More Spring Sightings and a Red Wolf Observation

Top Photo: Male common whitetail. Common whitetails are everywhere. Ponds, lakes, even slow moving rivers and streams are home to this ubiquitous skimmer. The standout white/blue abdomen and dark marks on the wings lend to the easy recognizability of the male. The female too, is easily recognized by the three dark markings on each of her four wings. They both tend to perch low to, or directly on, the ground. Another early season dragonfly making an appearance is the blueRead more

Red Wolf Play

Top Photo: Oak in the grass. Oak, our female red wolf on display in Explore the Wild, is the more active of the two wolves in the enclosure. You’re more likely to see the sleek Oak trotting about the enclosure than the big lumbering male Adeyha. Here, in true Oak fashion, she romps in the tall grass of the compound. On the other side of the enclosure… The object of Oak’s attention is a deer pelt given her by theRead more

Awakenings

Top Photo: Adeyha and Oak (front) sticking close. It’s February and the season for procreation begins. Red wolf Oak is in estrus, Canada geese have arrived, hawks are soaring above screaming out their intentions, and songbirds are ramping up their melodious twitterings. Oak and Adeyha have been much more attached to one another over the past week, estrus has arrived. As of yet, I’ve not witnessed a tie, which is required for the female to become pregnant. Each year inRead more

More Quick Pics

Top Photo: Amur maple seeds. It’s a warm day in February, just the weather for strolling around campus. Here’s a mere handful of what you might see while you’re out there this week. There’s much more out there than this small sample of goodies suggests. So what are you waiting for, get out and have a look around!Read more

Red Wolf Behavior

Top Photo: Oak (back) attempts to get a reaction from her enclosure mate Adeyha. This is the time of year I start to look for courtship or mating behavior in our wolves. All red wolves are born in April or May. Given the gestation period for red wolves averages 63 days, now through the end of February is the best time to witness breeding behavior in our red wolves. If it happens, it will happen soon. Our female seems toRead more

Adeyha and Anole

Top Photo: Adeyha makes appearance in red wolf enclosure. Seen more often than not inside the enclosure’s den via the den-cam, Adeyha can, at times, actually be seen walking around the wolf habitat. Here’s a few shots of the large (last weigh in at about 44 kg) male red wolf just before he sneaked back into the den to recline. Adeyha seems fond of the den, at least during daylight hours. Oak, our spirited female, likes to roam around theRead more

Adeyha Awakens, Red-shoulder Dries Out, Little Ascends

Top Photo: Adeyha makes an appearance. In a recent post I mentioned that our new resident male has taken to sleeping the day away in his enclosure’s man-made den. I’ve been hearing reports from various staff that he’s been seen out and about in the enclosure near the end of the day, four, four-thirtyish. I decided to follow the scuttlebutt and check it out for myself. Sure enough the first photo I shot of Adeyha, and the first time I’dRead more

Oak

Top Photo: Oak, female red wolf. Our new wolf Adeyha has been getting much of the attention lately, but at present, our female, born April28, 2014 is the one you most often see when you visit the Red Wolf Enclosure. Here she is in a series of photos taken a few days ago. On occasion, Adeyha, her potential mate, has been curled up out of view inside the den, directly in front of the overlook. I was able to getRead more

More May Sightings

Top Photo: Common snapping turtle contemplates its next move. The snapping turtle pictured here was heading towards our wetlands. It may be a new arrival, having come up the creek which lies a dozen or so meters behind it. The creek is where our wetland drains. There’s a substantial drop where a large pipe delivers our wetland’s overflow into the creek. The drop keeps creatures like this snapping turtle from continuing their journeys via a direct route to our wetlandsRead more