Cry of the Wild

It's Wildlife Wednesday! Let's talk about the irruption of finches this year. There's been a lack of food for finches in the boreal forest, so these birds are p...ushing southwards to find other sources of food. This irruption is being seen in larger numbers in the east, but it has been noticeable in Alberta too. The winter finches that are irruptive include common redpolls, hoary redpolls, pine grosbeaks, evening grosbeaks, pine siskins, red crossbills, and white-winged crossbills. So if you need to get one of these finches on your bird list, this is the year to do it! Female pine grosbeaks, like the one pictured, are gold on their head and chest, while males are red. This particular pine grosbeak was feeding on lilac seeds at Ellis Bird Farm in early December.

Wishing everyone here a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hunting season is coming and I would like to post an appeal to all our local hunters and sport shooters out there. While Canada has required that only non-lead shot be used in national wildlife areas since 1995, in wetlands since 1997, for hunting most migratory game birds since 1999 and for upland game birds since 2012, it's still widely used for other game. Please read this shared post and think about our birds of prey and other scavengers who would be by-kill of your hunte...d animal, if they would consume any lead fragments. Wildlife Rehab Centers get lead poisoned animals in all the time and it's heartbreaking to see any animal die needlessly, but it's even harder to see such a majestic bird as an eagle just waste away with nothing we can do for it =(

Leaving a bit of a mess in the garden is a good thing... clean it up in spring, not now!

Congratulations to Carol and her team on the Grand Opening of the new Medicine River Wildlife Center Hospital. I was able to see the progress last year and I'm excited that we are able to be a part of it with this Virtual Tour. Grab a coffee, sit back and let them take you around the new place =)... https://www.youtube.com/watch