mkmurrays

Last night our puppy woke at 3.30am for a toilet break, sorry, to visit the washroom (we're in Canada now), and my OH put her on her lead and dutifully stepped out in the freezing cold temperatures to take her to her 'spot'.

He opened the garage door side door, and came face to face with six deer, a stag and five hinds. The pup did one 'woof', and then stood and watched as they paraded from the ravine at the bottom of the yard, up through the garden, and out the otherside, down our lane. Magic!

They were there for about 15 minutes in all (I thought my OH had died of frostbite and hypothermia by this point, and was searching for the life insurance policy, and the vet's phone number).

OH came back to bed doing an excellent impression of the old Disney advert. 'I can't sleep', I'M TOO EXCITED!'

I'd seen the stag before, in the summer, but never the great man and his harem.

A reminder, should we need it, of why we came to Canada.

Piff Poff

WOW, worth getting up to take the pup out in freezing temps!

Edna Bucket

I had a similar moment yesterday when we were just driving down the road and there were bald eagles sitting in a tree. They are often about but every now and again I get struck by how you can be doing something totally mundane like going to the supermarket but seeing something so beautiful as well.

mkmurrays

Fabulous, isn't it? I can't help but wonder how many generations of deer have walked the same route. They must hop over the four foot fence at the bottom of the yard.......

We saw a bald eagle swoop down over Lake Okanagan in the spring when we were on a reccie. Almost crashed the car we were so taken by it.

Madmac

I've fed chipmunks peanuts on my knee in Guelph - does that count as a major wildlife encounter?

Howard1944

Damn, now I really miss Hunting Season.

maddhobs

Don't want to hijack the thread but just wanted to add an extract from a blog article I wrote.

"We keep talking about the beautiful scenic side of Canada and the wonderful nature that is here and was such a big reason for wanting to move here. So far in Canada in the wild we have seen: a cougar, black bears, raccoons, chipmunks, red squirrels, grey squirrels, black squirrels, deer, otters, beaver, rabbits, bats, bald eagles, golden eagles, turkey vultures, rufous humming birds, anna's humming birds, swallows, blue herons, canada geese, common loon, grouse, California quail, owls, northern flicker woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, gray jays, blue jays, American robins, red-winged blackbirds, brewers blackbirds, spotted towhees, dark-eyed juncos, house finches, purple finches, American goldfinches, white-capped sparrows, ducks, salmon, seals, sea lions, grey whales, humpback whales, orcas, porpoises and a variety of butterflies and dragonflies to name what we can remember right now! We hear the frog chorus in late winter to spring and the crickets chirping throughout the summer and fall. Beautiful - nature at it's best. Also, from a tree perspective, the Arbutus Tree is an amazing tree which sheds its bark!"

We live rurally on Vancouver Island and have seen a cougar in our field, a truly amazing experience although I do admit to waiting a couple of hours before going down the field to investigate, and black bears up our road. We normally get bear alerts from neighbours throughout the year.

We enjoy going down to Cherry Point beach and watching the seals splashing about, the eagles, seabirds, salmon and the view. Mount Baker shows itself on a clear day.

Sorry to harp on but the mkmurrays post is a great post and reminds us of how the nature was a big pull to us living here. We hope we never stop appreciating it.

Karma sent mkmurrays

mkmurrays

Thanks for the and the karma. I adore wildlife watching and the whole big outdoors was a huge pull for us.
I read the recent 'why are you leaving the UK' thread, and thought, not so much aching to leave the UK, but more, couldn't wait to get to Canada'. Off now to take the pooch for a walk down by the lake. Cloudy today, so will be interesting to see what the big picture is today. I keep threatening to take a daily shot of the lake and compile the best of the bunch.....

Lorna_D

Living in a rural area and down by the lake we see a lot of deer; everyday since the really cold weather has turned up. This morning one was standing outside the sun room eating out of the bird feeder - she was on her own and stayed there for ages I think waiting for the rest of the herd to appear. There are usually 4-5 of them, I've yet to see the stag, I know he's around cos my neighbour saw him staring out the snow grader the other day. He was not going to move first , she didn't wait for the outcome but that would have been a sight to see.

I was sitting here thinking about putting my sweet potatoe peelings out for them but was reminded of the night I threw carrots out only to have them brought back the following day by my dog (little Bichon Frise who thinks he's a rottie) frozen and black. Also we have a family of coyotes around at the moment and I don't want them to come in close and take my dog

Coffeepot

What a lovely thread Sharon, makes a lovely change, something positive about Canada love it, we see Deer quite a bit and the odd Fox one ran past me e few days ago

Co-Writer

Keep it coming folks, it makes me soo envious, I love seeing the wildlife. When we were in Lake Louise a few years ago we saw a grizzly bear with her cub feeding on the bear berries, just magic. And in September this year we were in Muskoka Ontario and saw lots of deer, and loads of wild turkeys, who seem to think they own the road, walking across the road in such a dignified queue....too funny.

Ooh, I can't wait..........!!

mkmurrays

We had a black bear walk out in front of our car in Wells Gray park last summer. He was quite a small one but was in no hurry to get out of the way. We had the dog in the back and she missed it completely.
We have hummingbirds in the garden in the summer, all over the butterfly plants and I almost had a marmot join me in the basement once, but he scuttled off once we made eye contact. I'm not sure who was more surprised......

I've only see grizzlies in zoos, and I hope we can go up to Knight Inlet at some point. I soooo want to see them in the wild fishing......and I'd kill to see polar bears....but trips to Churchill are mega bucks.

Jay Bird

Such a pity there's absolutely no wildlife at all in the UK

mkmurrays

I wasn't implying anything of the sort, and where we lived we were fortunate enough to see foxes, badgers etc fairly frequently.

Just sharing what was, for us, a magical moment.

flipflop

I see deer nearly every day here in essex, only yesterday we saw around 70 deer, lots of stags and there ladies, on the same day saw a fox, a heron and a woodpecker not to mention countless squirrels. oh and i nearly forgot a couple of hares boxing. brilliant