Riding Mountain mammals

Riding Mountain is also great for mammal watching and this year we had many great sightings. Black bear were seen in good numbers, in fact we had 3 sightings of a mother with triplets! One of our first bears was high up feeding on buds – I got this poor photo…



The cubs were of course a great treat to watch. This inquisitive youngster seemed bolder than their two siblings and remained right by the highway to sniff us out.


Their sibling joined them briefly in this bold curiosity

While a third remained back at the trees and closer to mum. The antics were quite comical, especially the failed attempt at tree climbing

This mother seemed remarkably calm as she assessed whether or not to lead her cubs across the busy road… her eventual decision was no.

We had several moose sightings including this remarkable cooperative cow munching on a roadside green salad with a watery dressing

We saw elk several times too though not nearly as close

this bouncing bunny (snowshoe hare) was one of many along the 19 in the old burn area

We also enjoyed several sightings of skunk. This little one walked right up to us...

and then proceeded to dig up a tasty snack, before sauntering off into the bush

Other good sightings included short-tailed weasel, pine martin and raccoon but alas no photos of those...