Chipmunks

Today's nature calendar task:

The chipmunk comes forth from his burrow.

We don't usually see chipmunks in our area. We tend to see them on camping trips. I have vague recollections of seeing them at the zoo (just running around, not in cages). We will keep our eyes out when we are there next.

Update: first chipmunk seen on April 9th.

Winter sleepers

Today's nature calendar task:

List the winter sleepers that have come out. Raccoon? Chipmunk? Bear? Skunk? Groundhog? Bat?

We think we may have seen a racoon up in the fork of a tree, but it also might have been a cat, it was difficult to get a good look. We thought that the bats were probably still sleeping, since there weren't very many bugs around to eat yet.

The Nuthatch felt that the chipmunk, bear, skunk and groundhog were all still asleep based on the fact that he hasn't seen any of them yet. Those bears will be sleeping a long time if that is how the deduces their hibernation patterns.

Raccoons mate in February, so they are probably awake.

Chipmunks are coming out of their hibernation in March.

Bears come out of their dens in March or April. Apparently they are not true hibernators because they can move around when they are dormant.

Skunks are also not true hibernators. They mate in February and March.

Groundhogs emerge in March. They are one of Canada's largest true hibernators.

Bats hibernate until April or early May.

Banff Wildlife Part 2

Here is the next installment of animal photos that I took on my trip to Banff in early April. It took me quite awhile before I saw my first elk, which I found rather frustrating. I went to Banff with the expectation that the place was literally crawling with elk, that they were wandering around town, next to the highway, on the golf course, everywhere. I was even more aggravated when I would spend my days driving all over the park, not a single elk to be seen, only to return at the end of the day to have someone tell me they saw one walking in front of our hotel.

One day I took a long walk on the golf course, where elk were often spotted, but I saw nothing but birds and squirrels. There appeared to be random sections of the course fenced off (I'm not a golfer), which I thought was odd until I realized they were protecting the greens from being grazed by elk and deer.

Elk Cervus canadensis

Finally one day, I was driving back to the hotel by a back road and there was this beautiful male elk with a great set of antlers. He had a female nearby, and they calmly grazed while I took photos with the remaining light of the day. I stayed well back and used my long lens. I could tell that they were far more skittish than the big horn sheep I had seen earlier. The male watched my movements and kept his antlers towards me at all times.

For the rest of the trip I often drove down that same road and saw the pair of elk grazing nearby each time I went. One day I brought along a friend to show her the pair as well, but alas, they were nowhere to be found. I was just about to turn around and drive away, when we saw the cars slow down and stop ahead of us (a good sign that they had seen some wildlife). We drove on a bit more and saw a whole herd of elk! There must have been 30 animals. They hung around the same area for the next few days and I saw them often.

The following picture is of a different pair of elk that I came across on one of the last days of our trip. My husband was along for the drive and he was able to see this pair as well. They were also wary and nervous around people, I managed to get a few photos before they disappeared into the forest.

Banff Wildlife Part 1

Big Horn Sheep Ovis Canadensis

I saw a lot of wildlife while in Banff. This was the first animal I saw, and I must admit that I didn't even know what it was. I thought it was a mountain goat. There was a group of them standing in the middle of the road. Later I learned that mountain goats tend to stay way up high on cliffs and do not venture down onto the road.

Young Big Horn Sheep

I saw these sheep a number of times. There was a beautiful road near the town of Banff that lead to Lake Minnewanka that I was compelled to drive down every few days. It was even more amazing since spring had slowly been arriving during the two weeks I was there and I could see changes every time I went.

I often saw them standing on the road and licking it. I don't know why they were doing this. Some animals need to eat small stones to help with their digestion, or perhaps they were licking salt off the road, I don't know. I'm not even sure that they salt the roads in Banff National Park. Salt would have a negative environmental impact on the surrounding lakes that the park management would want to avoid, they might just sand the roads there.

What you don't see in these pictures are the 6 or 7 other cars and the crowd of people that had also pulled off the road to look. The sheep ignored all of us, although at points I could tell they were bothered that people were coming so close and they would move off a little ways. I actually saw a father put his 8 year old daughter right in front of the large male so he could take a picture! During my stay I was wondering if our society's move to a more urban lifestyle has caused us to lose some of our common sense, but that's material for another post.

All of my photos were taken from the car window, the sheep were very close and I was using my longer zoom lens. At one point, the sheep were not moving off the road and I actually had to drive my car around them. I could have reached out my window and touched them (if I happened to be lacking in common sense). They were very used to people and cars.

Female Big Horn Sheep

Squirrel tracks

My driveway seems to be the best place for photographing animal tracks. We had another fresh dusting of snow and I found these tracks this afternoon. This set belongs to a neighbourhood squirrel (most likely a grey squirrel). I have two types of squirrels in my yard, and I don't know how to tell the difference between their tracks.

This squirrel was heading towards the left of the photo. As squirrels run they place their back feet on the ground just in front of where their front feet have been. Rabbits do this as well. If you are trying to differentiate between squirrel and rabbit tracks, you can follow them to see if they lead to the base of a tree and disappear!

You can tell how fast an animal was going by how far apart the sets of tracks are. Close together, the animal was going slowly, farther apart and the animal was running. There is only one set in the photo, the other set was far enough away. I think the squirrel did not want to hang around on my driveway for too long.

Squirrel wars

Eastern Grey Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensus

American Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

There's a battle going on, and it's in my backyard. Fortunately, I'm only involved as a spectator. I hear of those who attempt to outwit the squirrels that feast on their birdfeeders, but I'm not one of them. That is a certain path to frustration, one I'm not willing to take. Around here the squirrels are as welcome to the backyard birdseed as the birds are. I didn't even bat an eyelash when the red squirrel chewed through the lid to the plastic birdseed storage container in the shed, I merely applauded his determination and ingenuity (and plotted to store the seeds in a metal bin).

The squirrel drama involves the Red Squirrel versus the Grey Squirrel (ours are actually black in colour). The red squirrel is only about 2/3 the size of the grey squirrel, but is much more aggressive and routinely chases the black squirrels out of the yard.

The Handbook of Nature Study has a section on squirrels, pgs 233 to 238.

"A squirrel always establishes certain roads to and from his abiding place and almost invariably follows them. Such a path may be entirely in the tree tops,with air bridges from a certain branch of one tree to a certain branch of another, or it may be partially on the ground between trees. I have made notes of these paths in the vicinity of my own home, and have noted that if a squirrel leaves them for exploring, he goes warily; while, when following them, he is quite reckless in his haste." pg. 234

I have noticed that the Red Squirrel always enters my yard by walking along the same part of the fence. I want to observe their paths and see if I can figure out where their 'roads' are through my yard. Apparently the red squirrel's fur colour changes between winter and summer, I'll be watching for that as well this spring.

There are at least 3 Grey squirrels that visit my yard but only one Red squirrel. Now that I know where the Red Squirrel comes into the yard, I noticed that one of the Grey squirrels was standing on the fence along the path the Red squirrel follows. I wondered if he was on sentry duty while the other grey squirrels had a chance to eat. The coats on two of the grey squirrels also have some bare patches and are looking quite ragged, perhaps they are war wounds?

We shall see if the two squirrel species will come to a sort of truce and share my yard, or if one species will win out in the end. We shall also see if the 3 Grey Squirrels will continue to coexist happily or if they will start battling each other for backyard supremacy.

Sumatran Tiger

Sumatran Tiger, Panthera tigris sumatrae

I'm not sure that zoo animals count as 'nature', but this tiger is magnificent.

We live very close to a world class zoo. We have a membership and go there often. Yet, I feel like we're not learning much about the animals that we see on our visits. It's difficult to get the kids to slow down and observe an animal for a little while.

I have been trying to have my children describe something they see when we are on our outings. At first they looked at me like I was a little crazy, "Can't you see the tiger? He's right there, Mom. Why do you want me to describe him to you?"

I have been making some small gains in this area. My oldest son described a duck we were watching today. He talked about its feet, the colour of its feathers and the shape of its bill. The duck was taking a bath in the rhinoceros lagoon.