“When, what to my wondering eyes should appear…”

Sometimes Nature gives you a special and unexpected gift. In the excitement of the moment, you click a few pictures and later find out they were not your best. Since it was such a special moment, you can’t manage to delete them. Here are a couple pictures from my archives of a caribou herd near Creston, British Columbia, Canada.

At the time, there were few records of this herd and I was pretty excited to see them. My photos helped biologists learn more about the herd. The endangered South Selkirk subpopulation of southern mountain caribou, Rangifer tarandus caribou, currently numbers only about 12 animals. Here’s a link to a recent article about them:  America’s Gray Ghosts: The Disappearing Caribou

Caribou and reindeer are the same species so I thought it only appropriate to share these photos today. It was a magical moment when I saw them and I hope you find your own magical moments in the upcoming year.