An imposing sight - a lone elk "toll keeper" at the top of the hill just after entering Parc Omega. Many elk and red deer gather at the entrance gate, but it not unusual to see one or two elk/deer standing the on the hill waiting to greet visitors.
The main story this visit was the antlers growing on the elk, red deer and the caribou.
The red deer new antlers seem to be covered more in fur, but as the antlers grow the covering turns more towards a velvet. One antler in the last photo seems to have gotten a big head start on the other one.
Some of the elk antlers have been growing for while, others are just starting.
The caribou new antlers were well along on one animal and just starting on another. The caribou is the only member of the deer family that both the male and the female grow antlers. They have a particularly difficult time in the mid-summer when the velvet starts to come off. The elk and red deer velvet comes off relatively quickly and painlessly, but I have been told the process for the caribou is much more troublesome.
The fallow deer are well behind the other deer as a number of the males are still carrying their antlers
Except for the boars, there were no signs of new borns. The fawns are likely back in the woods with their mothers still. But the boar piglets are all out in the open.....
One group of bison felt it was time to move to the other very large enclosed field that they are usually found in. But they were stymied by a cattle gate and a locked swing gate. Fortunately this time they did not block the road. On other occasions we have seen them block the cars which requires a staff member on an ATV to come out and lead the bison off the road with promise of treats.
The Parc has introduced some mixed animals enclosures recently. The coyotes are now in with one of the black bears and some cinnamon bears are in with a few black wolves. In the photo below on the left there is a black wolf, top right, walking up the slope above the cinnamon bear. The cinnamon bears have always loved climbing and playing in the trees. We'll have to see how the trees make out with the bears in the new groupings.
A muskrat was busy feeding in the beaver pond giving the visitors a good look at him.
Some of the geese seem to have gone to nest, a junco was filing in for the usual blue jays and chickadees at one of the feeders.
A number of hooded mergansers pairs were seen along with single(?) males busy preening
