The Inaugural Spears and 'Shoes Biathlon - A huge success!

"Ready....five seconds...set....GO!!!!!!!"

I've been told Vancouver is hosting some sort of major sporting event right now...all I know for sure, is this past Sunday afternoon, I had the privilege of shaking hands with a world champion!

The Inaugural Spears and 'Shoes Biathlon - a multi-sport event featuring atlatl accuracy competition (spears) combined with a 2.4km snowshoe race ('shoes) - saw 14 hearty racers have a blast, test out some traditional technologies, and compete in a fun new race.

The winner of the event was Lane Coulter, of Virden, MB, who posted a score of 9 minutes, 21 seconds, to claim first place.  Scoring was simple:  each racer's snowshoe race time had 90 seconds shaved off for each successful atlatl hit on the range - four shots each, for a combined possible bonus of 6 minutes.

Lane, a young man who came to the race with his Cadet group, ran a solid snowshoe race, and was the most successful atlathlete (officially a word now!) of all the racers.  Lane was quite a bit younger than most racers, and had never seen an atlatl before the race.

Pre-race practice throw by J. Harms, currently ranked 3rd in the world with a personal best score of 12:09.

When asked about his performance, the world's first champion said, "I mess around with a bow and arrow a little bit, but this is new...I guess I'm good!"  the young Mr. Coulter will have a good chance to get even better, as his prize is a hand-made atlatl set!

Another racer came up to me after the race, smiling.  "I thought I was the only one who would be interested in this type of event - now, I see there are more like me!"  She added, "When's the next one?"

The next one is in the works!  No date, or details...yet...but the next, similarly-inspired race/challenge is in the first stages of planning.  It's still a long way off, but early indications are Spears and 'Shoes will happen again next winter, as well - 9:21 is the score to beat!

As with all FortWhyte Alive programs, a big thank-you goes to the volunteers who helped with this race.  Another HUGE thank-you goes to all participants, spectators, and well-wishers.  A few months ago, this race was an off-beat idea.  Now, it is in the history books as an awesome event - mixing fun, fitness, cultural education, and...FUN.

No big TV contracts.  No performance-enhancers.  No multi-million sponsorship deals.  Just good, old-fashioned (like paleolithic-fashioned!) fun.  This event, for me, reflected human spirit at its best!

The final racers coming toward the finish line

(A big thank-you to all who contributed photos to this post!)

FortWhyte Owlive?

Quick - what bird do you think of when you think of FortWhyte Alive?

If you would answer, "Canada Goose", you would be in good company.  We had our start when our founders released some geese back in the 1950's, back in the days when the bird's numbers were in serious decline.  One of the first logos for Fort Whyte Centre featured stylized geese.

This winter, a different type of bird is giving the geese some serious competition for becoming FortWhyte Alive's avian mascot.  These days, it seems one cannot turn around without encountering owls!

The Northern Hawk Owl, last seen around of the New Year, popped up again last Saturday in the extreme northeast corner of FortWhyte's property.  Though I've been advised the Northern Hawk Owl (or, NHO, if your into brevity) is not a capital-letter-worthy Rare Bird, it is unusual, and certainly beautiful.

The NHO isn't our only beautiful owl.

This Great Horned Owl (GHO) pic was snapped by Stuart O. about two weeks ago, near our Tree House.  In the winter of 2007-2008, we had a pair of GHO's choose this forest neighbourhood for a nest, and we got to see their family grow from egg to owlet to owl.

Just in case you're not feeling owl overload yet, I'd like to mention a Great Gray Owl (GGO?) and a Snowy Owl have also been seen at FortWhyte Alive since January 10, 2010.

Simple ecological principles tell us we'll never see as many owls as geese - owls need larger habitats, because they eat higher on the food pyramid.  However, I would suggest owls as a fitting icon for FortWhyte's urban forest - certainly this winter, at least.

Speaking of iconic - what has four legs, claws, teeth, and is coming to the touch museum?  It's going to create quite a stir...not a roar, cuz this animal cannot technically roar...but it's going to be BIG!!!

Tomorrow:  Weather Maps - which are best for your purposes?

'Til then, all the best.

-Barret

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!