Gray Ghost of the North

(Photo: Nature Canada) Pawprints in the Snow

Yesterday I wrote about signs of spring. Today it is snowing and we were treated to a very special sighting… a Canada lynx, a rarely seen animal that preys almost exclusively on snowshoe hares. Bob quickly dashed off e-mails to friends and family…

"Just a few minutes ago we saw a Canada Lynx. I was having lunch and was looking out the front windows when I saw movement out toward the bench under the Black Hawthorns near the road. At first I thought it was a coyote - but as it moved it was clearly a cat of some sort. I called Mornigstar to the window and we both got out our binoculars. Bobbed tail, black tip - also black tips on the ears - long legs. We had at least five minutes to look as it moved around the bench and went to the edge of the meadow and peered into the east woods. It then backtracked past the bench and headed behind the sheds and disappeared toward the woods on the west side of the meadow. Wonderful experience! It is called the gray ghost of the North."

I went online to Hinterland Who’s Who, a website co-sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Federation. I discovered how rare it is to see a Lynx in the wild… "Like the cougar and the bobcat, the other two members of the cat family native to Canada, the Canada lynx tends to be secretive and most active at night and, like them, it is rarely seen in the wild. Even for trappers who have spent a lifetime in areas where lynxes are common, encounters with these predators are rare and memorable."

Finding this website was also serendipitous. Clicking on “About Us,” I found this wonderful description for what it means to be Canadian.

What it means to be Canadian has often been demonstrated through people’s attachment to wildlife and wilderness. This is most evident in the iconic role that wildlife plays in Canadian currency, the popularity of wildlife art, and the billions of dollars that are spent annually on wildlife-related activities in Canada.

This connection to wildlife was introduced to many Canadians through the popular Hinterland Who’s Who television announcements, or vignettes. First created in the early 1960s, Hinterland Who’s Who made bold use of a relatively new medium — black and white television — to reach the Canadian general public. The vignettes, produced by the Canadian Wildlife Service, brought native wildlife into living rooms using excellent film footage and simple narration. They became, and remain, an enduring part of Canadian culture... The new Who’s Who (website) will serve to ensure that wildlife remains part of "what it means to be Canadian."

Snowflakes continue to float past the cabin windows.

... P. L. Morningstar