back to reality

Three days of driving, sight-seeing, hiking, lazing about and picnicking along the Icefields Parkway was an incredible escape!  It's a land like no other filled with mountains, lakes and waterfalls.  Around every twist and turn is an eye-opening sight. I did not drive the entire Parkway, nor did I see everything there is to see.  What I did do and see was fulfilling in every sense of the word! Here you can see what Monday and Tuesday looked like.

It was in this spot where a piece of my heart got left behind

at Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park!

I woke on Wednesday to another spectacular sight to savour my coffee by! 

I left my home away from home very early to begin the drive home. 

I wanted a slower drive without the traffic and to stop to see sights.   

golden glow on  Waterfowl Lake

another visit to the shore of Bow Lake

receding Crowfoot Glacier

Herbert Lake

After visiting Herbert Lake, it was a short drive to the exit of the Icefields Parkway and.....  

.....the next day it was back to reality!

Reality is sweet these days if you look for it and are open to seeing it! I made my way to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary to witness the reality of life there.  In this photo, I put an orange star just below that tiny circle opening, that's where the Inglewood Bald Eagle's nest is.  When I went with full on zoom....

.....this is what I saw!  The Eaglet is "branching"! During a prior visit, I saw it "wingercising". 

It is not very often at all that photos I take of wildlife are without some level of zoom. With my eyes peeled looking for movement, I can find sweet sights. In this case, the young Buck was obvious yet I still needed my zoom to get the clear image showing how one of his antlers is growing down. He is well known to everyone that frequents The Sanctuary.

This photo of the young coyote is full on zoom.  It is across the lagoon. I was told there was a coyote in the area so I watched for it.  I saw something light brown moving through the bushes and then it popped out and walked along this log  

It was a Yellow Warbler that flew in and then out that caught my eye.  With my camera on full zoom through many many branches, I focused on this nest.  I believe that is a young Yellow Warbler from looking at the shape of its beak.  

A few Downy Woodpeckers were flitting about so I focused on the area and stayed patient.  

Once again, full zoom was needed. 

This is a Mom Downy Woodpecker feeding her baby boy.

I believe this is a young Black-capped Chickadee by the shape of its beak. Also it stayed in one place and at times continuously flapped its wings.  I have full zoom on focused on this one Chickadee while lots of Chickadee activity was going on around it. 

With full zoom, I was able to capture the turquoise colour of the Double-crested Cormorants eye.

This Cedar Waxwing is either still building a nest 

or adding more support and comfort to the eggs or babies in the nest. 

With my camera on full zoom, I got this close up photograph of the head of a Cedar Waxwing.  It is not very often I am able to get such a crisp clear close up.  I took many close up shots of various parts of the Waxwing.  WOW, Mother Nature does incredible work!