Probably one on my favorite adventures in Alaska this year was our sighting (Thank you Tom!) of the ever elusive Canadian Lynx! This happened on Day 1 of our stay in Denali NP. We had seen one last year, but it was almost immediately after boarding the shuttle bus at the WAC, it was a very cold early morning and when we spotted it crossing the road in front of us (believe it or not someone actually yelled "fox!"), our bus windows were frozen shut! It actually crossed and then struck a "Vogue" pose for us - I think just to tease us :-). So, we missed that one. I rationalized that there would be more - even better - sightings and that I still had the shot etched in my mind. After all, the lynx is much more elusive than the mountain. It's probably like 3% of all visitors who have caught a glimpse. So every year, we seek it out, but are usually unsuccessful. So here we go one morning, not seeing much wildlife yet, when we enter Igloo Canyon. Our bus driver is telling us the story about how this is the area that about 2 weeks into allowing guns into Denali, someone had shot (8 bullets I believe) and killed a grizzly bear while hiking. Don't even get me started on that one! We come across a coyote in an open area, perched up on a hugh rock set in the hillside. The bus erupts with pleasure and we begin to shoot it. My husband, a much better spotter than me, kept bugging me to check out this "brown thing in the trees". I'm, mind you, obsessed with the coyote (after all, it was pretty much the first wildlife spotted), so I shrug off his curiosity several times. Finally, I look. Low and behold, I see, a beautiful cnanadian lynx perched almost at the top of one of the trees in the area. I couldn't believe my eyes! Our bus driver was totally cool and stopped for all of us to shoot away. I wondered - was the lynx stalking the coyote? As we watched, we then noticed another coyote crossing the road and joining in the what would become a perimeter around the lynx in it's tree. In fact, the lynx was sent up the tree by the coyotes! Our driver said that in over 20 years of driving the route daily, he had never seen a lynx essentially being sent up a tree by coyotes! How it managed to balance itself so delicately up in that tall tree and perch itself on the relatively thin branches is a testiment to it's grace. The canandian lynx is identified by it's short black tipped tail, tufts of black hair on the tips of it's ears, long whiskers on face, and it's thickly padded rear and front paws. They prey on primarily snowshoe hare, which have been in a population explosion in recent years, but also small deer, a variety of rodents and birds. While we took many shots of this beautiful creature, I chose this one because to me it illustrates the amazing padded paws it possesses, which it uses in the winter for use in travelling over the snow. They say that it's paws can be larger than the human hand or foot! That's big! I was so thrilled that day with this sighting, I remember telling our driver, I don't care if I see anything else out here today....my day has been made. Thanks for your visits to my photostream and for all of your wonderful comments! * For my friends in Florida .... I didn't get my bobcat, but I got something even better :-). Though there's still the panther!

mission dolores park represents everything i love about san francisco: here you'll see all types of people - brown, black, yellow, white, queer, straight, and everything in-between - enjoying a sunny day together. today i saw three hippie chicks walking around carrying cardboard signs that read "free hugs" (they had plenty of takers). i also saw a man wearing a vintage house dress and hiking boots selling pancakes out of an igloo cooler. i'm still not quite sure what to make of that, as pancakes don't strike me as typical picnic fare.