like a muskrat or a rat rat? ( Norway Rat)

https://globalnews.ca/news/4342316/rat-found-calgary-rat-free-alberta/

4SPEED427 wrote:

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Looks like the found the one I dropped off last time I was there.

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 Well Carl, when Alberta and Saskatchewan become the Republic of Western Canada you'll be stopped at the border

before you can do that again........the border patrol might even stop you from coming in with that "rat" motor in your Poncho.

Ya Know-I have trapped a lot of animals over my lifetime and can handle any of them-but regular rats are a serious hands off-just cannot stand them-they really gross me out. Snowy Owls are so so cool-just love seeing them-saw several today when I was out looking for coyotes.Funny when you drive by them and they have their backs to you and as you pass by the backside of them their heads swivel right around to see you!

My wife and I live in an area of Wpg where the original forest is preserved and there are walking paths throughout this wooded areas. We have noticed that when we are walking our dog, in the evening when it is dark, that there is an owl that we see quite regularly.

In this wooded area there are lots of the little cotton tail bunnies and no doubt this owl is feasting on these little rabbits. Often when we are walking, you can see this owl in a tree and he is watching us, and you can see the silhouette of his ears, and this owl is large. Its not white though, this guy is darker grey.

Also in this area we have some retention ponds and I was walking across a frozen pond which was covered with snow and there are tons of rabbit tracks, like a rabbit super highway and I look down and there was blood, and a trail of blood. So these little bunnies, that are greyish stand out like a sore thumb in the white snow and I think its easy pickins for this owl.

A little bunnie comes out of his hiding spot and is contrasted against the snow and I bet this owl swoops down in stealth and it's rabbit for dinner!

We have an owl living near our place. I haven't seen him but do hear him at night. I like the sound they make.

I always thought owls were cool.

I live in Toronto proper, yet last week I saw a fox crossing our street about 1 block from, our house. There used to be meadows between our street & Lake Ontario where the foxes lived. Haven't seen one on our street in about a dozen years.

 

One day years go in winter I looked out back and saw a bird of prey devouring another bird in our back yard.

Anyone who thinks nature is pristine obviously doesn't spend too much time in nature. Nature is ruthless & the great equalizer. Nature is right in the long term.

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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We have a fox that trundles through our property from time to time. The first summer we were here one would come every day around 4:30pm and head right to our grape vines and start munching on the low lying grapes. We often hear Coyote's howling and see the tracks in the snow but I've never seen one on our property yet. There's also an eagle who has a nest on the river behind our property. There's a murder of crows that hang out here (Connie made a deal with them: they get our dinner scraps and they leave our garden alone) and if the eagle gets too close to our yard they harass her until she leaves.

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 x2 on the species.

Also hawks, flickers, woodpeckers, snowshoe hares, weasels, red squirrels (no grey/black squirrels like in Ontario), chipmunks, rats, mice, raccoons, skunks, etc. One thing I have never seen as of yet is a snake.

Our new mouse-hunting friend (Northern Hawk Owl). They are one of the few non-nocturnal owls (excuse the fuzzy pictures):

-- Edited by Pontiacanada on Wednesday 8th of January 2020 06:57:04 AM

Pontiacanada wrote:

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Our new mouse-hunting friend (Northern Hawk Owl). They are one of the few non-nocturnal owls (excuse the fuzzy pictures):

-- Edited by Pontiacanada on Wednesday 8th of January 2020 06:57:04 AM

 

Those are the coolest owls! uncommon for sure-I have only seen a few out our way in my lifetime

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I've heard that migratory patterns of pretty much all birds have changed somewhat in the past couple of decades.  Probably affected by humans one way or another.

On a side note, I saw my first Cardinal in NS this past spring.  Seems they have expanded to the east as you wouldn't normally see them any further east than Ontario AFAIK.