Down South feat.Selby!

Our next stop was Saint Catharines, Selby -son of Aspen Valley's GM, Julia- llives in a small appartement with Guiness, his dog! We took over his living room for a week while discovering the area: Vineland, Port Dalhousie, Saint Catharines, Jordan Village, Toronto and the Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls
This is without a doubt one of the biggest tourist attractions of the country. The city build around the falls is like one big amusement park, it's just crazy! The Honeymoon Capital of The World...we don't get it???
Anyway the waterfalls are magnificient! There are two major sections: the Canadian side or Horseshoe Falls and the American side or American Falls. During peak flow season, almost 6000m³ drops down every second...incroyable!

Forest Hike - Ball's Falls (Jordan Village)
It was our first day down South without rain so Selby took us on one of his favourite local hikes! The forest was at its best, everything was fresh and spring's perfume was delicious. After all the rain the river that crossed the forest had become one wild flood! Selby had never seen this before...and I have to admit I've never seen a greener forest before. Flowers, insects, birds and raccoons...beautiful.

Saint Catharines Area

We had a lot of fun and we took the dogs wherever we could: Canadian geese (Branta canadensis) at Port Dalhousie, a shipwreck in Lake Ontario, the artist in Selby Harris and a local game of Lacrosse, one of Canada's national sports. Lacrosse is basically Air Hockey and pretty agressive! It's all about the ball in the net...

The Owl Foundation - Vineland

When I was working with the owls in Aspen Valley I heard about the OF in Vineland. I contacted them to ask if I could visit the foundation and the answer was positive. They promised us two hours of their time and we ended up staying five, which was great! Thank you, Annick for your time and the great tour you gave us.

The Owl Foundation is founded in the early Seventies by Kay and Larry McKeever. The original idea was to breed injured owls and to release the juveniles. Kay and Larry McKeever proved to the world that it's possible to breed injured owls in captivity as long as you give them the habitat they need. Owls need to have choices: high and low perches in different sizes, sun shade and rain, open and hiding spots, seperate and social areas.

As an architect Kay has designed all the enclosures in a way nobody did it before. She and the staff succesfully bred 14 of the 16 native owl species in captivity. Kay is 86 now and still active in the Foundation. Thanks Kay for having us over! One of the species that's never been bred in captivity is the Short Eared Owl (Asio flammeus). This almost endangered species needs a special breeding complex, one of the Foundation's future projects.

Three injured owls came in when we were there and we could join Annick in the examination room. Two of them were Northern Saw-Whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus). These little owls are smaller than a pigeon, incredible! Annick examined the general condition, the age and the sex of the birds. It's interesting to see the age of an owl by examinating the new versus the old feathers. This migratory species only sheds his feathers partly each year, a fresh feather contains bloodtracks and colors pink underneath a black light.

Check http://www.theowlfoundation.ca/ and check my Owl article in the local newspaper http://www.cottagecountrynow.ca/opinion/columns/article/1008268--aspen-valley-has-inspiration-from-belgium!

We watched, we enjoyed, we learned and we drove back North after a very nice week in the Niagara Region! Thanks Selby for the entertainment and the hospitality. It was great and we'll keep in touch! We're back in Parry Sound now, at Brenda's place! We said good bye to the sanctuary and we're preparing everything for the big roadtrip in front of us! Keep on reading folks...the Winter has gone, long live the Blackflies and Mosquitoes!

OneLove

T H and Woewoewoewoe...