Nature break

Bald eagle during a spring snow

It's been a long time since I've written here... and I wonder if anyone has missed me?
But now is as good a time as any, to jump back in and try to continue more frequently :)

 Right now I'm taking this evening off - away from the news and corona virus pandemic storm that has been growing and swirling around us all for the past few weeks, as I start my 3rd week of physical isolation. So that's all I'll say about that right now.

  This is a great time to review/purge and edit my (numerous) photos and to share some of them. I hope you like them :)

Bald eagle & misty mountain

One of our little chickadees- daily visitors most of the year.

Kingfisher by the lake

Song sparrow? Posing ever so briefly.

Stellar's Jay- all puffed up in the backyard.

Stellar's Jay drinking from our birdbath.

Canada Geese 

Bald eagle drying off after a wet morning.

Varied thrush under the feeder.

Woodpecker- not sure what kind though.

A toad in our creek- late fall (October?)

Close up of the toad on the rock :)

And that's it for now!

Please add a comment so I know you've been here :)

Keep safe.

Angie

Osprey rescue

UPDATE:
 Unfortunately all our efforts failed to save this magnificent bird, despite our best efforts.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my friends that helped, especially OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society and the  Selkirk Veterinary Hospital in Nelson.
The world is a better place because of caring people like this :)

Baby River Otter - an amazing experience.

Our 1st good look at the baby river otter.

Long story short... we found an orphaned baby river otter and gave it to our Conservation Officer.

***********
The whole story:

 I heard there was a dead otter on the side of the highway near our home and have thought about it off & on for a couple of days, then heard it may have been a mom! I've never seen one up close, but really didn't want to see this poor dead one, so have avoided going there... but the possibility of babies? I had to see for myself, so I could stop wondering. 

  Friday- on my 1/2 hr drive home from work, I decided to go and investigate.  I also thought about my dad and asked him,  if he heard me, that this would be a great time to let me know. I was going to see if this was a female, and if so, have a look around for the possible baby/s, before it gets dark. 

   I got changed and headed out there... and ran into a neighbour on the way. 

We could smell it (eww) so we knew that it hadn't been removed yet- (the dead otter had already been reported to a couple of places). 

As we headed away from the smell talking about the possibility of pups, something caught my eye, a movement in the grass. I looked more carefully and said I'd seen something moving, and shortly it popped it's head out of the grass! It WAS a baby otter! I can't tell you how surprised we were.

 I texted my husband:

 I'm not going into details about how we caught it (right now), but we managed to catch him ( sorry I don't actually know if it's a he or a she). He seemed in good shape and wasn't frantic about being in a "cage", which I covered with my jacket to help keep him calm.  I had planned to look for this little guy, but hadn't really expected to find it, let-alone know what to do with it if I did!

  Just bringing him home was a surprise- Taz was so curious & excited... as were we! We ended up making some phone calls and having to leave messages, of course, it's Friday night and most offices are closed. Anyhow, we'd have to look after him until we can get some professional help.

He's surprisingly calm, but we weren't sure what to do with him.

It has been a scary few days for this little guy... 

Saturday-  I went back to look for signs of any other babies, with no success. I stopped to look around the dead otter and took a picture of it, when an Officer arrived.

 He was here to remove the carcass. We spoke briefly and I told him of the pup. 

 

   

I've never really had any interactions with a Conservation Officer before and was hoping I hadn't done anything I shouldn't have. (Of course I took a bunch of photos while I still had the chance. )

  He was very professional, and sincere. 

Unfortunately it's not his place to decide on the fate of this adorable little orphan, but he said he would let me know either way. 

With trepidation, we watched the Conservation fellow take him away, 

so glad he's in good hands. 

Yes, it's a very cute orphaned baby,  but it's still a wild animal.

Glad to see he's spunky, feisty & got attitude! 

Taking a moment to pose for photos! 

Looks like he's waving good bye!

Saying goodbye to this 

adorable little animal, 

who in this short time 

has our hearts 

wrapped around it!

UPDATE:
 July/16 It's a girl!  She is doing well and is now in good care at the Kamloops Wildlife Centre.
http://www.bcwildlife.org
So happy to hear that she will likely be released to the wild in 3 or 4 months :)

UPDATE: She was released in Oct/16 at Kokanee Creek Park

Pine tar - a sticky situation

                                                    Winter is here in full swing.

Winter in the mountains- looks pretty and I love the various shades of grey & clouds.

 We've got snow on the ground but it's melting in the rain, while our wood stove is burning away the dampness & making our home warm and cozy. 

Winter in the Kootenays -  hoping to see the sun some time... soon?

Our walnut tree covered in fresh snow.

I love our wood stove and wood heat... but I hate getting sticky hands from the sap.

I loaded the stove this morning ... with my bare hands! How silly.

Stacked firewood- the culprit- it doesn't look sticky, does it?

 I know better, but in my defence, the gloves weren't there, so I took a chance and wouldn't you know it... a big gooey blob of pine tar was oozing from the chunk of firewood and of course I got it all over my hand.

 If you're not familiar with pine tar, sap, pitch or whatever you want to call it- it's the stickiest stuff you can get. Just like in National Lampoons' Christmas Vacation... where Chevy Chase is trying to read a magazine in bed and the pages stick to his hands :) 

Anyhow, that was me this morning. 

Luckily I know how to get rid of it, easily & quickly and thought I'd share my tip with you, in case you didn't know.

All you need is margarine, hot water & liquid dish soap!

 I wiped the blob off on a piece of newspaper. Then I got a tablespoon sized chunk of margarine and used it like a bar of soap on my hands, rubbing them together and getting them good and greasy.

  Then used some hot water to wash off what I could... now they're greasy- but not sticky, so... then I used a bit of Sunlight (any kind should work) liquid dish soap and rubbed & coated my hands with it. Finally used hot water to wash it all off. Bingo! Works like a charm! 

 So, there you go, if you ever get into a sticky situation with pine tar on your skin, you'll know how to get it off!  (I haven't tried this on clothing and hopefully won't have to.)

 

Love the splash of red of these mountain ash berries.

Taz... our grand dog- he loves the snow :)

 "Beauty is all around us. Sometimes we just have to look harder to find it".
Have an awesome day! Please leave a comment, so I know you were here :)

Angie

 

  

 

A pygmy owl.

Dave and I both heard the thud, when a bird hit our front window this morning. I ran out front to see what it was and if it was ok.
This little feathered hunter was spread out on the concrete and not moving, so we feared the worst. Dave knew right away it was an owl, I wasn't so sure, since it was so small! I didn't want to frighten or hurt him by picking him up... but he wasn't moving and the grounds' so cold now.






 So I waited a bit, then picked him up and examined him as best I could. He was cool and so stiff  with his foot curled up by his eyes... yet I could see he was breathing so I held him close to my chest and covered him with my hands, breathing warm air on his little body, hoping a little warmth and the safety of darkness would help him to recover.

I peaked at him a few times but he still wasn't moving and his eye was 1/2 open. Thinking he was a goner, we didn't take any pictures... and I cursed our big window...but after about 5-10 minutes he opened his eye and next thing he flew out of my hand- chattering as he disappeared in the neighbours trees!

  I was thrilled that he'd survived and wished him the best, regretting that we hadn't taken any photos!




A little while later Dave commented that there's a bird chattering in the trees, and maybe it's the owl, so I grabbed my camera, shoes, a sweater and went to investigate.

 I could hear and see a little bird chattering and hopping excitedly in the trees, so I looked around and found that he was upset by the presence of our little pygmy owl, who looked quite annoyed as he recovered on a branch.
Here's a link to the video.

I took a bunch of pictures using my zoom and then left him alone...

 a couple hours later he was gone. 

In the meantime I've made a couple of silhouette cut-outs and taped them to our front window, in the hopes that no more birds will hit that darned window!