Spring has sprung!

It’s always at springtime that I get a little bit excited to think about what wildlife will show themselves to me this year.   I have not been disappointed so far, as the first animals I saw this spring were a herd of white tailed deer as I rode my bike up to Lake Minnewanka, near Banff.  I really do think that they make you feel like it’s spring, they are all skippy and jumpy, and happy that it’s warm.   I know that the mule deer are around too, but I really don’t think I could include them in my ‘first of spring’ as they frequent my front lawn throughout the year.  You may wonder what the difference between the two is, the mule deer are larger and have a black tip on the end of their tail in contrast to the smaller, more slender whitetails who have a white underside to their tail, and there are twice as many mule deer to white tailed deer in the Banff National Park.  Here are a couple of photos, when they are side by side, it does make it easier to spot the difference.

Submitted by Lucy Clarke, Reservations Manager, Discover Banff Tours.