Spruce Grouse female

To say that I lucked out with timing yesterday is an understatement! I was so very lucky to come across two of these beautiful Grouse on a snow embankment along the gravel road I drive on to see the owls. One of them was going into the trees, but this beautiful female stayed where she was and made a few different poses for me : ) This was the first time I'd ever seen a Spruce Grouse and, though a male would have been amazing, I'm very happy to have seen this female. Oh, and I saw my very first Mountain Bluebirds of the year yesterday, too! Always such a thrill to see the very first flash of brilliant blue after the winter months. And we saw about 30 very distant Swans on a slough, too - again, my first of the year. Too far to tell if Tundra or Trumpeter, but most likely to be Tundra. My drive yesterday was about 225 km, and I was exhausted by the time I got home.

Just noticed some great news from the Calgary Zoo. "Between approximately 4:30am and 7:00am today three Amur tiger cubs were born to female Katja; father is Baikal. The birth of these tiny cubs, each weighing an estimated 750 grams is potentially great news for this highly-endangered species." High mortality rates are common in tiger births, so hopefully some or all of these new cubs will survive.