We arrived a few hours later than normal at the Parc, and expected things might be a bit slower with the animals having had an initial feed of carrots. That proved to be true. Fewer toll-collectors at the entrance gate and many deer and elk lying down in the woods or roadside. But many seemed to have their necks stretched out rather than the usual curled up.
They were also being bothered by flies, the moose in particular
Some elk and red deer sought out one of the ponds to help avoid the flies and perhaps cool off a bit
Renting a caged ATV seems to be a popular thing to do
The young fallow deer fawns were out on the road with their mothers, but still shy about coming for carrots. The elk fawns were staying in the woods like their mums told them to.
As we have seen on other visits, sometimes the buffalo want a change of scenery and gather around hoping to move into an adjacent field. But the cattle gates stop them. Traffic jams result and a Parc employee has to be called with a ATV full of corn to entice them back into the field.
At this point in the summer the antlers are very impressive and still covered with velvet
The caribou are much more relaxed in their new area. One gave us a close look at its complex antlers
Some of the caribou were still losing remnants of their winter coats, the one the right was hurrying to get some carrots from visitors (even though signs said not to feed them)
Some elk have learned to station/impose themselves just outside the caribou enclosure, at the bottom of a steepish hill ready to slow the cars down to get a carrot or two
Fallow deer, like the other deer and elk, are always ready for a hand-out, but visitors need to save the smaller carrots for them. One fallow deer seemed to be giving us a piece of its mind as we didn't have any carrots at all
It's quite "neat" to see the deer swallow their cud
The Przewalski's Horses have been allowed to leave their large personal pasture for sometime now, but anytime we had been visiting they were always inside the open gate. This time, they were on the far side of the road, but still close to the gate.
A Rocky Mountain goat was looking quite regal atop their shelter. WHile a black wolf cub was fast asleep outside the den
A mother raccoon and her four kits were busy devouring the corn and sunflower seeds spread out on a feeding station
The bull frogs were croaking much less, but a few were still in sight in the murky water
A few turkeys were patrolling and a great blue heron was preening itself (with dragonflies flying all about it)
With the water levels being back down, the beaver dam has been closed up back to its original level, Looks like humans helped to repair the dame.
We drive by these trees everytime we visit the Parc, but for some reason their roots caught my eye this time
