SNOW Stormin' 2015

It's been quite a winter with sightings of Snowy Owls. We had an irruption of these majestic birds in the winter of 2013/2014. This winter, they called it an "echo", kinda like a smaller irruption. The 2103/14 winter, I stopped counting at 2 dozen. This winter, I gave up before I really got started. I made mention of that in a blog back in January. I took it easy and just enjoyed the show. I only wish I did what I said I was going to do and...

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The Kids Are Back

I've been doing my best to monitor our visiting Virginia Opossum. He's looking a little rough these days, probably suffering from some frost bite about those exposed parts of his body, meaning the ears, toes, tail and nose that lack fur. They are not made for our winters, especially once it really kicks in and we have countless extreme cold alerts. I try to tell people to go stand out there some frigid night in their bare feet and see how long...

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Luck with Owls

On Monday I was fortunate enough to chance upon this Long-eared Owl sitting right out in the open, in a west end Toronto park. I figure he was roosting in some low conifers and an off leash dog sent him fleeing. Long-ears aren't such show offs and are really tough to spot most times. This is my second "encounter" this winter with this species. Prior I had gone almost 2 years since last seeing one. I looked throughout last winter never finding...

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Pierre is Dead... wait... WHAT?!?!

Nice blog title, eh? Now that I've got your attention... yes, that is what I was starting to think in recent days. Weird things have been happening with my flock, numbers drastically reduced and my hand feeding half dozen went missing for the most part. What the hell?Anyways, this was the longest spell ever for Pierre to not have a visit with me. I've grown used to his lengthier absences this winter, and at first I didn't like it (I still don't)...

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