UFO Pictures from FortWhyte Alive

Yup, you read the title right:  I am posting pictures from yesterday's Unidentified Fluffy Owl encounter at the Bird Feeding Station South of the Interpretive Centre.

After ruling out species I'm familiar with, I consulted field guides to try and classify the owl.  I think it is a Northern Hawk Owl - but as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words...please, birders, give me your thousand words of confirmation, disagreement, etc. so I can correctly ID the owl!

(A HUGE thanks to Tara for the use of the photo!)

The owl seemed fairly unconcerned with the human attention it drew, but was distinctly uncomfortable when a flock of chickadees surrounded it.  The chickadees did not actually "mob" the owl, as I've seen crows do, but surrounded it and started "looking at it funny"...after about a minute of being surrounded by chickadees, the owl flew to a different perch, where there were no chickadees to hassle it.

After about 45 minutes of being admired, the owl flew away into some dense forest.

The Manitoba Rare Bird Alert system states the Northern Hawk Owl is a rare (about one sighting per year) bird in the Southern Manitoba Prairie region.  I count myself very fortunate to have been in the right place, at the right time, to see the owl.

If you have seen this owl - or if you'd like to confirm or dispute my ID- please do so!

A very Happy New Year to everyone.  Keep it fun, keep it safe, and get outside today or tonight...it's cold, but it's beautiful!

City TV spot - and a Northern Hawk Owl?

Hello, everyone out there in Blogland!

Two quick updates from today:

1.  City TV Winnipeg will be airing an interview (or parts thereof) with yours truly tomorrow morning (Dec. 31st) at 6 am, 7 am, and 8 am, on the hour, as part of there news programming.  The interview looks back at the environmental year that was in Winnipeg, and what we can do to make 2010 greener and cleaner!

2.  During out public snowshoe orienteering program this afternoon, two of our volunteers saw an unusual bird.  We watched the bird for the better part of an hour.  The bird was an owl of some sort - but every time we thought we had an ID, some characteristic ruled the ID out.  Back at my desk, I consulted a field guide, and am 99.9% sure we saw a Northern Hawk Owl.  Pictures will be posted ASAP - if you are a birder, an owl fan, or a FortWhyte Alive fan, please check them out to confirm my ID, dispute my ID, or just for the fun of seeing an owl!

Happy New Year!  I'll be writing again next year!

-Barret

PS:  Don't forget the snowshoe biathlon - see yesterday's post for more details!

The Inaugural FortWhyte Alive Biathlon

January 9th, 2010 - Registration Noon, event starts 1 pm

I am proud to officially announce an unofficial FortWhyte Alive event!

Join us on January 9th, 2010, for the first-ever FortWhyte Alive Biathlon - an event combining the disciplines of snowshoeing and atlatl!

The snowshoe course is approximately 3.5 km long.  We will use a standard archery target for the atlatl throwing, from a distance of 10 metres.  Every "hit" of the target shaves two full minutes off a participants' time in the race.  Each partipant will throw four darts.

This is a "just-for-fun" event, but...the participant with the best time will win the Grand Prize for the day - a handmade atlatl set!

The event is open to anyone who feels they would like to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon snowshoeing and throwing atlatl darts. As the organizer, I ask you email me (click here to do so!) and let me know you are interested - I may have to limit numbers to fifteen racers, to ensure atlatl availability for all.

Though this is an inaugural, "just-for-fun" event, there is a Grand Prize:  the participant with the best time, and most accurate atlatl performance

There is no cost to particpate - standard admission to FortWhyte Alive is required, though.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time atlatl and snowshoeing have been combined into a modern sport - though, given the ancient heritage of both technologies, it's likely the two were used in combination sometime in the past.  This event will be a fun way to honour human history, get some outdoor winter exercise, and meet others with similar interests.

The challenge is open - see you at FortWhyte Alive on January 9th!

-Barret

Saving Space For Making Tracks

10 am, Friday, December 4th: Having just met a school group and introduced their volunteer leaders, I sat down at my desk to check my morning crop of emails.

Then, the phone rang.

Somehow, when I started at FortWhyte, I chose the desk next to the Education Team's communanal telephone.  Perhaps it was a natural penchant for answering inquiries...perhaps it was an expression of my need to be connected to people...perhaps it was the proximity to the coffee station...whatever the reason, I usually answer the phone.

So, I did, as is my custom.

It was my colleague Melanie, calling from her cel. I immediately thought some problem had befallen her school tour.

Melanie did not have an emergency.  She had tracks in the freshly-fallen snow.

She wasn't quite sure what kind of animal had left the tracks - and had to lead a program.  She could not investigate the tracks.

I was more than happy to do some follow up!

The tracks at first appeared to be in a parallel line.  My first thought was mustelid...some member of the weasel family.

As I got closer, and could see the track pattern and size, I knew my inital guess was wrong.  Way wrong.  These were canid tracks - dog family.

I followed the tracks down a hill behind our Interpretive Centre.  The wind was starting to feel a little cold through my toque (this fall has been too warm, I'm still not acclimatised to cold!) but the quality of the tracks, and the story they told, were worth the chill.

Very little to no sign of coyotes had been seen at FortWhyte Alive for some time.  The official line in the fall had been we had no resident coyotes on site.  I still cannot say if we have resident coyotes, but sometime early in the morning of December 4th, we had two coyotes pass through FortWhyte Alive, very near the Interpretive Centre.

Coyotes have been on the receiving end of some negative attention lately, with a suspicious attack in Cape Breton this fall.  Some people may feel uncomfortable knowing coyotes are in Winnipeg.

I think it's kind of cool.  Coyotes are predators - we must always respect that fact.  They are wild members of the dog family - we need to give them space, and, in a chance encounter, remind them we are the bigger, stronger animal by standing our ground, and not harassing the animals in any way.  They are not cute and cuddly - they are wild.

It is this wildness I find enchanting.  I think it is absolutely amazing that we humans can share Winnipeg with wild animals the size of coyotes.  To me, these tracks are also a reminder of the fragile nature of wild habitat in the City...if we want to continue to have wild species within Winnipeg, we must keep wild spaces healthy.

Wild Spaces = Wild Species.

No Wild Spaces=    (I'm a writer, not a mathematician.  I'm sure you readers, many times more brilliant than I, can figure out the equation.)