And now beautifully in mid winter i have this collection of herbs. Today i used; nettle, juniper berries, labrador tea and plantain seeds. Fill the pot with water, bring to a boil and put it on the wood stove to simmer. Voila! hot soup aroma greets us when we get back. It's a wonderful life!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)


The deer here are not used to people. And as you see, hard to capture on camera.
The most clear picture taken on an angle, sorry.


This morning i went into meditation; counseling My Higher Consciousness. No specific topic in mind. First I see in my head a doll's face. I think; "oh Jolly, i am going to find my long lost doll today." So, me being always so down to earth, ask; "Where?"
Too bad for me, that is not exactly how it works.
But after a meditation like that i do stay close to my 'Higher Consciousness' and miraculously i do find the doll, by accident, after I forgot about her again.

To come to the point; I like to think that the deer today where also part of a Divine Plan.

The deer are a fairly recent sight in the Yukon. Up till now it seems they only visit my garden in the winter. I do like my garden even in the winter and have to admit the deer and elk eat everything that is left.
Today when I saw them, they were eating delphinium stalks and rose hips.
They soon realized that i was watching them and disappeared in the forest surrounding our house. I followed them for half an hour, and did get some descent shots (I posted 2 more on 'flickr', my account called 'je zon').
As i followed them , they stayed around 30 feet away from me, while i did my best to hide and stay totally quiet. Nibbling here and there, but mostly keeping an eye on me. I saw the buck eat a 'witches broom' on a Spruce tree.

Thank You!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

River Otter tracks


Yes?
I guess.
Thank you Andy Fion