Toads emerge in spring to court in the melting ice-water. Young hoary marmots wrestle on the rock ridges. Bird like the loon and Barrow s golden-eye plumb in chilly waters. The glaciers have helped shape the mountains and they helped shape the destiny of plants and animals which live there. River of the Rockies Water is the chief agent of erosion of mountains.
Rivers also provide attractive habitats for a remarkable number of creatures.
We see the dipper, a land-bird making itself at home in the most turbulent of mountain streams. Equally at home is the harlequin duck with its bizarre plumage. The wary mountain lion drinks. Mountain sheep graze on the plant life along the river banks. The osprey patrols the river in search of fish to feed its young.