Muskrat, Great Horned Owls (20141106) The start of a new year

With cloudy conditions I decided to wait a bit for some sun to see if our friend the bobcat would make another appearance. Mike messaged me that he was in the area and interested in taking a look, so I threw my boots on headed over. After spending some time searching out the kitty we decided to move another part of the park and see if a recently cooperative weasel would put in an appearance. We were greeted with the usual cast of characters in the parking lot including this White-breasted Nuthatch.

 We next took a stroll over to where a friendly pair of GHO’s spend the winter and were pleased to see that they had taken up residence in a group of Spruce trees where they have spent the last two winters. Here is one of them sitting out in the open a little more than normal.

We next spied an individual searching out something in the trees. We headed over and the guy let us know that he had spotted a couple of owls from the other side of the woodlot and was trying to get eyes on him. Mike and set out to assist. After about 6 or 7 minutes we both converged on this pair of youngsters, probably the owlets of the pair sitting over in the Spruce trees.

We next spent a little time cruising looking for the white ermine, but we had no luck. Like a typical Alberta day, when one subject stays out of sight something else pops up. We were able to spend some time with this beautiful little Muskrat.

We probably sent close to an hour with this little swimmer, just an excellent encounter.

We spent some more time searching for the weasel, but once again it stayed out of our sight. On the way back to the trucks I decided to shoot this large “grey” squirrel.

That ends today's adventure in a Calgary City park searching for four legged critters. While not able to find our targets we were rewarded with other quality finds. Put some wild in your life soon!

Turbo