Spring Means Wildlife

Generally speaking, we don't try to teach our pets to chase wild animals. At least one of us doesn't *cough* Jon *cough cough*. This would be part of the reason why when the first time Butch met a ground squirrel in Saskatchewan he tried to get it to play with him and was so confused when it wouldn't chase him. This goal doesn't always happen like we'd like. Sometimes they just have to chase that crow or rabbit off the lawn. It's just a natural instinct for them to want to protect what they consider theirs. With the arrival of warmer weather we've also noticed the appearance of a lot more wildlife.

It started while I was away. During one of my phone calls home, Jon informed me that some new residents had taken up the large puddle that is in our yard.

His colors on his neck are so beautiful!

Lately we've had quite a few little birds fly into our windows. They sit on the ground for a bit than fly off. This little guy was in recovery mode the other day so Butch took the opportunity to sniff it. He was very careful and gentle with it, almost like he knew he needed to be. Ten minutes we went back to look and it had flown away.

With winter now officially far away it also means the bears are awake and back roaming the neighborhood.

Last week-end when we were almost home we saw a black bear on the road up ahead. We slowed down and watched it cross. It then hid behind a tree and kept peaking out at us. We took a few photos with our phone and had just started driving forward again when we noticed two very tiny cubs up a tree! "It" was actually a "she"! Mama bear wasn't acting nervous or threatened but we didn't want to cause her any more stress so we didn't stick around. But those cubs were so cute! I just hope we don't come across them when we are on foot!