The theme and mood here is decidedly spring-like. The red maple is in bloom, Canada geese are staking out nesting locations, and the wolves, well, our resident female is in estrus and the male is behaving the way he should at this time of year, following the female’s every move, keeping his two ten-month old sons at a distance from his mate, and it’s raining, not snowing.

Red maple is one of the earliest trees to bloom. Its tiny red blossoms brighten up the otherwise dreary February landscape (above).

We currently have two pair of Canada geese vying for real estate in our wetlands. Typically, the pairs are aggressive towards one another. It seems our pairs have come to a peaceful agreement.

Not to overwhelm you with red wolf mating photos, but our breeding pair (M1803 and F2062) have been very active the past several days. The animal department blog has documentation of such activity (keeper blog 2/20) (keeper blog 2/21).

Red wolves are born in April or May.

The gestation period for red wolf pups averages 60-63 days.

Sixty to sixty-three days from February 20 is April 21-24, in case you’re counting.