The Canada Goose. An icon of Canada. They are a migrational goose migrating thousands of kilometres each year. Many of them return to the same breeding spot each year with the same mate to raise their new goslings the same way as they always do. They are a monogamous animal so they will stay with the same mate their whole lives. They have been introduced to many countries outside of North America including the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and the Falkland Islands. The subspecies of the Canada goose were listed as:
An interesting fact about these geese is that they are the second most damaging to airplanes during flight in the United States and Canada. In 2000 the population of Canadian Geese in the world was estimated to be between 4 and 5 million birds.
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These turtles are called "Painted Turtles". They are found in the Oldman River in the Elizabeth Hall Wetlands in Lethbridge, Alberta. They are native to the Milk River area and no one is quite sure exactly how they made it to Lethbridge. It's possible that someone brought them here, or a few turtles migrated really far and reproduced. There are over 70 turtles in this area. You may ask yourself what they do during the winter. They dive into the mud and lower their metabolism in order to go into a dormant state. If you want to see them, follow the trail on the west side of the Oldman River along the Bridge Valley Golf Course. Sunny days are the best as they love to sunbath on logs and rocks. This is the Okotoks Erratic in Okotoks, Alberta. These large quartzite rocks were a part of the Foothills Erratics Train. They consist of a group of large rocks carried from the Rocky Mountains by glaciers during the ice age. This block in particular came from the Jasper area and weighs about 16,500 tonnes and measures about 41 x 18 x 9 metres. The name of the rock comes from the Blackfoot word for rock: Okatok Many of these rocks have split from the prairie sun. There is a Blackfoot story as to why: "One hot summer day, Napi - the supernatural Trickster of the Blackfoot - sat upon the Rock to rest. Because it was so hot, Napi threw his robe over the Rock saying "Here, I give you my robe, because you are poor and have let me rest on you. Keep it always." Napi walked on, and it began to rain. Napi sent to the Rock and asked it to lend him the robe, but the Rock refused. Napi got angry, and took "his" robe. As he walked away, he heard a loud noise - the Rock was chasing him! Napi was scared and ran. His friends - the buffalo, the deer and the antelope - tried to stop the Rock, but were crushed. Nearly exhausted, Napi called upon some bats for help. The bats dove at the Rock and one hit it in the middle and split it in two." This Blackfoot legend shows both how the rock was split and how bats got their "squashed faces. I've heard other variations of this legend where Napi is a coyote and he has a fox friend. He sends the fox back to get the robe instead. When the rock starts to chase both of them, the fox dives into a hole but his tail gets squished by the rock. This is why foxes have a white tip on the end of their tails. And at the end some witches turn the rock to dust and then want to eat Napi, so he tricks them and escapes. To hear this version of the story you can visit the Myths and Legends Podcast site and listen to episode 32. There are a few other stories of Napi that are shared. Below are a few more photos. This is the clock tower of the federal building in Lethbridge. It was constructed between 1912-1913 and just recently gained it's place as a historic site in Lethbridge. The top of the tower is made of copper. To learn more about it's historical, architectural, and environmental values you can see the full history here.
I talked a bit about the Tour of Alberta in the Photo of the Day post for August 29. Yesterday I had the opportunity to be able to attend the race! The photos from the race will comprise the photos of the day for yesterday and today. The race started at 4:50 p.m. and consisted of 9 laps of a predetermined route. In total it was 106.9 km or 66.4 miles. Before the race began the bikers were warming up and getting ready for the race. Below are a few pictures of this stage. It was exhilarating to watch the start and see how fast these athletes could pick up speed. For the first lap I stayed downtown and watched them round a tight corner just before the lap line. (Photos below) For the next lap I went back to the finish line to see some of the excitement going on there. It was great to see everyone out supporting the racers from all over the world. I found a great vantage point on the parkade beside the Lethbridge Center. I headed down the course to get some pictures out of downtown. It was great to see people all along the course cheering on the bikers. I got a great shot of the leader with a big smile on his face! Riding down along the course I saw a beautiful sight. A big Italian flag being flown! Having lived in Italy I was pretty excited to see someone cheering on the Italians in the race. Any chance to speak Italian makes my day! This spot was at the top of the King of the Mountain stage of the race. Bikers had to climb from the bottom of the river valley back to the top of Scenic Drive N. I did it on my way back up from taking pictures down in the valley and I was exhausted halfway up the hill, so doing that nine times is very impressive. I road out to the top of the coulee hills to get a good view of more of the race. From here I was able to get a picture of the racers with the High Level Bridge in the background. At the bottom of the valley it was perfect to grab some pictures. The roads had been closed off so there were very few spectators that were down there. For the second last lap I went partway up the hill. They still were flying going uphill. For the last lap I just continued partway up the hill. It was exciting to see the final push of the bikers during the last lap. So in the end here were the results of the day: Colin Joyce of the United States won the Sprint, Best Young Rider, and Overall Winner with a time of 2.23'18". Danilo Celano of Italy won King of the Mountain. Antoine Duchesne of Québec was the best Canadian with a time of 2.23'31", fifth overall. To see all of the photos together see the slideshow below. |
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Hello readers! I'm Brian, an amateur photographer. I will be posting photos I take, reviews of products, and any tips I can offer to fellow photographers out there! I hope you feel welcome to read, leave comments, and create discussion! Check out other posts on my Niume account here: Brian Sloan Blog Categories
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