A wildlife week-end

Well, this has been a very pleasant week-end with numerous wildlife sightings. I went up to Mount Royal early Saturday morning and saw a fox immediately. It was trotting across an open area in the cemetery and then up a wooded embankment and off to the left on the ridge. I watched it carefully to see if it approached any of the denning areas that I know about but it simply disappeared among the trees. I am wondering if there will be fox kits this year. Another nice sighting was of a Cooper's Hawk. Also, I saw my first Woodchuck of the spring and after initially running away from me, it turned and walked directly towards me! It was only a few feet away and I was able to get some photos.

Today I went to a local woodland park and saw Chickadees, Goldfinches (in their "gold" attire now), House finches, Gray Squirrels and two Voles! I was very happy watching one Vole in particular and got some shots of it. I can't wait for Easter week-end to see what another week's progress of Spring brings.

Trees

In appreciation of trees ...

Canada's shame

Based on my profile I am sure it will come as no surprise that I am opposed to Canada's seal hunt. In fact, I have been fighting against it, and other animal abuses, since the late 1970's. It is so sad that over 30 years later we have not progressed as a nation. In fact, under the present government we have regressed considerably. And, of course, not just on animal issues. A friend of mine follows politics closely and can list off a great number of serious transgressions!

This friend has also been out to the ice floes of the Magdalen Islands and has witnessed the seal nursery up close. She describes the scene as other-worldly. She remembers a deep blue backdrop of sky with white ice stretching for miles, dotted with the beautiful adult harp seals in their striking black and white coats with their tiny babies. The only sounds were the faint mews of the young seals and the sloshing of ice and water. This is the sealers' killing ground and I will state emphatically and until my last breath that what happens out there every spring is an atrocity. To say anything else is to have no soul.

Should you feel so moved, there is a website giving information and the opportunity to tell the Canadian government your views:

http://www.harpseals.org/

Warning: if you scroll down further you will see photographic evidence of the killing.

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Sap sipping squirrels success

Well, after my previous attempts at photographing squirrels where my auto-focus feature seemed to malfunction, today it was back to normal. The squirrels cooperated too!

The Oscars and The Cove

Last night was a triumph for a very important documentary entitled The Cove. I held my breath as the winner of the Oscar was about to be announced and kept repeating "The Cove ... The Cove ..." as a mantra. It was extremely important to win that Oscar so that the atrocity of dolphin killing would get maximum exposure. The man responsible for getting this film made is Ric O'Barry who once trained dolphins for the popular TV show Flipper. O'Barry captured and trained wild dolphins and when one of those animals died in his arms of what he believes was suicide after weeks of depression he has devoted his life to help protect these creatures.

As a Montrealer I remember how thirty years ago dolphins did something similar when workers at the Montreal Aquarium went on strike. The dolphins showed signs of depression and distress and allowed themselves to starve to death. It has brought eternal shame to this city.

Here is an important link http://www.takepart.com/thecove/ which gives information on how to help.

The following excerpt is from the site:

"The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises in Taiji, Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening as the Taiji cove is blocked off from the public. The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.

... Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins. The film, which was originally rejected, was shown at the Tokyo Film Festival due to public outcry. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue.

Close to a million people have signed on to the campaign, but this is just the beginning. The fisherman are clearly rattled, but haven’t stopped killing dolphins."

And here is a link to a petition:

http://thepetitionsite.com/4/ban-the-sale-of-dolphin-meat

Fuzzy sap sipping squirrels

This glorious, sunny week-end afforded great photo ops of squirrels (no foxes alas) but it has been very frustrating! I found two occasions where squirrels were sipping sap (a sure sign of spring) and then just sitting contentedly as they savoured their treat. Ah ... a perfectly motionless animal in bright sunshine! Ideal for photography right? Well ... no. At least not for my camera. For some reason my auto-focus would not work. The animal's eye (critical for focus) was not sharp. I tried over and over! I do not understand this unless my equipment has become defective. Having just viewed my final fuzzy focused photo I am going to post older squirrel shots to console myself!

Butterfly dreams

With this wonderful, almost balmy weather this week I am dreaming of spring and the beauty it brings. Here's a butterfly to dream upon.

Action shots

Every so often I am lucky enough to capture an "action shot".

Often these events are precipitated by crows and I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to these birds. They have helped me find owls, hawks and foxes by their raucous calling and scolding.

Red-winged Blackbird attacking a Great Blue Heron with fish



Raven chasing a California Condor

Merlin chasing a Turkey Vulture



Crows chasing a Red-tailed Hawk