Tag / WILDLIFE

You could not miss seeing this black and white striped skunk out for a walk on a sunny and warm winter day. They are normally nocturnal so I am not sure why this one was on a walk about during mid-day.  It was walking along and rooting under the snow here and there in search of food.  These photos were taken in the Pinawa area.  About the size of a domestic cat, skunks won’t bother you unless they feel threatened and it is very wise not to annoy them.  In all fairness to the skunk their body language will give you warning if you are too close.  Their diets consists mainly of insects and they do eat small rodents as well. Sometimes in more rural areas  skunks will damage lawns by digging for food.  I especially love the baby skunks and they are adorable reminding me of kittens following along behind their mother.  One campground in the Whiteshell that I frequented had many skunks which would appear with the onset of dusk and they wandered around the campsites in search of food. They were so used to people and being fed that they were almost like the campground pets.  One walked right under my camp chair one night on its way to the lakeshore for a drink of water.  I enjoyed watching them wander about without feeling threatened.

Enjoy!

~Sharon

Here’s the scenario.  I am driving home from the Whiteshell on Hwy 44 and from a distance see a fox family up ahead crossing the road.  The mother is a black fox, white tip tail ( only the second one of this colour that I have seen ) which is a  variation of the Red Fox.  She has two kits with her.  Momma fox and one kit run towards the bush to the right of the highway and are safe.  The second kit runs across the highway to the left on its own.  There is fairly decent traffic on this highway and cars were coming in both directions.   I had slowed down but still driving I could see that the kit realized it had been separated from its family and starts back up towards the highway.  It was coming up on the highway, stopping on the road, going back toward the ditch and seemed confused about where to go. I had visions of another little dead animal at the roadside.  So, I pulled off onto the shoulder and chased the kit back down into the ditch area.  The kits were quite young and its first instinct was to crouch down and lay still as pictured above.  It laid there looking at me.  After a few minutes there was a break in highway traffic so I walked around and behind the kit and chased it up and over the highway so it could safely join its mother.  I have to believe she was at the forest edge watching for her kit and that they found each other again.   The kit was so beautiful with a soft and richly coloured coat of fur.  It always makes me so sad to the wildlife laying at the sides of roads being the victims of vehicle traffic.  A happy ending I hope.

Back up and over the highway towards its mother.

Running back to the forest and to momma.

Enjoy!

Sharon

There is a colony of Richardsons Ground Squirrels at Oak Hammock Marsh. On a recent visit in late August, I overheard an employee explaining to a visitor that the adult ground squirrels are already preparing for hibernation while the youngsters are still out and about foraging for greens to fatten themselves up for the winter.