Well, it snowed. Again. This side of the Rocky Mountains, I guess we should be used to it by now. It could also be why us Canadians are such a hardy bunch. The Great White North. It’s not just an SCTV sketch.

Mother Nature has been on a regular schedule lately. During the week, she’ll grace us with decent weather. A bit of a flip of the nose from the weather gods since we must enjoy those nice days stuck inside working. But when the weekend rolls around . . .

I’m making the best of it. Usually I keep my cellphone in my back pocket so I can snap pictures of the birds coming to the bird feeder. But since I was getting cabin fever, I decided to grab The Beast: my older-than-dirt Canon DSLR equipped with its “paparazzi lens”.

I camped out at the kitchen table with hopes of snapping shots of the local wildlife. I typically only get two species of birds: my favourites, the adorable black-capped chickadees . .

. . . and the annoying wetland birds I’ve dubbed “The Trolls”: the ear-splittingly-loud red-winged black birds. Not only do the RWBB’s make a mess out of the feeder as they search for sunflower seeds, their calls are like car horns when they get too close.

squAAAAAAAAAK!

I’m not sure if the RWBB we have in the foothills of Alberta are different than those I was used to seeing in Ohio. Back home, they had distinctly orange shoulder fluffies, even when perched. Here, they have a white stripe. Their shoulder fluffies aren’t visible unless they’re in flight, or screeching at the top of their little birdie lungs.

Apart from the Trolls, a pair of loons took up haven in the wetland pond. The loon is one of Canada’s national symbols as they’re meant to symbolize the rugged wilderness of Canada (or the fact that it can snow 12 months out of the year. You pick).

Between the loons and the Canadian geese, we’ll have a busy pond this year.

I wonder if the mooses (meese?) will come back this year.

Two juvenile moose from last spring.

And to round off the sightings, four deer caught my eye as they grazed on the hill.

Eventually they made their way down to the pond area before trotting off.

Well, at least the wildlife is enjoying the snow. I know they say we need the moisture, but maybe I’m a traditionalist and prefer my precipitation in the form of thunderstorms at bedtime.

Until then, I’ll just have to make sure the coffee is extra hot!

-Rissa