This post is about the animals we saw on the trip, and is in no particular order. Click on the pictures to see a full sized image in a new window.
Great blue heron, Indian Arm, Vancouver, Canada
California sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco.
The numbers were well down from when we saw them in 2009 though:
Unidentified hummingbird at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens
Fence Lizard, Mono Lake:
Brewer’s blackbird going after alkali flies at Mono Lake
Ground squirrel at Yosemite
Harbour Seal, Tracey Arm, Alaska
Juvenile hoary marmot at Blackcombe Mountain near Whistler, Canada
Adult hoary marmots, same place
Live bear trap in Canada!
Live black bear, Whistler, Canada
Pika, Morraine Lake, Canada
Adult mule deer, Maligne Lake
and her fawn
Humpback whale, Glacier Bay, Alaska
Golden mantled ground squirrel, Sulfur Mountain near Banff, Canada
Big horned sheep at Sulfur Mountain
And at the Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada
Homo sapiens jophurei 🙂 at Banff, Canada
Unidentied bird Western scrub-jay (thanks, Tiggy), San Francisco Botanical Gardens
Ground Squirrel, Yosemite
Anna’s hummingbird, Van Dusen gardens, Vancouver, Canada
Stellar’s Sea Lions, South Marble Island, Glacier Bay, Alaska
Sea otters, Glacier Bay, Alaska
Towel creature 🙂 MS Zuiderdam
Transient orca pod, near Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada
Coola, a rescued grizzly bear in captivity at Grouse Mountain
Bull moose seen from Rocky Mountaineer, Canada
Elk at Jasper, Canada
White tailed deer, near Mount Robson, Canada
Decorated Taxidermed mountain goat, Squamish/Lil;wat Cultural Centre , Whistler
The ‘bells’ are made from the lids of cat food tins! All the decoration is from recycled material
Taxidermed black bear, same place
Live black bear, Jasper, Canada
Black phoebe, Sutro Heights, San Francisco
Red admiral, San Francisco
Aww, the deer are beautiful. They’re all beautiful, actually, including the moose. 🙂 Once in Colorado, we were walking in a rural neighborhood near our hotel and we turned to go down a street that had a heavily wooded area, and there were two black bears coming out of the woods. It’s funny how your first instinct is to turn and run, even when you know you shouldn’t. We crept away and after talking to some people who lived on the street, learned this was a common sighting. I was so scared. Not sure I could live on a street where bears roam every day. Can’t think that’s too good a thing for the bears, either.
no, it’s not good for the bears. They tend to lose 🙁
Yeah, we’re all far too careless and thoughtless about wildlife. 🙁