It is a sudden infection, going to the sparse plains of Alberta, ten thousand kilometers from the tropics of the Brazilian Atlantic forest, especially when the infection also goes to the borial winter from the summer of Australia. This transition is one of the landscape, wildlife and ecology, and it is something that I have experienced during my recent move from Brazil. My first introduction to these new and foreign aspects of existence was the nose hill park in Calgary, Alberta.
Rare ground
When it comes to being surrounded by wildlife, my favorite places are far away places from civilization. For me, they are the most peaceful and calm of places. They feel right and provide a tonic from the strangeness of advanced industrial civilization. And although permanently disappearing in such a remote place is my last dream, now I struggle with more urbanized places. City parks provide a shadow of minimal remoteness that I yearn.
In the last months, my favorite park has become a nose hill park in Calgary. Although I was born in Canada, I spent most of my life in Ontario, with a completely different forest habitat compared to the endless grasslands of Alberta. Thus, strangely designated nose hills provide new and unexpected adventures. And it is a large habitat, which stands on 1129 hectares – very large for a city park. Compare that on 340 hectares with Central Park in New York City.
The huge, grasslands of the nose hill are a house for different types of large wildlife, flowers and birds. However at first glance in winter, it seemed to me that the mountain of the nose was devoid of life. Yes, I am sometimes a little impatient and I want to see animals immediately! But after walking through the park on many occasions, I realized that watching the wildlife of the park is just a matter of learning and spending a lot of time … just wandering.
After some trips, I found that it was not so difficult to detect large deer population. A few weeks ago, I contacted these beautified animals very carefully, and they did not take much notice when I sat opposite to their hill feeding area.
Of course, birds are closest to my heart, and during winter, there are not many birds. The exception is Gragius Black-Billed Magpai. A type of corevid, these magpies prefer to roam in huge groups and fly in the sky against Rocky Mountains. It is not always easy to find them here, and for a few days I do not see, but their noise calls remove them in other days. Then it is a matter of expecting that I can catch them on icy slopes before flying. Usually, they fly first.
There are a little more frugal coints. They do not come too often, but when they do, they give a certain understanding. I have not yet detected the best place and time to find them, but it is part of the fun of wildlife photography – each new species is a new challenge.
And more than this. Each new place brings new advantages and new lessons to know about wildlife photography. In the case of nasal hill, the sun setting sun is an advantage of the winter long and slow, which gives golden lights at a glacial speed. But Sparsane is a lesson that reminds me that beyond the gear, beyond the journey to foreign places, the most important thing is to just show, stay there, wait, and repeat again and again.
As days when I don’t get a good shot? it’s not a problem. The nose hill is so big that I can often go to its center and listen to any car or see any person in any direction. A source of solitude so close to a city is a rare privatization and one I enjoy every time. This is exactly this solitude that inspires me to try and hold wildlife in a picture, so I consider it part of the process.
So, what are my thoughts on nose hill? Well, for me, the most interesting thing about the discovery of a new habitat is searching for a new piece of biosphere, and to see how it can be connected to other pieces already experienced. This is something that is unique to be out because it not only informs us about some abstract system, but also for the natural system that gave us life. Nose Hill’s rare beloved is another piece of the puzzle that is far away in the north, and it is one that I am eager to learn a lot because in a few more weeks of winter it turns into spring.
