Despite the Snow...Spring is coming!

We were happily adapting to the warmer weather and the receding snow banks.  On Sunday all but the most subborn piles of snow were gone from our yard. Then without warning we went from raking the lawn to waking up yesterday to 4 inches of the white stuff blanketing everything and still falling. All morning snow...still falling.... still falling..... till we had 8 inches of the white fuffly stuff. Funny how in November I feel it is so beautiful, almost magical to see the world covered in white. But in March it just makes me grit my teeth and growl.

Today while most of Salmon Arm has lost its snowy covering, we are still holding on to ours but at least the roads are now clear and dry. So we are off for a walk.....I am stubbornly looking for any sign of our great horned owls.....Spring (if it is really here) is almost nesting time for them.

Every spring we watch and wait for any sign of the owls....first you see the adults and then suddenly the little ones are out also. They are big owlets by the time they leave the nest....as you can see in my painting they are almost the same size as the adults. They are lighter coloured and fuffy. In fact as they age they shrink in size as their fuffy white feathers are replaced by sleek smooth adult feathers.

Otters, I love Otters

Otters are clever, gregarious and curious. Their bodies dart through the waves with tremendous speed or simply float on the top . I  have to say they are one the cutest creatures on the sea. Every trip we take to the ocean is punctuated by searches for otters....most often...there they are. Here are several paintings from the last year or so that celebrate otters. One otter, two otters and then lots of otters. When you go to the sea...what are you looking forward to seeing?

Winter Visitor

In the winter I just don't see as much wildlife. The hiking sightings of bear, deer, elk and moose just do not happen like the rest of the year. Partly that is because my hiking is less frequent but I do get out on the snowy trails as often as possible. But the best to be seen at this time of year is tracks. Often there will be mice, rabbit, deer tracks and sometimes moose, then there is those questionable tracks that you study hoping that they are something more interesting than the neighbor's dog's footprints.

So I have to say I miss seeing the wildlife in the winter.  But I am fornuate to have one faithful visitor to the bird feeder all winter long.  He is a handsome vibrant ring necked pheasant. Here he is...