I was reminded today of the A.A. Milne poem, At The Zoo. I couldn’t remember it all, but I did recall the part about biffalo-buffalo-bison. I saw several Wood Bison today on a hike with my eldest son and his wife in Elk Island National Park. The bison are huge, majestic, and too scary to get too close to.
Wood Bison are conserved at the park and their numbers have increased from about 200 in 1957 to about 2500 today. In 2008, 53 Wood Bison were transferred from Elk Island to Alaska where, after a period of time in quarantine, 100 were reintroduced to their native habitat in 2015.
Our walk on the Beaver Pond Trail took about an hour-and-a-half and was accompanied most of the way by the sound of frogs croaking. The sky was clear and the perfect backdrop to the newly-forming bright green leaf buds. We also saw a few Downy Woodpeckers and several different kinds of butterflies.
The trail has several ponds on both sides and there was lots of evidence of the presence of beavers. We saw their teeth marks in tree stumps and several large lodges. One lodge seemed to have become a home for a large family of geese. I hope they get along with their neighbours.
It was a lovely way to celebrate Mothers’ Day and we topped it off with lunch at the Elk Island Golf Course restaurant. Perfect.
The following video is just to give you a sense of the sounds we heard on our walk.
Snowbird of Paradise 
What a lovely Mother’s day for you I’m glad to hear that you have fully recovered I’m not sure I could do an hour and half walk at this time. I love the pictures and video.
It was a lovely day. The walk tested my limits, but I felt good that I managed to do it.
My goodness…so beautiful! Happy Mother’s Day Anne!
Thanks Sally!
I was in the same space as buffalo one time and chose to keep a respectful distance from them. They are massive. And I have a clear memory of being charged by a bull when I was growing up on the farm. This walk would be a wonderful way for me to spend a holiday; thanks for sharing!
Sometimes they come very close to the road in this park and it is tempting to get out of the car to take a photo. However this is seriously inadvisable !
Agreed!!