Training

I stayed in Edmonton for 2 weeks whilst undertaking training at the University of Alberta. We updated protocols and rummaged through field equipment to find all of the spotting scopes, wind meters, range finders, maps and 1000 other items for each researcher’s own equipment bin.

 

On my days off I visited the Royal Alberta Museum. I was really impressed with the displays, which were combinations of taxidermy animals submerged in their ‘natural habitats’ and live fish and insects. I spent a good amount of time trying to find a leaf insect on a small branch.  There was a 1 in 10 chance that that leaf I was looking at was the actual insect which made me all the more determined to find it. Other than an obnoxious fruit fly, I'm still not convinced there were anyone in there.

I did however find a soon to be familiar face.

This is a not so lively Ferruginous hawk. Although I'm not the biggest fan of stuffed animals, seeing the different hawk species all together helped to give me a perspective on the size of the birds in relation to one another which turned out to be pretty helpful when I got out into the field.

After the museum I took a walk down to the river. It was still partly frozen over. I sat in the sun and listened to the ice chunks clink together musically as they drifted downstream.

I also visited the Edmonton Zoo with friends Ashley and Brad. As anyone who has worked in a zoo would know, there is a lot I could say about the zoo and it’s enclosures but I’ll keep in short and sweet.

We made it just in time for some seal training and talk from the interpreter. 

The primates had lots of colourful plastic toys in their enclosures; this spider monkey was making a point by choosing to rummage through the sawdust and straw on the floor.

Here is Lucy the elephant going out for a walk. She has been made famous over the debate on her being relocated to a sanctuary in a warmer climate where she can be with other elephants. 

I also visited the West Edmonton Mall where my dear friend Beccy works and trains sealions. She was in Limeyland when I was at the mall which is just as well as I forgot my camera.

After the 2 weeks training was completed the hawk team and I headed to Southern Alberta to start fieldwork!

The Road

With our luggage packed (including fatty bumba, our pet mouse) Jon and I drove from Tamworth, Ontario to Edmonton, Alberta where the new adventure begins! 

We took highway 17 through Ontario, we had anticipated see lots of wildlife on the way so we had the binoculars at the ready. After hours of only seeing crows and jays we had a coyote cross the road ahead of us. We were about to give up hope of seeing anything interesting on our first day when we came across two moose! We turned around to take pictures but these moose had played this game before and where already disappearing into the trees.  

Many, many trees later we arrived in Wawa. We found a nice motel with log cabins and temperamental wireless internet . But despite the luxuries it still felt as though we had just rocked up in Churchill or some other polar bear paradise. The nearest town to Wawa was over 2 hours away and it was around 10pm when we found ourselves hauling luggage from the car in the icey cold wind and snow. 

We drove past Lake Superior just as the sun was setting.

A very frozen, Lake Superior

Our next stop was in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was too dark for photos when we finally emerged from the trees and reached the flat plains of Manitoba. Fatty - our mouse, was unfortunately not welcome in the hotel. Had we left him in the car we would have found a very small mouse-icle the next morning so we emptied out a biscuit tin (thanks grandma) and smuggled fatty into the room where he spent the night in the bath tub playing on his wheel.  

On the third day we crossed over into Saskatchewan and we stayed over in Saskatoon. There were fields of snow as far as the eye could see with a few farms and grain silos. 

 2,180 miles ish and 4 days later we had made it to Edmonton where I started training for the Ferruginous Hawk study field work.  

Jon and fatty arrived in Vancouver 10 hours later. They saw huge herds of bighorn sheep as they passed over the Rockies and a few bald eagles. 

Clearing up

It's been a long winter. Before the heavy snowfall in January Jon and I were out most days cutting and piling trees so that when the shrikes return to breed this spring they will find less predators lurking in the trees and more open grassland to hunt for food.

Suitable nesting trees were identified and left for shrikes. Here are some before and after shots of the fields.

These small trees were encroaching on the release site around the release cages. The young shrike are particularly vulnerable to predation so keeping these spaces open is particularly important.

Finally the snow is moving on and I have also relocated! As much as I love the shrikes and the alvar habitat I couldn't help but pursue a new adventure. This summer I will be working with the University of Alberta with another endangered species, the Ferruginous Hawk!

Stories of my hawk adventures coming soon!