Search
Home
Order Online
Video and Sound Clips Library
Glossary
Site Map
Français
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |  |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|||||||||
 |
Have you ever come face to face with a lynx? Have you ever met a moose? Perhaps you have bumped into a bear. Or stumbled upon some goose eggs. If you have a story to tell or photos to share, send them along so others can enjoy your experience as well. Just email to the address below: When I was a little girl, my dad took me ice fishing and he started to tell me about a seal that pops up onto the ice. I thought he was joking with me but I was interested in the story. Well to my amazement my dad took out a sandwich out of his lunch bag and put it by the hole in the ice, he told me "to stay still and wait ".....so I did. after awhile my dad said " look at the hole " ..and I did .....all of a sudden the ice started to crack under me I moved back and I saw a huge seal in front of me ....I was WOWED!!! Then the seal slid across the ice to my dad. I told dad to move but he didn't, he said "to stay there and watch him" and I did ..the seal sat next to dad and leaned on him, he took out another sandwich and gave it to the seal, then dad fee it more stuff and the seal was so happy ..later dad told the seal to go home and the seal went back down the hole, then dad told me a story ...he said "the the seal was his friend for 3 years now" . I was so wowed at the whole story. I started thinking that my dad was going crazy !!(I was 6 tears old !!) Any way, 3 years later the same seal that I called Sam,c ame back every week and my dad and I feed him every week but sadly ( Sam ) the seal was killed. I don't agree with killing of animals but I still look back on that and still smile!! My whole family are nature lovers. PLEASE RESPECT WILD ANIMALS!! One early evening a Sharp-Shinned Hawk caught and killed a Mourning Dove in my front yard. Two crows, seeing an opportunity, tried to steal the hawk's prey. In the confussion, the hawk dropped the dove, but I managed to scare off the crows and pick up the dead dove. The Hawk, not wanting to give up on its meal, stayed near by. That is when the fun began. I tossed that dove in the air and for the next 45 minutes that little Sharpy came swooping and diving in trying to reclaim its kill. It had to be the most amazing experince I have ever had with a wild creature. At times the hawk came within feet of me at incredible speeds and seemed to be having as much fun as I was. This summer I went to an overnight zoo camp. So that day I went to say good bye to my dogs, and when I got to my camp they had a descented a skunk for everyone to see and pet. I decided to go over andsee it and because I smelt like dogs the skunk attacked me! It was Kind of scary because their nails are about two to three inches long! Also at the camp they did something called the watering tour, where you get to stick your hand into an animal's cage and clear the water out and fill it back up and iIgot to do that to a lion while it was in its cage! I had so much fun! Animal Lover This summer I drove out of the city to a native plant grower where I selected ten eight-inch tall swamp milkweed plants. They sat in their trays for a few days before I selected a wet garden in the backyard where they could have full sun. I was so excited about having Monarch butterfly caterpillars next year! Much to my surprise, the butterflies found my little plants this summer. I came home one day to an explosion of eight or so caterpillars munching away on my tiny plants! I found four large, striped "alien teddy bears" feasting happily on one plant. I knew that they would run out of food, so I spent a few hours relocating four of the caterpillars to my equally meager showy milkweek in the front garden, which I also planted this year. Each caterpillar was carried in a dish to the second food site, where I waited until the fellow started eating the new offering before going back for another sibling. The stems were so weak that the weight of the caterpillars arched them over to the ground. Once the plants were reduced to bare stems, the caterpillars went on their way to make cocoons. I was lucky to find three of them, and I enjoyed watching the cocoons change from pale to darker greens, and the development of the sparkling gold dots near the top third. The cocoon is truly one of nature's jewels. I wasn't fortunate enough to see the butterflies emerge and dry in the sun, but I look forward to many more years of Monarch butterflies in my yard. Jennifer Today I was out mowing my lawn when I noticed my dog (part Siberian Husky mixed with Belgian Shepherd) was laying down staring into one of my pine trees. I heard a kind of chattering noise and thought perhaps she'd treed a squirrel. However as I got closer I wasn't sure what it was, I called to my son who thought it was a weasel, but I knew the face wasn't right. At some angles it looked like a very small bears head and at others kind of like a fox. (I went on line and now I believe it to be a Marten.) It sat and stared at us for awhile, it appeared curious and a little frightened so I had my children and dog go in the house so it could make a get away. Dear Hinterland Who's Who,
HWW Note: As it turns out, this bird is most likely an immature sharp-shinned hawk based on its coloration (brown back, heavy, bold streaks on underparts, and pale stripe above eye), size (relative to fence post), and behaviour (hunting songbird in backyard). It is similar to a Northern Goshawk and Cooper's hawk, but is much smaller than a goshawk (goshawks are 22", sharpies are 11"), and Cooper's lack the white stripe above the eye. Peregrine falcons have a very distinguishable dark moustache, that is not present on this bird.
When we were young my brother and I found a baby morning dove he still had his eyes closed. So we looked up from where he was and there was a nest in the tree. So we went back into our yard got the tractor and lifted the front bucket up in the air and we scaled it up there. We looked in the nest and knew why baby was on the ground. His brother/sister was dead in the nest and there was no room for him. How he survived the fall we don't know but we could not put him in the nest cause the dead bird had bugs on him. We decided to take him to my mom. Mom and I fed this bird water and bread or milk with the bread but not to often cause that could give him the runs. This bird grew up to be my brother mate. He would take an interest in him. We let him go and he would feed outside and other morning doves that looked much bigger than him would come eat near him but he had no interest. We had named him Lucky, and so my brother would call him as he patted his shoulder and this bird would fly to him. But one day he never came back what ever happened to him is unknown, we had figured a cat got him. Hi,
A very loose clothes line strung between the deck post and a red oak for several years was perfect for hanging feeders. The line was so loose that even squirrels were deterred. Then mysteriously, the feeders were being emptied on the ground. As well, the feeders were being moved about on the line. One day, as I glanced out in the early evening, I spied a young racoon navigating the line upside down hand over hand. He jumped off the line when I ran out of the house screaming at it confident that I had scared him well. About 10 minutes later I was alerted by the sqeak, squeak of the clothes line. There was that rascle standing on the deck railing, reeling in the feeders. Hello, My name is Sarah. I live in Saskatchewan and one day while my friend Breeanna andI were walking our dogs in the ditch beside a road, there were many trees planted. As we were walking, Breeanna’s dog Tiaga started getting excited. We saw something moving under one of the trees so we went to go see what it was. When we got there it was a gopher, he didn’t run so we thought there must be something wrong. When we took a closer look we saw that his paw had been caught in a steel jaw trap. These are illegal in the city so we asked for help from some neighbors that were out in their backyard. They simply said that they had set the trap and the man came out and beat the gopher until he died. Breeanna and I went home, crying. We decided that he couldn’t lose his life for nothing so we contacted the Humane Society and told them of the story. We went back to take a picture of the trap for evidence but the man had quickly taken the trap away. So we got their address and replied back to the humane society right away. They then took it into their own hands and fined the man for quite a sum!!! We are proud of what we did but we wish that we could have saved the gophers life, but at least we saved others from suffering the same fate. Sarah, Saskatchewan I was out side playing and I saw a cat with a baby bunny in its mouth so I ran to the cat and the cat dropped the baby bunny.I ran and got a box and scooped the bunny in and my mom and I brought the bunny to a safe home. Thats My Bunny Rescue Story. Unknown I thought I would share a scene I recently watched in my back yard. We often get deer in our yard and even more cats and this day there was a deer and a cat sharing our back yard. I watched as the cat started to stalk the deer and the deer watched this as well. The cat moved a little closer, hiding behind a shrub, and the deer then hopped up but did not run. The cat then ran behind another bush as the deer pursued it and they hid opposite each other behind two bushes watching each other intently. The deer then leaned towards the cat and the cat ran behind another bush. It was then that my sprinkler I was working on went off and I accidentally sprayed the cat. This ended their little game of hide & seek or tag but I will never forget it. It's fantastic news to hear about your first video on an endangered fish species. This strikes quite close to home to myself and a couple of friends. Anderson Lake in Bedford Nova Scotia has long been a fishing hole for us, mainly because of how close we all live to the lake. Although the lake is relatively close to the city it is still very clean and untouched I understand that the Dept. of fisheries has been trying to develop a second population of the Atlantic whitefish in these very waters...Wow.! I certainly hope this project works. They couldn't have chose a better lake. A tip of the hat to all involved. Over a year ago we opened our" backyard sanctuary" and with each new season comes new wildlife. We live in a small village in Sask. where we have two large lots. The mature trees supply food and shelter for all that visit. We are in the process of planting more natural foods for the birds and creatures,but with winter coming our main concern now is providing extra shelter and feeding stations.I have attached some pictures of a few visitors we had this year and with each picture there is a story... PV is the squirrel who has taken up residence in one of our trees and has also stuffed the drey we put up for the squirrels for those cold winter nights.The Sora appeared one morning and only stayed briefly,I was told it really shouldn't be in my neck of the woods at all. The Northern Flicker is one of five we had this year. The Brown Thrasher is a repeat summer resident,they had a family of two this year.The Bluejays made an appearance last year and we are hoping they will be back again. The owl was chased into my back pinetree by a flock of crows this year and gave me a scare when i went outside and was face to face with it.Lastly the Downy woodpecker and its mate arrived a couple of weeks ago. Last year we had a pair that stayed all winter and loved to eat walnuts from a dish on our patio table. Opening up your backyard to wildlife is one of the most entertaining things anyone one could do. It is a committment you have to take seriously but one we find very rewarding...
Gloria, Saskatchewan Over a career as an exploration geologist in the Canadian bush, I have had many encounters with wildlife. It started to get dark so I stopped and got a flashlight out of my little packsack, while the wolves sat and waited. Then we were off again in a lively parade down the lake with the animals continuing to run circles around me in twos and threes. This behaviour went on for over an hour, until we rounded a point and the lights of the camp came into sight. Then the wolves left me. I will always remember this as a genuine wildlife encounter with a possibly friendly pack of wild wolves. Maybe they were just having fun and were playing with me and did not consider me as food. That's the way I prefer to remember it. My wildlife story happend the day I went to the park. I saw two baby birds, but sadly one had passed on -_- the other one was alive but dying, so we took it home! We called a place that would take in the bird. Since the bird was a baby it couldn't fly, so we kept it in a box for the night and the next day the wildlife place took it back... and thats the end of my story! Cristina Pirrello A little over 3 years ago, my wife and I, needing to move out of our 2 story home into a bungalow, found a nice little house on 100 acres north east of Belleville, Ontario. I liked the idea of living here for many reasons including peace and quiet, no neighours, and lots of wildlife. Just how much wildlife we were going to get I found out the first year. My friend and I were hiking near Cuxewe north of Telegraph Cove on the north east coastal region of Vancouver Island and spotted a wolverine last week - it was leaving the Rupert main logging road. Hi there! Yesterday, my twin sister and I where walking down the road, it was a hot day so the pavement was warm anyway, out of the corner of my eye I could see a long thing on the road and when I looked Is aw that it was a live garden snake! About a week ago, there was a sperm whale, half beached. It had some water, but not much. I could see boats going out to try to get him off the sandbar, but it just wouldn't work, because if they had tried to pull him out, they may have broke his spine or cut him. So, they waited a few days, to see what the tide would do. But, He was still there, just blowing water out of his blowhole. Though the poor guy was smothering to death. When the water got deeper, I was sure they'd get him out. They couldn't. So, eventually, he died, and they took him to shore to see what caused his death, then buried him. That's a story that I thought would have a happy ending, but it didn't. THE TAIL OF THE STRANGE NIGHT VISITOR During May 2006 I was spending a lot of time hiking around swamps,ponds, and rivers in search of snakes. On one of my trips I got very lucky as I spotted a large female Northern Water Snake in a rock crevice. I noticed she was not alone there were 4 or 5 other smaller male Water Snakes are coiled around her. The snakes were in a mating ball as all the males were scrambling for the female. A lot of people may be wary of snakes but they are actually very lovely creatures. I made sure not to get to close to disturb them. Snake Man We were driving in the truck home to Calgary. We saw a black bear on the grassy hill next to the highway. He was eating little berries on the side. Every time a car went by, he ran up the hill. At one point, a very loud motorcycle went by and he fell down the hill because it was going so fast and it scared him. I think that we should all slow down on the highways to protect the animals. Fewer animals would be hurt and or killed if everyone slowed down. Kenna Laundy, Calgary, Alberta My wife and I live in the city of Winnipeg. One afternoon we happen to look out our living room window and we noticed five Hairy Woodpeckers out on our front lawn ( a mother, father, & three youngsters ). The mother and father were finding food on our lawn and were feeding the youngsters. We never seen that many at one time, especially a family of them.I don't know how common it is to see them, but we were pretty excited. They must have been nesting close by, for we have observed the parents previously for a few days in a row. Steve & Joan Vukovich, Winnipeg, Manitoba I work at a bed and breakfast called Pine Grove B&B, located in Shubenacadie( pronounced Shoe ben ack a dee ), Nova Scotia , Canada. This summer I put up three Hummingbird feeders in the gardens surrounding the B&B. We have twelve hummers living here. All our guests and us who live here are fascinated by them. They are always entertaining us with their day to day feeding habits.They perch on the trees and wrought iron feeder hangers, chatter at one another, defend their nectar locations and build their nests. I have gotten as close as 6" to take pictures and have them in flight, landing and perching. It is almost like they are posing for me. They know I fill their feeders everyday and oftentimes dart closely around me. They are so interesting, fragile looking and beautiful. A hummingbird's heart arte is 1200 times per minute and in cooler weather, they go into a torpid state lowering their body temp from 86 to 70 deg., their heart rate is decreased to 156 beats per min. They fly at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. I hope more of you will invite "Hummers" to live in your gardens in the summer. To mix the nectar....mix 1 cup sugar and fours cups of water. Heat to disolve. Store unused portion in covered container. DO NOT add red food colouring to the food. One evening when I was living in Exshaw, Alberta, my friend, his son, and I went to do a little fishing in my friend’s favourite fishing hole. After we had been fishing for a couple of hours it began to get dark so we decided to pack-up and go home. My friend’s son had ridden his bicycle because he was at a friend’s house when we had asked him to join us. He wanted to ride his bicycle home and for us to follow him. I totally disagreed with this suggestion and after much discussion, it was decided that it would be best to put the bike in the back of the truck, and he drive home with us. Imagine the fright we got when no sooner had we driven less than a minute a mammoth grizzly bear came charging out of the bushes right in front of the truck. We all just looked at one another, and no one said a word, but we all knew what the other one was thinking. DSPretty My wildlife story is when me and my dad went to go see a moose at a spot and we found a goose that was shot in the wing and we had our dogs so, we gave the goose to two guys who took it to the vet but it didnt survive. I wish it did. Sherry My experience was to see a moose. It was very big. It was lying down. The horns looked very soft with short hairs growing from it. I felt very comfortable being close to it. Raymond One day, when I was really little, about four years old, it was a cold windy night in November. I was playing outside in a sweater when something blue caught my eye. It was a dead blue jay, I called my mom and asked her to help me bury it, so we did, and now I am 11 and when I gardened about a week ago and I found his tender skull, I saved it in a box. Marisa I live in Sudbury, ON, just this past July long weekend, I went fishing with my parents on the Wahnpitea river. We came across a Trumpeter Swan, what a surprise as they are not from this area. Down the river a bit further we saw a deer coming to shore after a brief swim then a family of fox. It was great to experience the great wildlife, and made up for the lack of fish!!!!! Corry Martin, Sudbury, Ontario Hi there; I saw your request for stories when I was looking for information on wolverines on the website; Hearing the opening sound on the website sure brings back memories of being a kid - I remember seeing all those "Hinterland - who's who" vignettes hundreds of times when I was little. My wildlife story is pretty simple; We have bats in our attic :) I have three children, presently 5, 7 and 9; I knew we had bats in the attic when we bought the house: This never bothered me, as I am well aware of the vital role they play in keeping pests under control and simple balance to local ecology; Anyway, the first time a bat came out of the attic and into the main house, it was flying all around the rooms - My wife freaked out and locked herself in another room, and my daughter and youngest son were running all around the place, afraid of the bat. So I calmed them down, told them there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of, bats eat bugs - lots and lots of bugs and that they should be glad there are bats in our attic - it means less bugs to bug them! (Bad pun, I know). So now they're trailing after me, who has a blanket to try to grab the bat to let him outside. The little guy managed to find a perch on a wall and was looking straight down at us - while he was chewing on an insect that he'd caught while flapping around the house. Talk about reinforcing daddy's lessons to the kids :) We caught the little guy eventually with the blanket, named him Harry, then let him loose outside. Funny thing: While I was writing this email, I heard the HWW music on the TV downstairs - it was the vignette about butterflies :) Anyway, thanks for the work you've done over the years - I think it's an incredibly important education and awareness tool that you've been propagating.
We live in the inner city of Winnipeg but we stay connected to nature by feeding the birds. Most often we get house sparrows but we also enjoy other birds such as nuthatches, purple finches, bluejays,woodpeckers and my favorite, chickadees. Last summer we began feeding black sunflower seeds to chickadees by hand, and one day a bluejay was nearby, eyeing us. My teenage son wondered if he could be lured to snatch a peanut. When he stood very still for a while, sure enough, the bluejay swooped down, snatched the peanut, went to hide it under a nearby leaf, and immediately came back for more. We kept feeding him and by now our neighbourhood has many peanuts under leaves and other secret spots! We kept feeding the jays all summer, and are looking forward to feeding them again this summer. Our friend Dave even tried putting a peanut on his bald head, and sure enough, the bluejay swooped down and expertly snatched it from there too. Lydia Penner, Winnipeg, Manitoba My sister and I went to this place one time in the summer. We we're biking down a road and we decided to walk the rest of the way. My sister said "Look!" So I turned and looked and it was a snake. When I looked closer I saw that it had broken its neck. We took it back and kept it until it was better then let it go. If you see an animal that's hurt don't just leave it there. Help it. On May 8th, at 11:30 a.m. we were driving on Hwy. 10 just north of Shelburne Ontario. It was a bright beautiful day when we saw an animal I have never seen outside of captivity. A wolverine on the shoulder, stood and looked at us briefly, then lumbered off into the grassy ditch. We live close to Luther Marsh and see lots of wildlife, but this was the most unexpected animal we have seen. I had no idea wolverine inhabited this part of Ontario. I will watch the roads! In the first part of Feb 2006...I located a pair of Great Horned Owls in the center of Winnipeg. For a good number of days I was able to return viewing and photographing one of Natures Great Owls at will. On March 12th. an owlet was observed with a second a few days later. With many trips to the nest location I was able to photo the progress of the Owlets. April 1st. the oldest owlet had now fledged...leaving the second owlet perched in the nest tree. The second owlet fledged around April 8th. Returning to the nesting area April 12th....for some more photos and viewing. I was fortunate to find the owlets perched side by side in the late day sun. This was to be my last viewing and photos of the Owlets...very similar to a "Sears Portrait". I was most grateful to have had the opportunity to watch these little owlets mature. It is believed that these owlets could very well be the earliest hatch in Manitoba history. Great Horned Owls and Owlets can be viewed at www.pbase.com/photosbydennis Hi, I live in Baker Lake, NUNAVUT. I have noticed in my research of the Robin that their breeding range is not depicted as extending as far north as Baker Lake. However, I currently have a Robin nesting in my garage. She built a nest on top of my electric garage door opener. They now have four eggs and I have to leave my door open. Just wondering if this is yet another indication of global warming? Regards, Craig M Vincent Hello There, I live in Slave Lake, Alberta. My wife continuously told me that she heard scratching sounds in our chimney, I figured that it was just a bird and said it would find it's way out. Darryl Roy Hi, I live in a small town on the Burin Pennisula of Newfoundland and we have had some different species of birds visiting our feeders. In the fall of 2005 we had a morning dove visit our feeder for a couple of weeks. This past winter (2005 - 2006) we have Common Redpolls (they are still here at present), and now we also have several American Goldfinch. They are such lovely birds and My 2 1/2 year old twins love watching the different 'color' birds outside our windows. They have actually fed Black-capped chickadees sunflower seeds from their hands!
My wife and I were walking along a trail in a conservation area this year in March watching some prairie dogs when we noticed a little Kildeer on the ground. We must have been close to her nest, because she started to make noise and run around in circles pretending she had a broken wing and trying to lure us away. So we backed off slowly and the Kildeer proceeded to calm down. My wife and I walked away and she kept a eye on us until we were a fair distance away.
We have had a pair of Eastern Blue Jays living in our neighborhood for the past 2 seasons. They seem to get along well with the Stellars Jays that are also in the area. We had started to feed the Stellars peanuts and low and behold the Eastern's appeared last summer. We winter ourselves in Arizona and upon our return recently, we were pleased to see both Stellars and Eastern' were back looking for their peanut supply. These are the true Eastern Blue Jays not the grey or commonly called camp robbers. All the material we have found on the WEB note that they are not native to our area. We live in Kimberley B C, quite high in Rockies, approx.4000 ft above sea level, so it would appear that the Easterns are moving west to add some beautiful color to the Rockies.
My grampy was driving down the rode in Graywood and he saw a loon on the side of the rode. When I got out there that weekend he told me the story behind the loon.He said that the pavement hadbeen wet so the loon thought that the pavement was water and landed on the ground. The loon hurt its wing. We put it in a cage in the back room. The funny thing is that when the news was on the loon wouldn't look at the t.v so I put the t.v on the kids network and the loon wouldn't STOP looking at the t.v. We ended up giving the loon to the Upper Climates Wild Life Park and when the time came the loon flew away and I never saw the loon again. My children and I were walking into a parking garage in downtown Kansas City, heading for our car, when we saw something crawling on the ground. We went up close and saw it was a bat. I had to flag down cars to keep them from driving over it. We used some cardstock to get it off to the side and out of harms way. The parking garage attendant said she was going to get someone to “take care of it”. I was sure it would be destroyed. So, the children and I emptied a gift bag we had in the van, and carefully used the card stock to scoop up the bat and put it in the bag. It was obviously very weak. We took it to the nature center, where they gave it water and fed it, then sent it to a rehabilitator the next day. They said when we have a little warm spell in the winter; bats will come out of hibernation. The problem is there are no insects to eat, then when it gets too cold at night, their metabolism slows down and they can’t get to food and water. My children were all so excited to have interacted so closely with a wild animal, and very proud that we saved its life. The nature center is going to let us know when it is released into the wild. Randy Brown One night in 2005 while my family and I were driving on the road late at night, on summer vacation my dad suddenly slammed on the breaks because a mother moose and her baby ran right in front of our vehicle. It was really scary. We were really close to hitting the mother moose and baby. They were so stubborn, and almost caused us an accident. My mom told us that if she said duck, to duck as fast as we can. It was amazing but hopefully it won’t happen again. Jade Menne, Happy Valley, Goose Bay On Valentine's Day 2006, I was leaving the house to feed my horses when I happened to glance over at the pond and noticed 2 birds. I came around our garage to the front end of our pond to have a closer look and discovered the attached picture of two Trumpeter Swans. They have been here everyday with the exception of two when the pond completely froze over, but returned the next day when it opened up again. One has been tagged and leg banded with the tag showing number 690. The other has no tags and no leg band. These two have come to know when I walk out with a white pail that feed is coming and will swim around the pond to follow me until I dish out the goodies. They have created some curious comments from people in Hillsburgh asking me about my white birds. They disappeared the other day and I figured they must have gone back to their home pond, so I figured I may as well toss out the feed on the icy area and feed the geese. Much to my surprise I heard a loud racket over my head and two white bodies came sailing in to get their breakfast. As I watched them eat I though I saw a flock of geese flying overhead, but once they turned I counted nine swans circling, but it seems the two in the pond were not inviting them down as they stood up in the water flailing their wings and almost screeching at the birds above. Needless to say the flock headed off towards town. We get to see different kinds of wild life here on the farm, but I will miss these two if they leave as I've become quite fond of them. It would be nice to see them stay and maybe raise a family. Dianne One night we were driving home and saw a poor raccoon on the road, we assumed hit and killed. However, the closer we got we noticed it lifted its head up and seemed to look right at us. My kind hearted husband could not leave the poor thing on the road to be hit again so we pulled over and after seeing it was not vicious, with a blanket from the trunk he picked it up and put it off the road into a field so it could pass away there without being run over or hit again. The raccoon was stunned but there was no blood or anything visibly broken or crushed. Once we got home my hubby was thinking that coyotes or wolves might attack it in the open field so perhaps we should protect it a bit, either let it die in peace or give it a chance if it was just clipped by a car. So we got a big open box, lined it with a blanket and went back. The raccoon was still pretty quiet and let him pick him. We took him home and put him in the box in our garage and left the door open. We left water and some sunflower seeds and two peanut butter sandwiches and covered him with the blanket to sleep. In the morning we went out, one peanut butter sandwich was chewed on, the sunflower seeds were scattered and the water was dirty...and the fellow was gone with no sight of him anywhere on our land. Rather than leaving him to be squished miserably, we like to think he went on to live a long happy life. S&M Jamieson, Nova Scotia This morning I experienced an awesome sight. I was driving down the road I live on and three lynxes appeared out of the ditch on my right they slowly crossed the road and stopped in the ditch. It was a mother with two cubs. The mother sat down at the edge of the bush and the cubs were just inside the bush. I got out of my van and stood no more than 20 feet from the mother just watching them. Two other vehicles stopped and every one was out of there vehicles. Of course no one had a camera. I have only lived in the North Bay area for a couple of years but it was the nicest thing I had every seen. After about seven or eight minutes they just slowly walked of into the bush. I will say this if I ever live to see anything as beautiful as that again, I will be amazed. Roy Nevill, North Bay, Ontario One summer day me, my mom, my, dad and my brother were out in the backyard. We were playing outside when we saw a fox. The fox ran down past us then another fox came behind him. We just stayed still and waited for them to pass us. Josie Calder On January 29th 2006 my family and I were walking along a path near the Vancouver Airport. It was very windy and the rain was pelting down, but we had heard there were snowy owls along the path in the beachy area, and we were eager to see them. As we were about to turn back because of the hard rain, we saw them. Five snowy owls scattered along the beach. We tried to get closer. Two owls that were on a nearby log turned to look at us. After awhile, they took off into the air. Two beautiful white figures barely flapping their long wings. In a flash they were gone. It was very memorable. Kate, Vancouver B.C. I was living out at my parents’ cottage for the summer near Kenora, Ontario, Ontario. The cottage was located deep in the rocky wilderness of the Canadian Shield on Clearwater Bay, in the Lake of the Woods area. I was sitting on the dock one day looking out to the distant shore that was about 1.5 to 2 km away. Suddenly, I noticed a Bald Eagle swoop down and "try" and pick up a fish from the water with its strong talons. Because of its distinctive white head, I knew it was a Bald Eagle. I started becoming concerned when the eagle did not get out of the water and all I could see was splashing. You can imagine the amount of water going everywhere from an 8 foot wingspan! I decided to go and check out what was going on so I got in my boat and drove across the lake to see what was happening. By the time I got to the other side, the eagle was on the shore with an enormous Lake Trout (probably 12 to 15 lbs!) It dawned on me that the eagle was unable to pick up the fish because it was too heavy (once an eagle has its talons "stuck" in a fish, it is unable to get them out until it can rip the fish off on land). With nothing to grip onto, this poor eagle was either going to drown or swim to shore! To my amazement the eagle swam to the shore using its wings while pulling a heavy fish. It must have swum a good 150 meters. So birds can swim? Go figure. The bird was so tired after that ordeal that the Ravens took over feeding on it. Cam Loganberg, Winnipeg, Manitoba When I was coming home from school, it was the middle of winter. I saw something huddled up under the neighbor's truck. It looked like a dog but it was far too small to be fully grown, so it looked like a little puppy. I got out of the car with my blanket and took it out from under the truck and guess what? It was a little fox kit, starving, cold and alone. I looked all over for its mother and then I remembered a headline in the newspaper two days ago, "Fox Killed by Car". This must be the fox's kit. I wrapped it up in the blanket and huddled it in my arms and it eventually fell asleep. I took it inside and fed it cut up meat and some water. The next day we took it to the vet. He said that the kit was a girl and she could have died. He said, "She's sick and if you send her back out to the wild, she will die for sure. You should hand her over to me and I will have her put down for you." But my dad said that we could handle it and we can nurse her back to health. And that's just what happened. We ended up calling her Silver and we kept her for about a year. Then we all agreed it was time to let her go, and that's just what we did. Jordan Shapera, Winnipeg, Manitoba Last summer I went camping. Fist we set up our tent at about 5:30. I know, it's kind of late. Well anyways, we went to bed early. My dad said to because we were going to what the sun rise. It was about 3:00am in the morning and I heard something. I looked outside and I saw a black bear at the corner of my eye. Luckily I put all my food in the food coolers. I was scared even thought I did that. In the morning I told my dad, he said it would not hurt me I was thankful for that to. But anyway the black bear was not that big. All I really now is that it was Mosley black I think. I did not really see it. Well bye for now. Stephanie Hi my name is Krysta, I live in Corbeil, Ontario. I don't think this story is the right one for here but here it goes. Well I love wolves very much. I am currently studying Wildlife Conservation and Management. I want to open my own Wolf Sanctuary to help save the wolves in my area. I want to someday adopt and sponsor wolves to help them out. I don't know how to go about doing this and need help. Please if anyone can help me in any way possible it would be great. Thank You for taking the time to read this. This is my story and I know that it just takes one person to make a difference and together we can make a difference! Krysta Allen, North Bay/ Corbeil, Ontario I had gone up to Algonquin Park with my class for the weekend to do some studies on Lake Opeongo. While we were in our lab room, which is located somewhat on a hilltop, commotion broke out in the room as everyone rushed over to the window to look outside. There was this mother moose, followed by her little (but not so little) baby just coming up out of the lake and then they walked slowly and calmly up the paved road. Everyone flipped out (most of us were from the city), and my professor snapped some pictures before they were out of sight. It definitely made our science trip a LOT more exciting! I'll definitely be getting out of the city more often! Luana Sciullo, Woodbridge, Ontario We have been very lucky to have a brown creeper every year. They are amazing little birds to watch and they start at the bottom of the trees and go around it in a circle. They go where the woodpeckers have been and get some of the leftovers. We see them every day. Sue Mcgruthers, Severvn Bridge, Ontario I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I swear it happened. Two of my friends and I went out to call some owls. We heard a northern saw-whet, so we rolled down the windows on one side of my car and played a CD to call the owl. We heard it reply in the distance. Upon reaching the area where we thought we could hear it, we noticed that it had gone back closer to the car, so we decided to head back in that direction. When we got back to the car, we could only hear the CD playing, so I turned it off to locate the owl. When I opened my car door, I could hear some kind of noise in my car. When we flashed inside the car with our light . . . there it was, on top of the dashboard, a northern saw-whet owl! It stood there atop my binoculars and my bird book! This just goes to show that 30 minutes spent with our local wildlife can turn into an unforgettable event in our lives! It is truly remarkable to see what is going on in our backyards if we just take the time to look! Andre Cormier, Ghislain Cormier, and Gino Gaudet, Memramcook, New Brunswick Hi, I’m 14 years old and I helped a bird: As my dad was driving back from my grandma’s house, we saw a bird lying on the side of the street, as if paralyzed. We picked it up and brought it home. My dad gave it water to drink and seeds and worms to eat. After a month it regained strength and started to fly around the house. As I let it fly outside so it could leave, it kept on coming back, so my dad brought it deep into the woods and let it free. Alexander Tabarah, Saint-Constant, Quebec Did you know that having a bear loose in your yard can be beneficial? In the summer of 2000, I had a problem with a nest of hornets in a pile of bricks and sod in my yard. I wanted to move the pile but couldn't without getting stung. I was on my computer searching for an ecological way to remove the hornets, when I heard the snuffling and grunting of a bear digging. I peeked out my kitchen window and saw a huge black bear sow and her two half-grown cubs, ripping that hornet nest to shreds in order to get at the honey. They fed for over an hour. The next morning I was able to clear up the mess and carry on digging in my garden with getting stung. Whoever doesn't believe in urban conservation never hung around my yard! Shelley Gaudreau, North Bay, Ontario A number of years ago, I lived in Kemano on the north coast of British Columbia. I was doing a voluntary creel survey for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. One morning, I headed down to the river to check out a large pool. I drove into a little clearing bordering the river and parked my truck. After getting out, Sam (my Akita) and I walked through the meadow down to the river. I spent about 20 minutes there watching for Chinook activity. Things were quiet so I headed back, climbing up the bank into the meadow. I began walking back to the truck when a very large grizzly rose out of the grass. The first thing I noticed was that he had one ear missing and was so dark he was almost black. At this point he was only about 30 yards away and I had approximately 50 yards to walk to my truck. I avoided eye contact, did not change my pace and moved towards my truck. I got about one third of the way a sow rose up behind the boar. I did not react and kept moving towards my truck. The bears just watched me and they never moved. I reached my truck, opened the door and then looked around for Sam. At that point Sam came up from the river stopped in his tracks checked out the bears and then did the same as me: ignored the bears and walked directly to the truck. We both jumped in and drove away. To this day I can still see those two grizzlies reared half-way out of the grass checking me out. The grass in that little meadow was roughly three feet high. And that is just one of the many bear stories tucked away in my memory. Jim Swift, Campbell River, B.C. We have a bird feeder at our kitchen window that is kept full of only organic unsalted peanuts. Imagine our surprise to see a male hairy woodpecker with its right eye totally damaged, feathers gone, and bloody. We kept watching our damaged friend, documenting it with pictures. I did not think he would survive. The healthy birds drove him away. He would sit in our white pine waiting for the other birds to finish feeding. Then down he would swoop, feed and rest, feed and rest, then fly away. He would come three times a day, and only after the other birds had finished feeding. The woodpecker would always have his blind side towards the window but his head would be swiveling around making sure there was no danger. This continued all through the fall, and slowly he recovered. It is now spring of 2005 and he has made it through the winter. The eye is healed, but I do not think he has any vision in it. When we ran out of organic peanuts and had to use ordinary "bird-style" peanuts, he stopped coming to our feeder as did the other birds. We changed the peanuts back to organic and back they came. This was a wonderful experience, and totally amazing to see the strength of a small bird. Linda, Perth, Ontario I am an older person: 69 years to be exact. When I was younger and in grade school, I lived in an area just south of Port Sydney on a farm. We had to walk approximately three miles along the road and up the railroad tracks to the Utterson school. Everyday on the way, we would hear a crying sound like a baby, then a low howl. A lynx would walk out of the woods behind us to sit on the side of the tracks and just watch us. He could have attacked but never did. Each morning I left him a sandwich on the side of the tracks. He would wait until we were gone and then I think he would eat it because it was always gone when we returned in the afternoon. I have often wondered what happened to that cat. He did not bother us in any way, just wanted his sandwich. Thank you for letting me share this with you. Gary Oldfield, Guelph, Ontario A few years ago, as a graduation gift to my brother, four of us set off on an adventure. In a very small car went my mom, my brother, my spouse and myself. We drove to Prince Edward Island, to visit a few sites where we had stayed as children. Just past Anne's home is a beautiful Provincial Park, where we set up camp. Because I am a very early riser, I went for a long walk across the road to one of those incredible red sand beaches. Just as the sun came up over the horizon, and I was walking back across the empty road, a lovely red fox came loping across, stopping not three feet in front of me! He gazed at me with his head cocked to the side. "Well, hello beautiful fellow" I said softly-thinking the sound of my voice would frighten him away. Instead he put his head further to the side, then straight up as if to say "Thanks Lady!", and then he turned slowly, and loped off into the bushes. Boy, what an experience! I could have reached out and touched him! Joanne, Brantford, Ontario I have had many animal experiences, as I am an avid outdoors person and spend a lot of my time in Montana and Alaska, as well as British Columbia. However, my best experience was when I was in Allegany State Park in New York. I saw a red fox that was walking near the road so got out of my truck to take a picture. Well, the fox came right up to me and I started walking away (being kind of nervous) and the fox walked right along with me down the road! Another time, I found an injured pigeon (with ID tags on his leg), and he stayed with me for several days, staying on my arm or my shoulder while we went hiking. I fed and nursed him and kept him inside our porch on the cabin during the night for several days. Soon, he seemed to regenerate and took off into the sky. Lastly, we were up at a historical battle tower, and I was imitating a wolf howl (we were telling scary stories), and we almost died of shock when we heard an answer a ways away. I kept it up, and the answer came closer and closer, and more than one chiming in. Pretty soon, it sounded like they were right there! We were all really, really nervous about running to our truck from the tower! Experiencing the wild up close and personal is so exciting and so special! Karen Ciresi, Buffalo, New York/Anaconda, Montana
|
|||||||||
