Coyote on the meadow

Some pics of a recent visitor ~ a healthy looking coyote who wandered onto the meadow the other day, made his way along the creek and then up the ridge and off into the trees...

The last 7 km of our 55 km road to town

Some pics of our road ~ the 7 kilometers that David plows. On our journeys homeward we always let out a big sigh of relief as we turn off down our 7k. It's a beautiful road AND we're almost home . . .

Marching through the last days of winter

It's the middle of March and we're still enjoying winter. We had another pretty major snow storm on the weekend and the day before sighted the first of our spring birds. David's snapshots of a Cedar Waxwing flitting from post to post along the creek. From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; here is a recording of the song of a cedar waxwing. The waxwings were back again yesterday. Sunday, March 15th; the real harbingers of spring arrived ~ our red winged blackbirds. David saw them first declaring; "The boys are back!" The males of this species always arrive a few weeks before we see the females. Again from Cornell ~ here's the beautiful song of the Redwinged Blackbird. The birds arrival was cause for celebration on a sunny Sunday. At least it was sunny earlier in the day. Then came the freezing rain and overcast skies, but we'll hold the sunshine in our thoughts till it's back again tomorrow. Little dog and I have been poking our noses into the greenhouse. I survey the left over debris from last years crops and the still frozen ground and look forward to being up to my elbows in the dirt.

Great Gray Owl at our windowsill

Excerpt from "The Owl Pages" One of the World's largest Owls, the Great Gray Owl was first described by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1772. The name "nebulosa" is derived from the Latin "Nebulosus", meaning misty or foggy. The Great Gray Owl has also been called Great Gray Ghost, Phantom of the north, Cinerous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl and Sooty Owl. The Great Gray Owl hunts mainly during early morning and late afternoon, especially during winter, but will also hunt during other daylight hours and at night. They are often seen perched on poles or fenceposts along roads. When hunting, a Great Gray Owl will use a perch to "sit and wait" or it may hunt through the forest a metre or so (a few feet) above the ground. When ground is covered with snow, a Great Gray Owl can hunt by hearing alone and often plunges into the snow to capture small rodents moving underneath as far as 30 centimetres (12 inches). Although a very large Owl, small rodents are their primary prey (80 to 90% of diet) with voles being the most important food in Alaska, Canada and Oregon. These photos of our Great Gray were taken by David a few weeks ago. In broad daylight; this magnificent owl landed on the little tree right outside our kitchen window. We watched for almost an hour as he perched and watched and listened, and hunted for voles under the snow.