The life trip from North to the South America has been eye-opening in many ways. One of them was the mere realization that we inhibit this planet with animals. No, don’t call me stupid. Of course, I knew there are animals living on Earth with us. But, if you live in a metropolis, and make it occasionally to the nature, then meeting animals in their national habitat gets rare. You have a bigger chance of meeting fauna in ZOO than right by your house door. So, one of the first things I did, when I disembarked on this lovely trip, was to teach myself to keep my eyes open.
So without further due, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let me show you all those animals I encountered during my trip. And, since I spent a lot of time outside, I have to split it into multiple parts. Because it would be overwhelming. Maybe too much. Let’s start with Canada.
Animals in Canadian cities
From Toronto to Vancouver via Montréal
Canada stands for me as a synonym of the nature. I was surprised that although Canadians live in cities, they share them to a great extent with the animals. Refreshing!
This squirrel was regularly coming to check on me during my stay in Toronto. My friend Katarina once told me that you can distinguish Europeans right away in America. Because they take pictures of squirrels and are amazed by their cuteness. For Canadians, these are “chipmunks”. Truth be told, my stay in North America was accompanied by squirrels. And yes, I took a lot of pictures of them. Because, come on, they are cuddly!
Toronto had one more surprise for me. This cat! Probably the biggest fan of the local baseball team. Didn’t seem to be very wild, though.
Fast forward to Québec – Montréal amazed me. It was the first time I saw a brown squirrel wild in the city. There was a full organized gang of them. They were stealing food of people, who went to the nearby park to eat their lunch.
I did a road trip through Québec and got ambushed by this duck. Since my name means a duck as well, I thought it will be a friendly encounter. But luckily, it just wanted to show off how big wings it has. And how it cannot fly. Safe and not dangerous.
These birds were slowly but surely attempting to commit a mass suicide. I found them close by the Totems in Stanley Park in Vancouver. The first approaching car had to stop to let them cross. So did the second, third and tenth. This is what I really liked about driving in Canada. Although everybody has a big and fast car, they just don’t drive like Germans do. Truly refreshing and a great example for many countries in the world.
Speaking of cities, Edmonton didn’t impress me much. On the contrary, I was horrified to see those seals present a show in the local consumerism Mecca – the Edmonton mall. I snapped the pic and left right away with disgust. Later, I watched elephant seals in their natural habitat (stay tuned for the second part of this trip about the animals in the USA). And it just didn’t feel right to ever pay to watch animals perform in a show inside a mall. Please, don’t do that either.
I also visited the Vancouver island for a few days. Before leaving it, I had to spend a night waiting for the morning ferry in Nanaimo. I saw a lot of junkies, an overflowing needle collection receptacle, and also white rabbits. I was thinking if I am hallucinating or whether it is for real. It was. The parking lot by Muffeo Sutton Park had plenty of them.
Cat sitting in Prince Edward Island
This life trip also brought many first times. Like in this case, my first time cat sitting. I spent lovely 8 days in a company of Selleck and Tasha, when their owners went to Toronto for a disc golf championship.
It was my first experience living in somebody’s home and taking care of their animals. If you want to know more about cat sitting and how to find out such great opportunities (and travel the world while staying for free at people’s homes), drop me a comment at the end of this post. Based on the interest in the topic, I would write a post about it. Or not 🙂
Animals in Canadian Natural Parks
The spy service of Canada – raven squad
The ravens have been accompanying my trip throughout Canada. I was so surprised by their omnipresence that I started to believe that they are equipped with a camera, and watch the good behaviour of people in the national parks. Else, I don’t know. But they were everywhere I arrived and parked my car. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
This one came even too close. Maybe it liked my stinky hiking shoes, maybe it wanted to see the sleeping arrangement I had inside of my car. Spy, right?
This raven looks like it is enjoying the beautiful view at the Bridal Veil Falls. Don’t get misguided, it was just circling around all the cars that parked at the lot.
Beware of bears and grizzlys
Everybody whom I talked to before leaving for the trip warned me about the bears. I got so worried that I even bought a bear spray before my first visit to a natural park. Truth be told, I carried it always with me, but I didn’t encounter a single bear, nor grizzly. And because bears are even on Canadian coins, and they are a symbol, let me introduce you to my bear sightings.
Canadian National Parks – the big ones
The golden rule of spotting wildlife not only in Canada is to get up early. This is hard to apply for night owls like me. However, I managed to get to see some of the big animals during my trip.
Canadian National Parks – littluns
These animals are less dangerous than the big ones. However, they are also very shy and hard to capture. Therefore, let me present you with a gallery of the cute littluns that I shot during my escapades in Canadian National Parks. And yes, all the animals are eating in the pics. Except for the first one, where I am eating and being watched.
And all the other animals I spotted
Whales
I spent a big part of my Forillon national park trip being on a boat, hoping to spot some whales, orcas and dolphins. I was not lucky. It was an expensive past time, and the whale watching company offered us to take one more trip for free since we didn’t see much. I changed clothes, had a snack, and took the next boat trip – to again not see much, just a few fins.
I will not hide it, I was disappointed and didn’t ever want to go on such a trip again. To my big surprise, I got to see whales for free while crossing early morning from the Vancouver Island back to Vancouver city. What a great surprise!
Centipede
Banana slug
Dinosaurs
First off, I didn’t see alive dinosaurs. If you are asking yourself this question. However, I did see many skeletons of dinosaurs during my visit to Drumheller and to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology.
As kid, I have always been impressed by dinosaurs, and seeing the landscape where they used to live. I must say, Zdeněk Burian was up to the point with their depictions. A truly special part of my trip. Did you like dinosaurs as kids, too? Drop me a comment below or have a guess which dinosaur is this one.
If you made it all the way here, you are my number one!
Thank you very much for reading my photo report about all the animals I spotted in Canada. Stay tuned for more adventurous pictures from my life trip. In the meantime, feel free to share this post with your friends. They might need some animal cheering up as well 🙂
