This months background wallpaper image comes from the Rock Glacier near the top of Highwood Pass in Kananaskis Country. This cute little critter is a Pika. They live in very rocky terrain in high-alpine locations. they are very photogenic and I love to watch them going about their business while in the mountains.
We had some visitors from Ontario and we wanted to show them some of the beauty of the Canadian Rockies. In the summer the Highwood Pass area is a can’t-miss location for stunning scenery and beautiful birds and wildlife. We hiked up to the top of Ptarmigan Cirque (which is probably the easiest hike in Kananaskis that lets you experience the true beauty of the Rockies while still actually getting a taste of hiking on glacial moraine above the tree-line) for a picnic and a great walk around the alpine meadow. We didn’t see much wildlife on this part of the trip but we did find a couple of Pika’s and the sounds of the Columbian Ground Squirrels calling all around us was very cool.
On the way home we saw dozens of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep and found quite a few more Pika’s and Ground Squirrels during a stop at Rock Glacier. This is a can’t-miss location for critter watching and I highly recommend you pull over for a short walk if you’re ever in the Highwood Pass area. To find them you just need to stand still and watch for movement. The critters are all so well camouflaged that they can be standing right in front of you but if they’re not moving you may never see them! They’re pretty curious though, so they may just start talking to you to let you know where they are…
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To install the image as your desktop background, simply click on the link below that corresponds to the file resolution you would like to use. When the larger image appears in your browser window right-click on the picture and select “Set as Desktop Background…â€.
For some browsers (Google Chrome for sure) you may have to choose “Save As…” to copy the image to your desktop first. You can then right-click on the file on your desktop and choose “Set as Desktop Background…â€.
My experiment with preparing only the two most popular sizes last month went over very well, so I have decided to continue doing so. If you really prefer one of the other sizes please let me know!
