Our Wild North

Since arriving in Canada, working on a pig farm and spending days on a train I've kind of lost my love for make-up. During this time I haven't learned to love my bare face, I just tend to avoid the mirror more! So when BzzAgent kindly selected me for the Covergirl Lashblash mascara campaign, I thought it was about time I gave it a whirl.

Two weeks ago we went on our second camping trip to Lake Koocanusa in British Columbia. During our first trip, back in July, we had the weather on our side and our friend brought his boat, so we spent a couple days boating on the lake and playing Beersbee on the beach.

This time, however, Autumn/Fall had arrived and with it came a whole day of rain. Thankfully because of the weather the recent campfire bans had been lifted, so we spent the day around the fire, playing cribbage and card games.

On the second day the sun managed to come out so, after a game of Bocce, I took a walk along the lake and around the campsite.

Lake Koocanusa is a 90 mile long reservoir, stretching from British Columbia to Montana, made by the damming of the Kootenay River by the Libby Dam in Montana. It was created to generate hydroelectric power and offer flood protection in Northwestern USA. In 1973, the Canadian government set fire and blew up various parts of the town of Waldo, BC with dynamite and buried it so that the reservoir could cover the area.

The lake was named by Alice Beers in a competition, she took the first three letters of Kootenay River, Canada, and USA, and *voilá* Lake Koocanusa was born.

As usual, the sentence 'Lisa, you live on a farm, stop taking photos of *insert farm animal/item here*' could be heard. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for cows... and sheep.

By this point in the walk water from the forest floor had started seeping through my shoes and I thought it was best to head back to the fire and dry my toes off. We'd also gotten into a conversation about bear attacks, and I realised I wasn't really in the mood to fight a bear. I'd much rather sit by the fire and drink a beer.

This was my first attempt at a monthly photo scavenger hunt, and I failed miserably. Oops! So I've decided to combine some old photos with the few that I did manage to take this month.

Walk

The view of the city on a walk through Nose Hill Park.

Horizontal
The horizontal markings on a Red River Hoglet.

Square

Square/rectangle viewing windows at a nature reserve.

Diversity
Black and white alpacas.

Rough
The rough dry skin of a toad hiding away in an old plant pot.

Bow
A view of the Bow River from the Peace Bridge.

Joy
Nothing makes me happier than how colourful nature can be.

Forgotten
A sinking boat in Ouseburn, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Crowd
A herd of Jacob sheep.

Colourless
Definitely not taken this month, although we did have a bit of snow/sleet one day this month in Calgary, eeek.

Friendly
A friendly lemur at a wildlife park. It was quite happy just to sit and people watch.

Whatever you want
A shot of the river water on a hot, sunny day.

If you want to join in as well, check out Made With Love for September's list.

Back in England I never really paid that much attention to birds, other than when a woodpecker would occasionally visit the garden.

But ever since seeing a hummingbird on the farm in Ontario, birds have started to pique my interest.

Living in a city, I don't get to see much variation, but these are the three I've managed to snap from my balcony this week.

Pigeons

Pigeons are possibly one of, if not, the most underrated birds. Let's face it, nobody likes walking through town and having a pigeon with gammy feet flying at their face.

However, pigeons are considered to be a very intelligent bird, and are one of the few species that have been found to pass the Mirror Test - a test of self-recognition. They can also be trained to recognise different letters of the alphabet, and distinguish between photos presented to them.

Pigeons mate for life and tend to rebuild their nests in close proximity to their old ones, resulting in a lot of pigeon droppings and being labelled as pests in modern society. But pigeon poo was once thought of as the best kind of fertiliser, and an important ingredient of gunpowder.

Swainson's Hawk

After a bit of research, I'm fairly sure this is a female Swainson's Hawk. The Government of Alberta has given the Swainson's Hawk the classification of 'sensitive' on the Wild Species at Risk Status, due to the use of pesticides on their wintering grounds in Argentina.

They usually feed on ground squirrels, mice and occasionally small birds.

Black-capped Chickadee

At last, a visitor to my bird feeder!

I heard a few chirps outside and went to investigate, thankfully he stayed long enough for me to get a few photos as they usually just grab a few seeds to take away and hide in a number of different locations, in order to eat them later.

Apparently, in the autumn Chickadees are able to let their old neurons die and replace them with new ones, wiping out old memories and creating a new storage space. This helps them remember changes within their flock and environment, as well as locations where they've hidden food.

The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary has just reopened after being closed for a couple of years due to flooding in 2013. Hopefully I can get over there soon and add some more birds added to my memory card.

The worst thing about adjusting to city life is swapping your garden for a balcony. At the moment, our balcony is super depressing. We have two camping chairs, a bike, a mini rose bush, and a bird feeder than no birds have ever shown the slightest bit of interest in.
I'd love a balcony full of flowers and plants.

July was the time for something which I'd been looking forward to since deciding on staying in Alberta, The Calgary Stampede.

The Stampede began in 1912 when Guy Weadick came to Calgary with a 6-day event involving roping, bronc riding and a celebration of the Old West. He'd envisioned a world class annual rodeo event, but these hopes were dashed due to an economic depression and the start of the First World War. In 1919, Weadick was invited back to Calgary to organise the Victory Stampede, which celebrated the end of the war. Finally in 1923, the Stampede merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition and became an annual event, now lasting 10 days.

Our Wild North

Covergirl Lashblast Fusion

Koocanusa Camping

Scavenger Hunt: August

Balcony Birds

Nose Hill Park

Balcony Wish List

The Calgary Stampede 2015

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