Morning Jackrabbits in Regina

When I drive through my neighbourhood in winter after dark, I watch for rabbits. White-tailed jackrabbits. From sunset to sunrise, they often leap from shadows along streets and alleys, or run beside my van. (If they stayed still, I wouldn't notice them, grizzled white on gray night snow. But their instinct must say to flee, and they can easily outpace me.)

Caught in headlights in the dark,
this morning's jackrabbit pauses under a tree. 

This morning, returning from the airport three hours before dawn, I saw a pair dash out from an alley. One fled down a side street while the other swerved and crouched for few minutes under a tree.

And yesterday, a rabbit ran along our sidewalk and through the snowbanks on the neighbour's yard. (I have a more pictures of this jackrabbit, below, on my Prairie Nature blog.)

New Year's Day jackrabbit at dawn
on the snowbank across the street. 

White-tailed jackrabbits live here in summer, too. But summer nights are short and these prairie hares, nocturnal, so winter is the time I watch for them. 

eta: My Facebook and UBC MFA friend Jennifer Wynne Weber points out that it is still the Year of the Rabbit! How appropriate — thanks! 

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White-tailed jackrabbits in my neighbourhood

White-tailed jackrabbits live in my Regina neighbourhood. I see them when I'm driving in winter after dark (they dash across the road or run beside me) and pre-dawn, from my living room window (they forage in our yard and at the neighbour's).

Winter is the best time to see these large prairie hares — at least, that's when I see more here. The sun sets now at about 5 p.m. and doesn't rise till after 9 a.m., so nights are long and jackrabbits are nocturnal.

First light of the day, first white-tailed jackrabbit
of the year, on the neighbour's snowbank. 

Grizzled gray, with black-tipped ears.  

Pink nose, black ears, hiding on the sidewalk
across the street from my house. 

What is this? White-tailed jackrabbit or prairie hare.
Location: Regina,Saskatchewan.
Photo dates: New Year's Day, 2012

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Total Eclipse of the Moon

A total eclipse of the moon — that's the only thing that could have made me willing get up in the cold and dark on Saturday morning, and trudge with my camera and tripod out into the snow.

And here it is: Earth's dark shadow crawling down across the face of the moon, 7:35 a.m., December 10, 2011, Regina, Saskatchewan.

We didn't see moonlight return that morning. Long before the eclipse would have ended, the moon slid down into the row of houses and trees along our Regina horizon.

The sun rose about an hour and a half after this picture was taken.

Moon moving into full eclipse, early Saturday, December 10, 2011. © SB

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Purplish Copper Butterfly on Canada Goldenrod

A summer image to banish the cold: Purplish Copper Butterfly on Canada Goldenrod.

And all those colours in the insect's name? That's its full name, not just its description. I searched for this butterfly by colour, patterns, wing shape, spots and location, and from that, identified the Purplish Copper (aka Lycaena helloides). 

This butterfly is found in Saskatchewan — and from the Great Lakes area across the Prairies/Plains to B.C. and California.

Purplish Copper on Canada Goldenrod 

Oddly, one of my best sources of information, with a clear confirming image, was based somewhere this butterfly is, in fact, endangered: In Ohio. (The Toledo Zoo houses the last population in the state.)

Do we always value what we;re losing — or don't have — more than what flutters frequently around us?

What is this? Purplish Copper Butterfly, aka Lycaena helloides, on Canada Goldenrod
Location: Last Mountain Lake Wildlife Area,Saskatchewan. 
Photo dates: September 17, 2011. 

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American Avocets: elegant bluestocking birds

Going back through my photo files, I found an old picture of an American Avocet  — an image that shows me two things:

• How striking this bird is in its bright spring colouration — rust, white and black, with long blue legs; and
• How much better my pictures are now, with a better camera. 

The more recent, slightly larger, and much sharper picture of an Avocet, below, shows the bird's fall colours, a calm palette of black, white, blue and gray. 

Spring, at Wascana Lake

Fall, at Last Mountain Lake 

What are these? American Avocets — Avocette d'Amérique — in bright spring and dull fall plumage. Location: Spring: Wascana Lake, Regina, Saskatchewan; Fall, Last Mountain Lake Wildlife Area,Saskatchewan. 

Photo dates: Spring: April 27, 2009; Fall: September 17, 2011. 

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Double-Crested Cormorants: Last Mountain Lake

In mid-September, we drove past a small flock of double-crested cormorants swimming in a pond near the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area.

Although I was hoping the birds inside the wildlife area would put on even more dramatic displays, we stopped to take a few photos — and I'm glad we did.  The park itself appeared to be neglected, and on that end-of-season weekend, most roads were still closed from spring flooding. Without the car as a blind, we quickly frightened these huge black birds, and they flew off in clatters of wings and croaks.

I love the up-tipped tilt of their heads, and what looks like a smirk. 

Drying wings for flight

Flying over the Wildlife Area 

What are these? Double-Crested Cormorants. 
Location: Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan. 
Photo dates: September 17, 2011. 

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Birds and Basement Windows

Sometimes we don't see what's before us until we move on — or, in my case, don't see the picture until it's on the screen, as if my brain goes on auto-pilot when I focus the camera, and the photographic record become both magical and more real by capturing what I never knew I saw. 

All of which is to say that when I went out to take pictures of the partridges in my neighbour's yard on the weekend, I didn't know I would end up so delighted by the image, below, of my neighbour's basement window. 

I don't know what's reflected in that rippled glass, or what attracted the birds to it — the heat? the exposed grass? — but I liked the result enough to double-mat it.  

Gray Partridges 

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A Covey of Partridges on my Street

Every winter, we see — and startle — Gray (Hungarian) Partridges in our neighbourhood. Yesterday, a covey of partridges was back, perhaps encouraged by the recent snow to fly in from the fields to forage here, at the edge of the city.

Winter visitors to the city:  
Gray Partridges on our neighbour's lawn  © SB

These chicken-like birds are very sensitive to human movement — no surprise, as some people consider the Gray Partridge a game bird, and shoot them.

The dozen or so partridges that appeared on a lawn across the street ignored a bus and several cars that rumbled past, and calmy marched through the snow and up to the exposed grass beside a basement window. Nothing disturbed them — until I decided to tiptoe down our front steps to get a better angle for a picture. That movement — or the long lens of my camera, aimed for that shot — drove them squawking into the air.

What are these?  Gray Partridges, also called Hungarian Partridges. 
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan.
Photo Date: November 12, 2011.

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Coyote at Condie Nature Refuge

Late fall, a coyote.

A golden day when the light falls soft and yellow on dry reeds, and the wind rustles stalks and seeds as it draws across the prairie.

Ahead, a movement counter to the fingers of the wind.

A small creature weaves its own path over the field, sees us, stops, ears perked, body still. Watching. Ten minutes pass before it slinks away into tall grass.

Half hidden, watch and wait.   

The stream through the refuge. 

These conifers, above, are not native here. They were planted long ago, when landscape designers believed the introduction of artist foreign elements would enhance natural beauty. Or so explains an old interpretive sign on the hill behind.


What is this? Prairie coyote. 
Location: Condie Nature Refuge, near Regina, Saskatchewan.
Photo Date: October 10, 2011.

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House Finches: Scarlet, Rose and Yellow

With the first snow, the House Finch flocks to feeders, their rose, scarlet and yellow feathers a bright flash of colour against the dull winter sky.

These sparrow-sized birds are fairly common here, and all of these photos were taken through our dining room window, looking out onto the lilac bushes in the backyard. It was snowing lightly, and the white blurs, streaks and spots in the images are snowflakes — and the birds have their feathers fluffed up because of the cold.

What are these? House Finches. The first two are red/rose, the next three a bright scarlet/orange, and the last House Finch, a golden yellow. 
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan. 
Photo dates: November 6, 2011. 

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