Back in the Salt Mines

  (Video below)

Well, it seems like I have been back at work for a while, earning an honest living so to speak.  It has taken a while to get used to having an alarm clock again, especially when a small cat is constantly walking on it and changing all the settings every day!

 

I’ve been out in the field most of the time at work, and the weather has been generally nice, so it has not been too hard to take.  Spent a couple days doing duck and waterfowl surveys on various ponds and marshes in Yoho National Park.

Most of the areas are isolated and peaceful, though my waterfowl identification needed a bit of a refresher.  These ones were easy – Canada geese, and the only subjects large and close enough for my camera.

This old warden patrol cabin near one of the ponds was built in 1904, and is still standing, thanks to some restoration work in 1961.

The area has been burned over recently by a wildfire, but I was lucky to be able to observe a pair of white-tailed deer searching the area for the first green shoots of the season, and also spotted a couple of mountain goats on a distant slope that day.

One of the survey locations is not so peaceful, being close to the Trans Canada highway and the CPR mainline.  Getting to the location required me to walk across a railroad bridge and down the track a ways.  The day before, I had seen grain scattered on the tracks,

and large bear droppings – full of grain. 

On this particular day, the creator of the bear droppings was standing on the rails daring me to come any further.  Not being in the mood to wrestle a bear on a trestle, I left him in peace, but when I came back later, it was with a shotgun.

He gave me no further problem, and no I didn’t shoot him or even see him again.

Unfortunately, the same day one of my colleagues got called to pick up a bear that had been hit and killed on the highway.  Much to her displeasure, she found it was not quite dead, and had to finish the job.

Later that day we had to find a way to dispose of a dead moose on the far side of the river.  It had to be moved away to avoid potential negative bear/canoe interactions.  Access required us to canoe across the river with all our gear, including shotguns once again.  Seems like it was just a shotgun kind of day.  After much deliberation, and watching over our shoulders for the approach of a large grizzly, or the local pack of wolves, the moose was cut into smaller pieces that could be moved to a safer location.  Just another average day of working in the park.  It must be almost summer!

 

The railroad graffiti artists are busy, ‘decorating’ rail cars, but usually their work is somewhat limited in scope.  But these two cars were both almost completely painted – with matching designs!

Although the weather has been generally nice, there are always these spring snow flurries to contend with. And it has still been dipping below the freezing mark at night more often than not.

And higher elevation areas are still entirely snow covered. 

As they say here, “Eight months of winter, and four months of poor skiing!”

Back at home, the newest member of the RV blogger team Hailey has not been in either of the campers yet, but she has showed a lot of interest in the creation of the blog.  Operating a keyboard or pen in her presence is done at your own risk, with severe likelihood of attack.

Here’s a short video of Hailey doing what she does best!

Hailey

I should have 5 days off this weekend, and hope to get out camping somewhere, but the weather reports all call for rain and lousy weather, so we’ll leave that decision till later.  But if I do head out, it will be the very first trip for Hailey. I’m sure she will do just fine!