Street Biologist's Diary

  It was toward the end of May, 2022. One evening, I received a text message from my dear friend and bird photographer Dan Spivak, "Are you still looking to get an owl photo?" Reading his message, I almost jumped off my chair - "Of course!" Dan gave me the location in Central Alberta of a mama owl and her two chicks. It was in the middle of the week. So, I had to wait till the weekend. On Saturday, May 28th morning, me and one of my photographer friends drove for over 90 minutes to get to the location. We started looking from tree to tree but couldn't find anything. We thought, they must have left. So, I took a photo of the site where we were standing with my iPhone, and sent it to Dan for his help. Dan immediately replied back saying that we were most likely standing right by the tree and we should look up... way up! And there they were!! Mom and the two owlets were perched in the upper canopy of this giant spruce tree. What an experience that was!! Thank you ...

  Elk island National Park. December 30. 2022. After spending some time enjoying the hoar frost we started to head back to the city. Then we came across this single Plains Bison ( Bison bison bison ) digging in to the snow to find some food. What a gorgeous scene it was! Elk Island National Park has been a refuge for both subspecies of North American Bison - Plains Bison and Wood Bison ( Bison bison athabascae ) since the mid sixties. Bisons are North America's largest mammal species. Millions of them once ranged across the continent from Alaska to Mexico and were an important resource for indigenous peoples who lived on the plains. The bison against the late afternoon light. A close up.