#funfactfriday Did you know that some baby Great Horned Owls may already be hatching out of their eggs? The adults start nesting and laying eggs in February, which makes these owls some of the earliest nesters in our region. This also means that in some places, the female may have to incubate her eggs through a snowstorm! While raising their young, Great Horned Owls (and many other predators) hunt almost continuously to try and find enough food to keep their babies healthy.

#funfactfriday Did you know that robins might listen for earthworms as well as look for them? Most of a robin's hunting is done visually. As they hop around the lawn and cock their heads back and forth, they are looking for the tiny movements of soil and grass that worms make as they move beneath the surface. Biologists also think that robins may be able to hear the worms under the surface as well! Underground critters make tiny noises when they move, both from them moving

#funfactfriday Ever wonder why and how bats hang upside-down? Unlike birds, bats cannot launch their bodies into the air from the ground because their wings don't produce enough lift. Resting up high in an upside-down position means they are always set to spread their wings and just drop to take flight. For other mammals, holding onto a resting place upside down would be exhausting, but bats have evolved highly specialized muscles and tendons in their lower body. Relaxing

#funfactfriday Did you know the beautiful Wood Duck is the only 'perching duck' species in Canada? This diverse group of ducks, swans, and geese are unique in their preference for perching in up in trees and nesting in tree cavities as high as 50 feet up! These ducks all have large, strong claws to help them better grip tree limbs and their tails and wings are shorter and broader than many other ducks in order to have better maneuverability when they are flying through wooded

#funfactfriday Did you know that the Trumpeter Swans we see on local lakes and rivers in the winter are the largest waterfowl species in the world? Their 6 to 8 foot wingspan and 20-30lb bodies can dwarf even the mighty bald eagle! This impressive size means they have to expend a tremendous amount of energy to become airborne and require nearly one hundred metres (325 feet) of "runway" in the water in order to start flying. Young cannot fly until nearly 4 months after hatchi

#funfactfriday Although they look very similar, bobcats and lynx take very different approaches to finding food. Bobcats are fierce generalist hunters. Mostly eating small mammals like rabbits and mice, bobcats will also hunt porcupines, snakes, and even small deer. This opportunistic hunting style is very different from the Canada Lynx, whose specialized diet consists almost entirely of snowshoe hares. If desperate, they will eat carrion or other small animals like squirrel