A photo of a Red Fox in Northern Ontario, with the Cross Fox Colour Morph
The only species of Fox that calls Northern Ontario home is the Red Fox, but this fox doesn’t look very red does it?
Interestingly, there are two major colour morphs to the Red Fox – the Silver Fox and the Cross Fox. The latter of which accounts for 1/4 to 1/3 of the Red Fox population in Canada.
So…this is a Red Fox, but it is also a Cross Fox. Confused yet? You can tell this is a Red Fox because despite the black and morphed colouration it still has a white-tipped tail. The only other species of Fox in Ontario is the Grey Fox (in Southern Ontario), which has a black-tipped tail.
I can say it is definitely the ugliest fox I’ve ever seen. But this Cross Fox was a great hunter, I managed to follow it hunting for over an hour and saw it successfully catch one mouse-like critter, perhaps a vole. This Cross Fox was photographed near Esker Lakes Provincial Park in Ontario.
Some houses are just…different. I’ve often wondered what possesses people to display garden gnomes all around their yard, but in Turkey I saw something that was even stranger.
The Pinocchio house was a fun surprise to come across after taking a Bosphorus Cruise from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavağı.
Some kind of strange Pinnochio Garden Party in Ceneviz, Turkey
Now, I don’t know for sure if these are true Pinnochio’s as the home / shop was closed when I visited but I couldn’t resist taking some photos.
My favourite wooden Pinocchio is the one hanging out on the power line pole below.
Pinnochio's on Poles, Pinnochio's on Windows - Turkey's Odd Pinnochio House
An African Fish Eagle looking for prey in Botswana
The most impressive predatory bird I saw in Africa, the Fish Eagle was spotted near water holes and perched high a top trees alongside rivers.
A powerful looking bird, you can tell by it’s claws that this bird means business! The African Fish Eagle also happens to have been chosen by Birdlife South Africa as the 2012 Bird of the Year.
This particular Fish Eagle photo was taken in Chobe National Park, Botswana.
When it comes to Giant Tortoises, nobody does it better than the Galapagos Islands.
Far from the busy Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island is the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabela Island.
A ‘Little’ Giant Tortoise at the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabela Island
You won’t find Lonesome George or any other famous tortoises here, nor will you find any crowds. On my visit to the Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre I was the only person there, aside from the workers. It was the perfect, private tortoise experience.
To get there, you need to be staying on the largest island of the Galapagos – Isabela. From the town of Puerto Villamil, it’s an enjoyable boardwalk path around some lagoons and a forest. The walk there is short and simple, about 1km or so. Along the way you’ll see wading and migratory birds, perhaps some flamingos, lava lizards and marine iguanas too.
The Boardwalk to Giant Tortoiseland on Isabela island
After the little nature walk, you arrive at the Galapagos Tortoise Breeding Center, which is all business. It is actually quite a large complex, with many different corrals, or holding areas for the tortoises.
Most tortoises here are species from southern Isabela Island and they’re identified by the shape of their shells. Isabela Island has five distinct giant tortoises, each associated with a different volcano and area on the island. Some of them are recognized by their flat, saddleback shells, while others have higher, domed shape shells. The different shell shapes come from the environment they live in and the food available for them to eat.
The Giant Tortoises of Isabela Island, Galapagos
It is thought that the saddleback shells of the Sierra Negro Giant Tortoises allow them to stretch higher to reach food from the opuntia / prickly pear cactus. Interesting huh?
The feeding time at the center was actually quite amusing to watch. The tortoises gather around large, circular troughs, munching away so you’re left staring at tortoise butts. No stragglers here either, if you’re off in a far away corner at feeding time, you better speed along to get your place at the trough!
Feeding Time at the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabela Island
When not feeding they’re ambling around with plenty of space, enjoying the good life while the researchers here get them ready for breeding or being sent off into the wild to sustain their populations.
Getting a one-on-one tour around the center and being free to wander around on my own, this was a super relaxed place to enjoy tortoise watching compared to either the Research Centre or Highlands on Santa Cruz. I would say I even enjoyed the tortoise time here more than I did at Galapaguera on San Cristobal Island.
‘Little’ Giant Tortoises Eating (Not Big Enough for the Trough Yet)
The real highlight was getting to see, and hold, a giant tortoise egg. It was surprisingly light for it’s size and nearly perfectly round. Of course the one I was shown had long since lost it’s chance to become a living tortoise. The researchers at the breeding center take great care in carefully documenting their work here. Even the egg had numbers and markings on it so they knew which tortoise it came from, when it was laid and what other tortoises were hatched from that clutch of eggs.
A Galapagos Giant Tortoise Egg at the Breeding Center on Isabela Island
Now the hatching and incubation areas were largely off-limits here when I visited, but seeing how many tortoises they had already successfully bred and raised and released into the wild was a rewarding experience. If you’re a big fan of tortoises, then I highly recommend spending time on Isabela Island for some private tortoise time.
Gentoo Penguin Running around on Deception Island, off the coast of Antarctica
Happy World Penguin Day!
April 25th is known as World Penguin Day, so for this #wildlifewednesday image I’ve chosen one of my favourite penguin pictures from my travels to Antarctica.
This little guy was photographed near the shore at Deception Island, a popular stop for visitors to the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. I found the Gentoo Penguins to be the most ‘friendly’ of the penguins in Antarctica. Chinstrap Penguins had a strangely evil look to them and I thought that Adelie Penguins had some sort of superiority complex about them.
Perhaps that sounds crazy, but if you spent much time with penguins you’d probably go slightly crazy too…!
