Wildlife is almost everywhere in Western Canada. Deer, jackrabbits and even coyotes can be seen in residential areas, along with many species of birds. In rural and even suburban communities people are used to living near dangerous animals; during my last visit, a Mountain Lion had killed a deer in a park right in the middle of Calgary, and newspapers recommended to avoid the area for a while. That same summer, two people were killed by black bears in suburban areas (Click here to see a “Bearsmart” info leaflet and here for “Living with Cougars” information).


Mule Deer at Maargi’s family backyard

We stayed in Banff for a couple of nights; a beautiful little town anytime in the year, covered in snow and Christmas decorations it looked out of a fairy tale.
In the mornings I would leave Maargi skiing at the stations nearby, then drive along the very scenic Bow Valley Parkway to Lake Louise. The lake itself, a postcard icon and one of the best-known landscapes in Canada, looked stunning covered in ice and snow. Clark’s Nutcrackers were common and very bold around the car parking, often sitting on top of cars waiting for food tidbits. Grey Jays and Ravens were also present.

Bow Valley parkway	Lake Louise

Driving along Bow Valley we found two Moose, an adult male still keeping his antlers, and a younger one following in his steps. Although Moose are not common in mountain areas, when the snow is so deep they are among the few animals that can move around, thanks to their very long legs. Herds of Elk could be seen from the highway approaching Banff.

elk

From Calgary we traveled north to Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, where we spent New Year’s Eve. On January 1st we drove the approximately 30 km to Elk Island National Park, a reserve protecting 194 square km of mostly aspen woodland surrounded by prairie and farmland (hence the term “island”).
The first wildlife sanctuary created in the country, it was established in 1906 to protect one of the last large herds of Elk remaining in Canada. Although not very well known abroad if compared with other national parks, Elk Island is very popular with Albertans and other Canadians, receiving more than 200,000 visitors every year.

Bison

The park is also home to large populations of both the Plains and Wood subspecies of American Bison. Elk Island has been a key factor in the recovery of the American Bison, albeit initially by accident. In 1907, 400 bison purchased by the Canadian Dominion Government from private breeders were shipped by train to Elk Island, en route to their final destination in Wainwright, further east. Forty-eight of the animals escaped and remained in Elk Island, eventually establishing a herd that has produced thousands of bison reintroduced to different reserves throughout Canada and the United States.

The Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) was thought to be extinct by the mid 20th Century. In 1957 a small herd was found in the remote Wood Buffalo National Park in Northeast Alberta, from which twenty-three animals were re-located to Elk Island in 1965. There are some 400 in the park today, living in an area separated from the main one by the highway that dissects the park. Unfortunately this area is only accessible on foot, and there was too much snow to allow for a visit at this time.

Bison

The classification of the Wood Bison as a distinct subspecies is actually quite controversial. Some authorities (Geist, 1996) consider them just a population adapted to habitats with different nutrient availability, and maintain that its specimens soon resemble their Plains counterparts when re-located to a grassland environment. Whether full subspecies or just race, the two differ mostly in size, Wood bulls weighting up to 900 kg, against 750 in Plains bulls. The Wood Bison’s hump is taller and its highest point is forward on the shoulder, whereas Plains Bison’s hump is right above the shoulder. For a detailed comparison between the two, plus some taxonomical discussion click here.