Well, I'm gonna be off to the wild bird supply store in Saskatoon. Within ten minutes of each other this morning, I had two window strikes - a palm warbler and a pine siskin. I've got paper taped up now in the meantime, but I definitely want some Feather Friendly dots.

Spent some time out on the deck this morning, watching and listening. Saw a few more species than this (mourning dove, Northern flicker, female pintail ducks, and a raptor I need to identify). But I'm going to have fun learning all the birds that live out here.

Nothing like kicking off the -ber months season with a spooky movie and bear feet in the new house.

We get possession of the new house tomorrow. Moving Thursday and Friday. We don't yet have a mailbox (thanks Canada Post). We don't know where all the keys are (the realtor doesn't have them). Still a lot to pack up and organize.

Well, I guess it's time to re-read this. Both SO and I have taken and "unofficially" passed the Canadian Citizenship Exam. Just waiting for review and to see if we need to do anything else. Then, hopefully we'll have an oath swearing date soon.

Someone that came to my Creature Close-up for the bears at the zoo today told me that they came to one of my presentations about my polar bear PhD research at the university, and I just 😭😭😭

How I know I need to bird harder/better: when my boss and I take 20 minutes to try to tell the difference between barn owl and great horned owl feathers out of a huge box of assorted feathers, and we still don't know for sure.

I haven't taken a test since March of 2024 when I had my dissertation defense. So, naturally, I'm stressing about my Canadian Citizenship Exam. 😭😭😭

Well, I guess it was worth it. House conditionally sold today for $50k over asking price, and for almost $100k more than we bought it for five years ago. The housing market here is ridiculous.

We just keep telling ourselves saying yes to showings will be better for us (more people in, more interest, more potential for offers?) in the long run, but man...it really sucks having to clean & load up the dogs multiple times a day to get out of the house for hours at a time.

Selling a house is super hard, y'all. There is so much packing and storing and organizing and scrubbing and cleaning. Buying is way easier 😅. But for real though, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are saving me having to repaint just about everything. Amazing.

Proud of these pups. We did some hard hikes today in the hot sun, and they hung in there. 6.5 miles really wipes these guys out though, despite frequent stops for water breaks. Check out this progression from after the first hike to the end of the day. 😂

When you're staying in a cute little cozy cabin in the woods for vacation, and one of the few DVD choices is a 4 pack of werewolf movies...you just gotta. One a night, let's do this.

This summer at the #SaskatoonForestryFarmParkAndZoo, we are starting some great paid educational programming with some of our animals. Come get an up close meet and greet and make some memories with cool animals! #Saskatoon #YXE #Tourism #Wildlife #Zoo #Education

This summer at the #SaskatoonForestryFarmParkAndZoo, we are starting some great paid educational programming with some of our animals. Come get an up close meet and greet and make some memories with cool animals! #Saskatoon #YXE #Tourism #Wildlife #Zoo #Education

Phenomenal cosmic dog bed, itty bitty kitty space

#Caturday vibes

It was nice (if a bit buggy - mosquitoes everywhere!) to get back into the arena with this handsome guy today. We went out for a nice walk for him to eat grass, and then he was so well behaved for his arena work.

#BearAwarenessWeek #Mammals 🦊🐻 #BrownBear thread below! Learn about #BrownBear ecology! I'll be posting old threads I put together years ago for each of the bear species. There is the original Twitter link, & I've reposted each part of the thread for those without access to that platform.

It's #BearAwarenessWeek, so I'm linking to my old Twitter threads - one for each of the 8 species of #bears. Right now - #BrownBears! Check out the thread below for some awesome brown bear biology facts. #BearAwarenessWeek this year wraps up on May 24 with #BearAwarenessDay. x.com/grizzlygirl8...

Any ideas what might be going on with this baby robin's eye? The one is bulging quite a bit more than the other, which looks normal. Thoughts? My MIL found him or her just fledged in her yard.

Citizenship applications for Canada submitted! Now we wait for processing and start studying for our interviews/exams!

O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!

I guess I'm just used to US politics - is calling an election so early (with so little of the vote counted) normal? We can't be that confident in the US, but we also have the Electoral College and swing states - and I know there are no "swing ridings" in Canada...

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees." "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Happy Earth Day.

I feel like a terrible scientist. I did a peer review for a manuscript today, & then realized that I had slacked off on keeping track of my peer review experience. I had to go & make a brand new list after slogging through years of emails to find articles/journals/dates. Oops.

Y'all...I hope a horse never kicks you in the thigh. This is Day 4. It is darker than it looks in the photo. It's itchy. And it HURTS.

Reminder that stuff like this can happen even with really well trained & bombproof horses. Always wear a helmet when you ride, and if you can, ride with a friend! The fact that my friend was there made the situation way less scary and more manageable.

You ride horses long enough, eventually you have an accident of some sort. AJ got a bit ahead of himself loping up a hill today, and gave a happy buck/side kick, and his hind leg caught me right in the thigh. I heard something pop, and I immediately hit the ground.

in case you're wondering, "what's the harm in claiming an extinct species has been brought back from the dead" when it most certainly has not, our interior secretary is already using it to justify taking animals off the endangered species list

Made it a third of the way through the pasture out to the arena before the horses said "yeah, eff this" and turned around. The snow is still waist deep for us, belly deep for the horses. It was NOT an easy walk. So, we did a 5km ride along the road instead.

What the actual F? Because of course they did...

I'm creating a #KnockKnockWhosBear style presentation for work, and it's amazing to me how many bear graphics have confounding features for their supposed species (i.e., black bears with big shoulder humps, the wrong claws or ears, etc.). A biologist needs to make these 😂

#PolarBear for the win, obvi

#Saskatoon #YXE #Saskatchewan www.ctvnews.ca/saskatoon/ar...

Okay, serious question. SO is from the western US. I'm from the east coast. We're watching Hamilton. His 1st time. Not mine. He is very unfamiliar w/ American Revolution era history. Is that common in the western US states education system? I feel that's most of what we learned.

One of the crickets I have in the classroom to feed to the salamanders later is currently serenading me. Sorry, little guy. Your song is pretty, but you're still gonna have to go.

Went to take the recycling bin out to the curb tonight and heard my first merlin of the season. Spring is on its way! Maybe they'll nest in someone else's back yard this year 😂

Welcome to the 13th Annual March Mammal Madness! This year MMM Celebrates the TREE OF LIFE #2025MMM

I look forward to this young woman, and a generation like her, joining the working scientists of the world. She is the energy we need.

Just a lil' bear. Tweedsmuir Glacier, July 2022.

"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

It's my birthday and it just also happens to be #WorldWildlifeDay. Let's cheer up the timeline for a bit by sharing your favourite wildlife photo that you took. Here's one of mine.

Look who I saw out and about at the zoo today. This little one is a wild Richardson's ground squirrel. Above ground. On March 3. I have high hopes for him, but...I don't think winter is over yet in Saskatoon.

Rangers organized protests against Elon-Trump at national parks, with thousands showing up today. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Sorry, but if you watch The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, it's clearly shown that Beorn is the only, true drop bear. This is just science.

Pass it on. #StandWithUkraine

💙💛🌻🇺🇦

In an extraordinary display of public support, heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers from all over Europe and Canada are posting in support of Ukraine in response to the Oval Office meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance.