Told friends that this week I was going to look for some colour.

Green would be the easiest but red, maybe blue, they should be findable, too. Much as I love the browns and whites of winter, I was getting a little tired of seeing the same shades over and over again. So with that in mind, I headed west.

And immediately got distracted.

I’d headed directly west up the Bow River valley thinking with the alternating warmth and cold we’ve had this year, the ice piled along the banks might have some colour to it. But as I rolled up the valley I remembered a nice, pretty patch of red willows that required just a simple right turn. So I headed there first.

And then I saw the elk.

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They were a fair ways off on a patch of pasture behind a herd of cattle but all that fresh white snow made them easy to see. There was well over a hundred of them, some lazing around, others pawing at the snow to get at the grass. Cattle wandered around in the pasture closer to me, pretty much oblivious to the presence of the elk.

And the elk were ignoring the cattle as well. Plenty of room and food for all of them.

From the elk I crossed the snowy Wildcat Hills over to Beaupre Creek Road. The willows I was thinking of were up by the head of the valley so I turned north toward them.

Lots of snow up that way, all fresh and crispy white. But since I was looking for colour, I passed most of it by and kept rolling toward the willows. They didn’t disappoint but they were also kinda bland. They were nice, shades of red and dark orange, but they just didn’t have much kick to them. The catkins, though, the fuzzy willow flowers, are really starting to get chubby.

But what was more interesting was the abundance of birds and all the noise they were making. I could hear chickadees and magpies, blue jays and ravens. Canada jays were everywhere, one of which posed for me on the top of a spruce. Could all that activity be a precursor to mating season? Yeah, definitely could.

So now I changed my mind a bit. I was still going to look for colour but between the elk and the birds, I’d keep my eyes open for other things as I rolled along.

The Bow River at Morley is always a good place to look for ice.........

© Calgary Herald