Chickadee Photo Art

Snowy Owl

// January 27th, 2012 // No Comments » // Birds of Manitoba, Birds of Prey, Interlake, Recent Posts, Winter

We are fortunate to have these beautiful arctic birds visit our area each winter.  The Snowy Owls can often be spotted sitting on the tops of hydro poles, signs along side our highways or outbuildings.  These owls are diurnal, meaning they are active both day and night.  Their preferance for higher perches allows them to scan their hunting territory ( in our case the open prairie fields ) for small rodents or rabbits.  They breed in the high arctic  where their prey would be lemmings and sometimes ptarmigan.  Both parents are fiece defenders of the nest and young owlets. The Snowy Owl featured here is either a female or immature bird as it has fairly extensive black markings.  An adult male would be mainly white with fewer dark areas.  Their bill is black, their eyes yellow and feet are heavily feathered. Snowy owls can weight in the 6 pound range and have a wingspan of up to 59 inches which makes it one of our largest species of owls.

 This snowy only moved when its head turned around to look the other direction.  My neck hurt just watching it !

Enjoy !

~Sharon

River Otters

// December 30th, 2011 // No Comments » // Boreal Forest, Canadian Shield, Mammals, Whiteshell Provincial Park

Another fall day and a drive out to the Whiteshell Provincial Park.  Once again I happened upon an otter family of three.  Every time I come across an otter or otters they always will swim a little in my direction, pop their heads up and take a look.  As usual, their curious nature allowed for this photo before they swam a little farther down the river.  I am always thrilled to see these playful animals in their natural environment.

Below: A river otter from an early spring trip, once again taking a look.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

King of the Beasts

// December 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // Assiniboine Park, Mammals, Manitoba Tourist Destination

This is the last of my zoo posts but I would be remiss without including our lions.  Not too lively while I was there but at least the lioness was awake – the old fella – well, it was a Sunday afternoon and he was napping.  Hmmmm . . .

Enjoy!

~Sharon