I had to think about this month’s photo blogging challenge theme: pooch. Our family does not include a dog. My sister’s family’s dog, friends’ dogs or dogs seen while walking/hiking might have worked. Or dog portraits. Meh… not appealing to me.

I thought about featuring a Lego dog. I know we have at least one. Plus a Duplo dog. Might have worked for one photo, but all five? Too much…

At one point I considered photos featuring the belly pooch that’s getting harder to fight off with every year that passes. But who wants to see that? 😉

So I did what I had to do…found a way to make the theme fit with our hiking, biking and kayaking adventures. How? Acrostic!

Here goes…

1. Pollinators

One bee slept on the very top of the purple coneflower overnight. It wasn’t moving. But as the sun came around, a bumble bee that must have slept in the nest overnight came buzzing along and gave the resting bee a nudge. As the nudging bee flew away, the nudged bee started moving around, collecting pollen and sipping water from the overnight condensation. I love to see all the bumble bees swarming around the big patches of echinacea and speedwell in our yard. Or buzzing wildflowers when we’re out walking. Or anywhere! Also butterflies and hoverflies, other pollinators that frequent this part of the world.

2. Outdoor Adventures

Our usual kinds of outdoor adventures = (Nordic) walking, hiking, biking and kayaking. One of our usual biking routes is the Rocky Mountain Legacy Trail between Canmore and Banff. One day this month, I was far enough ahead of Mr GeoK that I could turn back and photograph the folks enjoying a different kind of outdoor adventure – horseback riding – while he patiently waited for the horses and riders to pass before catching up. That’s Cascade Mountain in the background, the horses/riders crossed Cascade Creek before heading under the TransCanada Highway towards Cascade Pond.

3. Observing

We went kayaking to celebrate our anniversary this month. And we chose one of our favourite lakes for birding while kayaking: Vermilion Lakes. We circumnavigated Lake 2, paddled the channel to Lake 1, circumnavigated Lake 1 and hadn’t had much luck with bird sightings. Paddling back along the channel to the dock, we spotted a bald eagle in flight. It landed in a spruce tree just long enough to snap a couple of photos and then took off again.

We didn’t hear it land. Then we heard those distinctive piping notes, so turned our kayak around and paddled back to Lake 1. We were scanning the tree tops when we spotted something strange IN the water. Then it moved! It was the eagle!!

We suspect it landed down in the water to hunt the dozen or so ring-necked ducklings we’d spotted earlier. What a unique experience, observing an eagle in the water for several minutes as it observed the water grasses for signs of movement. After about 5 minutes, it managed to take off from the water and slow flap to the top of a nearby snag. There it perched, wings half spread to dry the feathers. What a special anniversary gift from Mother Nature. 🙂

4. Cuteness

On another kayak outing we watched a common loon parent hunting and feeding it’s voracious juvenile loonlet. The parent passed over at least 5 little fish plus one about the size of a computer mouse! I read that juvenile loons often beg for food until their parents fly to the coast to overwinter, leaving the young ones on their birth lake to fend for themselves. I shot this photo when the juvenile was stretching its wings – so cute!

5. Hiking

We did one big hike this month and really enjoyed the wildflower show along the way plus the glacier hanging over the pass. For this shot, at our lunch spot, I set my camera on a rock, propped my lens up using the lens cap and set a 12 second shutter delay before dashing over to join Mr GeoK.

Well, those are my photos for POOCH. Hop on over to A ‘lil HooHaa to check out other posts for this month – no doubt including some actual pooch pictures! While you’re there, please consider joining us for September’s challenge: road trip. You’ll need five photos. The amount of accompanying text (if any) is entirely up to you.