Land of Living Skies

"Land of Living Skies" 
is what you see on the licence plates in Saskatchewan.

I was privileged to see how appropriate this was when I visited Saskatoon and its environs in early October. The photograph above shows a massive flock of Snow Geese taking off in a clamor due to the presence of a Peregrine Falcon.

Joining a nature tour to search for the endangered Whooping Crane, our tour leader, Ian, took us to several picturesque places within an hour or so of Saskatoon. Presented below are several photographs of the wonders of this province. You can click on the individual photos to enlarge them.

Ian and group observing wildlife in the fields.

Sandhill Cranes in the beautiful afternoon light.

Skittish Sandhills taking off.

Dark skies provide a dramatic backdrop for the prairie landscape.

 Bonaparte Gulls.

 Mallard "teenagers".

Greater Yellowlegs.

Braving the cold winds to get a look at the waterfowl.

Snow Geese taking flight.

Variegated Fritillary, Euptoieta claudia

Clouded Sulphur, Colias philodice 

The elusive and rare Whooping Cranes!  
We observed these at Rice Lake.

There are two adults (white) with two juveniles (reddish).  
One juvenile is standing in front of an adult (on the right).

Long-billed Dowitchers.

An American Avocet with a Long-billed Dowitcher.

Quill Lakes.

Checking out the waterfowl at Quill Lakes.

American Avocets and a Greater Yellowlegs.

A friendly encounter between birds.

Snow Geese on mass. 

If you click on the link below you will see a short video of the geese including comments by Ian.

Snow goose video

The Snow Geese form lovely necklaces as they flock together.

Canada Geese lit by the warm afternoon light.

A moose on the loose near Watson, Saskatchewan. This is very unusual to see a moose so far south in Saskatchewan!

Back in Saskatoon there were some interesting animals as well:

Least Chipmunk.

Beaver in the Saskatchewan river.

You can see a very short video of the beaver by clicking on the link just below.

A short video of the beaver.

A great trip with great companions!

Ladybug life cycle

I have had the good fortune to find a number of ladybugs this year in all phases of the life cycle.  I must say that I didn't know what I was looking at half the time and only my searches on the Internet enlightened me.  Now I am fascinated!

I pondered where to start this cycle (the age old chicken versus egg dilemma) but why not start with "love". :-)

A beautiful cluster of eggs!

The larva.  Some people have described it as looking like a miniature alligator.

Here is the same larva in its defensive pose.  I guess I got too close!  Very Hallowe'enish to my mind.

The pupa.  According to what I have read, the larva encases itself in a shell and becomes a pupa within which it transforms into the adult form.

Interestingly, the pupa does "headstands" every so often.  I have yet to find an explanation for this. Perhaps it is necessary for metamorphosis or is an attempt to avoid predation.

The fully formed adult!

Ile Saint-Bernard and a beautiful deer

There is a lovely wildlife refuge not far from Montreal and I spent several hours there yesterday. 

Butterflies, moths, dragonflies and damselflies were flitting everywhere and suddenly amid all the lush vegetation, a deer emerged with one thing in mind - to eat the leaves of a silver maple tree.  She did some impressive maneuvers to get the leaves she wanted.  

Here are several photos taken seconds apart of the whole performance and then her disappearance into the tall grasses.