Mountain Caribou lock antlers in a mock fight. Sadly I found out that two of these amazing animals were shot dead a few weeks after I took this shot from the same small herd in Northern BC. The situation has been described as dire for the Central Mountain Caribou population by the Federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Numbers of Central Mountain Caribou across Alberta and B.C declined by 60 per cent between 2004 and 2014 to just over 500 mature individuals in 11 herds. Its so sad that we are not that far from a future of having no Mountain Caribou anywhere in the rocky mountains. The mountain caribou have evolved to deal with deep snow-packs and a complex life high in the mountains and are physically quite different from their northern arctic cousins and European reindeer who roam the vast frozen plains. Makes you wonder how you can control poaching in places like Africa if you can’t even stop shooting of endangered animals in a highly educated first world country like Canada.
The deep freeze in December 2016 saw consistent temperatures between -20C and -30C (-4F and -22F) that caused the ice jam on the Nechako River in Prince George. The town declared a Level 1 emergency when the ice jam reached the confluence of the Fraser River. Ice jams cause the river level to rise and can lead to flooding and damage to the structural integrity of bridges . The ice in an ice jam is dangerous and unstable and not suitable for walking on.
A female Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) in flight. They are difficult critters to get a shot of and to freeze the motion this was taken with a shutter speed of 1/2500, that’s less than half a millisecond. Hard to believe these tiny birds travel over 3,200 km (2,000 miles) from Alaska to southern Mexico and back, having to cross mountain ranges as high as 3,800 m (12,600 ft). Measuring only 7cm (2.8–3.5 in) long, it is the longest bird migration on earth when measured in body lengths. They weigh a miniscule 2 to 5 g (0.071 and 0.176 oz). Kinbasket Lake, British Columbia, Canada.
