Elk Island National Park: The Charging Buffalo

Hey Steemies!

Long time no see! I didn't forget y'all, work has finally come to an end for now. 3 days off in 7 weeks of work with the last stretch being 24 days strait, we don't see many of these long stretches anymore but feels good to be done. May long weekend marks the official end to Alberta's winters, when we generally get our last snowfall of the season, not this year. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures are officially here to stay, no snow this weekend ... Whooo! I finally got to have my first post shutdown 20 hour sleep and @silvergingerman was off for the day so what better time to do the first official spring visit to our beloved Elk Island National Park just east of E-town.

Shot 1/1250 sec. f/9 78mm, ISO 100

Like any other day trips, I grabbed my camera gear and got some jerky snacks and off to the park we went. We did our usual up and down the park to see if there was any bison freebies along the road, today was a winner. He was nestled in the woods by the road ,far enough away, I got out of the truck and tried to get a better view without getting too close and alarming him. Keep in mind, I use a 70- 300mm lens when I photograph wildlife so they appear much closer than they actually are.

Turns out Mr cranky pants wasn't thrilled at that idea and the fact that I was standing on his future lunch, he decided to come out of the woods charging at me. Thankfully the truck was nearby, my legs turned to jelly instantly but somehow someway, I was still able to run like a little bitch and make my escape. I don't know if you ever tried to run on a dime when your legs are like jello but that's a lot easier said than done, I tripped in my own feet a few times and came close to falling since my body was moving faster than my legs. The good news is like a big girl, no underwear were soiled in the making of this post ...Haha. That was close!

Shot 1/125 sec. f/5.6 120mm, ISO 400

Clearly taken after I was safe inside the vehicle and NOT while he was charging at me. Steemians, meet Mr cranky pants. Talk about an adrenaline rush to start off the day. We watched him for a while then he decided to cross the road in front of us, once he was safely crossed, we carried on with our day and made our way to the usual Tawayik Lake trail. Once on the trail, we looked at the terrain for footprints and droppings, looks like they passed here today, maybe in the morning, they didn't look all too recent so we kept making our way towards the lake keeping an eye out so we don't surprise the herd by accident. Once at the lake, the area was deserted, not a bison to be seen. The mosquitoes were really bad and decided to turn around before we got eaten alive.

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 300mm, ISO 320

We made our way back towards the trail, just as we are about to get on the trail. SURPRISE! A bison pops out of the woods 30 feet in front of us, conveniently on the trail we were trying to get on. Then there was 2...3...and a 4th one. I thought uh oh, we are so screwed, they are blocking our exit and we were trapped here, we were also blocking them from the lake access they were trying to get to. Right in the middle of an open field, there is nowhere to get away if they decide to charge. They were as surprised as we were, we had a stare down for a few minutes then they started eating. This was a good time to slowly back away behind some nearby trees to wait it out. It got their attention again so we stopped moving once we were behind trees and they eventually went back to grazing.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 120mm, ISO 200

While we chilled and watched this both glorious and nerve-racking moment from behind the trees, waiting for them to pass , I got a few pictures of the small herd that was now where we were just standing a few minutes before when they caught us off guard. With the charging bison from earlier, I was getting a little nervous and hoping they would eventually make their way to the lake. Luckily they kept grazing right in front of us and no longer caring about our presence. After what felt like an eternity, it really was just about a half hour, they finally made their way out behind the tree line, far enough for us to think of an alternate way out in order to not disturb the majestic wilderbeasts and start a stampede. This was the closest I have ever been to a herd of bison, what a priceless moment. I prefer watching them from a bigger distance but I suppose when you seek large game, sometimes you don't find them and they find you instead, it's a chance to take. Good thing I grew up in the woods and encountered plenty of wildlife that could eat me or trample me at a young age and have a general idea of how to react when I am in their way.

Shot 1/640 sec. f/6.3 300mm, ISO 200

We safely got off the Tawayik Lake trail, I had enough excitement for one day at this point, time to head over to the busy part of the park to Astotin Lake, maybe we could catch a glimpse of less dangerous wildlife like birds and such, you know, things that can't kill us. Ducks are back in the ponds, as excited as ever, playing in the water. We watched them for a while, standing in front of a beaver dam. Of course I tell @silvergingerman "wouldn't it be cool if a beaver came out of the dam in front of us" I then turned around and there it was! A beaver was crossing the road just a few feet away! Talk about luck!

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 300mm, ISO 250

Elk Island has really come back to life compared to our last winter visit. I was pretty pleased with the outcome today, the snow is all gone everything is turning green again, wildlife is coming back and as active as ever, over all it had proven to be a good day for one of our many visits to come with many different sightings.

Shot 1/640 sec. f/6.3 300mm, ISO 200

We made our way across the road to check out the ducks in the other pond, to our surprise, a second beaver was chopping small branches for his dam right by our feet, didn't mind our presence at all and carried on, giving us the opportunity for a close up photo shoot for a few minutes before he made his way back to the dam with his loot. It was a first for me, I didn't have any beaver pictures until today let alone a photo shoot at less then 5 feet away, what a gift from mother nature!

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 210mm, ISO 400

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.3 210mm, ISO 400

Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 300mm, ISO 360

We were still an hour and a half away until sunset, we thought we could kill time by renting a canoe and sit on the lake for a while but they were closing down so no canoe, I really got to get my own soon! We decided since this is the day that keeps on giving, maybe we can drive to the back of Astotin lake to see if we can find more bison freebies on the side of the road. As we got to the ranger's house, we spotted another one nearby to admire from the safety of the vehicle. This really was our lucky day.

Shot 1/250 sec. f/5 155mm, ISO 500

Shot 1/125 sec. f/5.6 300mm, ISO 800

Shot 1/160 sec. f/5.6 300mm, ISO 800

Shot 1/200 sec. f/5.3 240mm, ISO 800

We watched for quite some time, he didn't seem to mind our presence at all. we killed enough time, we had to head back to Astotin Lake to catch the sunset, we got there just in time for the fiery sky to show it's true colors. The floating docs were still really busy, adding elements to my photos. We watched the sunset for quite some time, taking it all in since it was the first sunset I wasn't watching from the top of a tower or structure in the last 7 weeks.

Shot 1/1600 sec. f/10 78mm, ISO 100

Shot 1/1000 sec. f/8 95mm, ISO 140

Walking around the lake, we spotted another glimpse of wildlife, a Muskrat building a nest in the sunset, he is just a silhouette at this point. If you are unsure what is a Muskrat, they are similar to a beaver but much smaller in size and their tail is not a flapper but resemble more a rat tail.

Shot 1/2000 sec. f/6.3 200mm, ISO 320

On the way out, we spotted a deer and 7 more bison in the road, it was too dark to take pictures but they got a little excited and had a stampede in the middle of the road for a few minutes before making their way into the adjacent field to let us pass. In total today we spotted 19 different bison, 2 beavers, a deer, a muskrat, many ducks, Canada geese and miscellaneous other birds. That has to be the most we have ever seen in one day at Elk Island, it was a good day! Well thanks for viewing and reading our little day adventure of this May long weekend! Here is one last sunset picture for the road. I hope I made up for my silent weeks! 😎 😏

Shot 1/1250 sec. f/9 116mm, ISO 100

All images taken with Nikon D7000 paired with a Nikkor 70-300 mm lens for wildlife and Sigma 18-200mm for sunset photos

Cheers and stay safe friends! xox