We started with 224 albums. After 350,000 votes, we have a winner! Canada's Favourite Album by a Canadian Artist is.... JAGGED LITTLE PILL! Thank you everyone for voting! Enjoy my content? You can support my work with a donation at buymeacoffee.com/craigu

This weekend it is hard to NOT notice all the Ladybugs gathering all over the place. Almost all the introduces Seven-spotted Ladybugs and these adults are checking out places to overwinter. Keep your door and windows closed and enjoy looking for some that have + and - 7 spots!! #yyc #AB

Nutcrackers are cone royalty. Top of the tree, high in the mountains and master of masts. #birds

Canada Jay collecting mushrooms in our lively fall birch forests. #birds

Wayne was the best! But the info about Disney is right on the specimen tag.

When we were doing studies of Arctic lemming populations many years ago, the undergrads were always shocked the lemmings weren‘t constantly trying to hurl themselves off the X-ray table etc. Had to have this conversation often, but would have been great to have the Snopes page you referenced!

The myth of Lemming suicide has its origins in #Alberta & Disney to thank for it! The '58 film "White Wilderness" has a scene of lemmings running off a cliff into the sea. This was actually shot in #Alberta where, no sea, no arctic, no lemmings. But that's not all. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMZl...

This morning - Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to 'chip' their way south on their fall adventures. #birds #AB

This Red Squirrel is ready for the cold times ahead. Hope the family likes mushrooms! #mammals

Large flocks of migratory #birds passing east of Edmonton Thursday afternoon. #abstorm @fisherspeaks.bsky.social

While it is hard to miss the volume of geese and crane migrations - there is also another massive movement at play right now in #AB. American Pipits are making their fall passage down from the arctic - and the numbers in our outlying fields are impressive. #birds

The last of our warblers are the same as the first of our warblers - but their fall subtle look is very different from the spring. Yellow-rumped Warblers are still passing through - their frequent chip call notes will let you know when they are around. #AB #birds

White-throated Sparrows stop by the yard during fall migration to provide complimentary leaf litter and mulch rearrangement services #birds

Sunset is still moving west, but east of those central storms has liftoff! #birds #fall #migration

Great Horned Owls might be the perfect predator. They hunt at night with large, forward-facing eyes and a facial disk that traps the subtle-est squeek and scurry sounds. I have been enjoying a local pair that I have been checking in on among our fall colours. #YYC #birds

Red Squirrels are the high energy quasars of the northern forest. They are seen and heard more than any other living thing - but usually they are scolding and unwelcoming. But every now and then, they let down their guard and show us their tender side. #mammals

A Clark's Nutcracker showing off one of the thousands of limber pine seeds it will collect and stash-away, this fall. Like most hoarders, nutcrackers will forget about many of these and some will slowly grow to feed the great-great-great-great grandchicks of today's collectors.

One can scarcely find a sentence written of a Clark's Nutcracker w/out reading about its symbiosis with pine seeds. But it's something much more rare to actual observe in action. Fall is the time when #AB five-leaf pines (whitebark & limber) offer up their rich seeds to the ravenous hoarders.

just came here to say that i love this movie so much. “Listers”- these guys are awesome and hilarious m.youtube.com/watch?v=zl-w...

SANDHILL CRANES: These big birds and many other waterfowl species are now heading south, out of Alaska, toward wintering grounds in warmer places. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

Hope to enjoy a screamin' weekend. Pika shouts are the best #mammals #AB

The Hawk Highway is up and flying. Red-tailed Hawks are flying south along the front ranges. Also hanging out over harvesting operations. #birds #AB

Had Swainson’s in the yard this morning, several on my bird walk, and several popping into the nets this morning! Pokeberry seems to be a favorite food😂

Yellow under the tail -> Palm Warbler. Yellow above the tail -> Yellow-rumped Warbler The stars of this morning's migration! #YYC #AB #birds

Very impressive re-colonization of #Calgary in recent years by Mountain Cottontail with 79% of all #YYC iNaturalist records from 2024-2025. Compare to 28% of White-tailed Jackrabbit (a good baseline for #YYC observations) and only 4.8% of Domestic Rabbits from those same years.

Columbian Ground Squirrels wear the colours of fall, but few stay awake to experience the season. This was the only squirrel that was spotted yesterday and it was high up (2200 m) - all others were tucked away and sleeping. #mammals

Today, White-winged Crossbills were busy salting things up on the backroads of the Rockies. #birds

Beyond excited to finally find a #burrowingowl after years of driving the prairies. Near Manyberries, Alberta. @fisherspeaks.bsky.social

I will never forget sailing into Callao, Peru (port of Lima) my first time and seeing so many familiar feathered faces from prairie 🇨🇦. Franklin's Gulls are the most common gull that winters along that area of the famed Humboldt current. Their species name "pipixcan" reflect this distribution.

This will be a good week to catch a last look at our passing wood warblers. While they might not be a splashy as when they pass in the spring, they have great stories that go along with their great migrations #birds

Mountain Bluebirds make our lives special when they arrive early in spring as solo seasonal pioneers. But when they leave it is also meaningful, in large loose groups for a collective sign-off.

This was and remains, my favourite hockey card. A Ken Dryden glossy insert from 1978. He was a goalie that transcended The Game with his skill - and a man that transcended Canada with this thoughtfulness and passion.

With the smoke clearing away, last night must have been a night time to migrate. This morning, a good mix of warblers had arrived in our neighbourhood and were feeding on the morning crop of bugs. #birds #AB #YYC

This looks like a special night for Nature Alberta - 55 years in the making! Nature Alberta’s 55th Anniversary celebration is almost here! Join us Sunday, September 21 at The Lodge at Snow Valley, featuring legends: Lu Carbyn, Myrna Pearman, John Acorn naturealberta.ca/55

After weeks of preparations, Hoary Marmots are ready for the winter. Because they hibernate without stirring, their main strategy is to fatten up and live off their beef. They also build larders and these are used as bedding and as a morning snack when they wake up in spring. #mammals #AB

A little family scene on my walk home! Cedar waxwing parent feeding its babies, producing berries from its throat like a magician making ping pong balls appear. #birds 🪶

The Rufous Hummingbird is still sticking around our neighbourhood, fueling-up prior to their southern push. In this photo there is both bee balm and bumble bee bomb. #birds

Our local Swainson's Hawk twins are out of the nest but still crying out for mom and dad. Soon on their way to the Pampas. #birds

Like almost everywhere in NA - the warblers are moving through. In #YYC Yellow-rumped & Tennessee Warblers (both common boreal breeders) are our most frequently seen migrants - including these from my yard this AM!

Seems as though Bird baths were named by American Robins. #birds

Spooky Season is near 🩶🤍🖤 (poached from FB @zoodraws.bsky.social with associated info in AltText)

The Hoary Marmots were genuinely soaking up the warmth this afternoon - while I was thinking this may be our last time together in 2025 as they will soon be sacking out for the fall and winter. #Ab #Mammals

First look at Wildlife Photographer of the Year 61 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Flesh-eating beetles are gross, but also admittedly kinda cool when you kick aside their food and watch them scramble. #bugs

Today I photographed this migrant Townsend's Warbler (L) in our #YYC neighbourhood - exactly a year to the day that I last photographed one (R) in our neighbourhood. What precise movements! #birds

Now is a great time to see Muskrats and their mansions. They know the ponds will freeze, so build-up a mud-hut of reeds and roots around a breathing hole. The push-up freezes & the inner fortress keeps them safe & warm for the winter.

The European Starlings have merged their families into large diverse flocks. The adults have moulted and have sprouted spots! #birds

Pump the brakes for garter snakes during migration: Alberta Parks

Too much choice! Steller's sea ions and pink salmon coming in with the tide while Glaucous-winged Gulls wait for scraps. Valdez #Alaska🦑🦊

New species of dinosaur-era dragonfly discovered by a research student in Alberta's Badlands. Also - it is named (Cordualadensa acorni) after my pal and legendary naturalist John Acorn. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...