What a great topic @Kirstie! I'm loving reading about the local wildlife of other hosts.
One of the major joys of our cabin being located in the Canadian boreal forest is the abundance of wildlife to be found- it can get pretty wild out there! From tiny voles and squirrels to mountain lions and bears, the variety of wildlife really gives the feeling of being at one with nature.
Deer are the most commonly seen on our acreage, both mule deer and white-tailed deer. They walk through on a daily basis, sometimes several times a day. Our place is located between 3 wildlife preserves - one across the road, one behind and one to one side of the property, so it's on the main thoroughfare for wildlife traffic. Lucky us!
White-tailed deer
Moose are common but a little more elusive and spotted less often than deer. They are surprisingly nimble creatures for their massive ungainly size, and can easily bound over high fences. They are extremely aggressive and precaution should be taken when coming across a moose's path or pulling over for photos. I've seen a bull moose try to challenge a car in the same way it would challenge another bull moose - they really don't see at that well!
Bull moose
Alberta is home to two bear species, the black bear (ursus americanus) and the grizzly bear (ursus arctos horribilis). Yes, I had to look up their offical names! The grizzly bear is the larger of the two. They cover large territories in their search for food and have been known to wander into our area from time to time - the black bears are attracted by bird feeders, so we stop stocking ours as soon as the bears start to emerge from their dens in the spring, and don't start to fill them again until reports of bear hibernation are offical in the late fall. I don't want to meet either one of these fellows face to face at close range!
Grizzly bear
Black bear
Cougars, or mountain lions, are usually very shy of people, sightings are rare - but we've seen a couple on our trail camera, so know they are in the area. We put in a dog run surrounded by cougar-proof fencing but keep a close eye on our dogs just in case.
Cougar
Other visitors are coyotes (more commonly seen) and wolves (very rarely seen) :
Black wolf
Coyote
Now that I've posted all the photos of very scary looking predators I had better reassure you that they are very rarely, if ever, encountered and they are likely to spot you & leave well before you spot them. You're much more likely to enjoy the peaceful, relaxing company of deer, squirrels and birds!
We have a warren of rabbits living under our deck, which is likely what attracts the predators, and the predators keep them in check so they don't over run our place.
And we have some resident squirrels & really enjoy watching their antics with the blue jays at the bird feeders. We named this little guy "Hamlet" and didn't notice until later when we looked closer at the photo that he was peeing! Our peeing squirrel, Hamlet:
Hamlet went on to find a bride and was the proud father of at least 2 (and we think 3) little baby squirrels last year.
The variety of birds at the cabin is the other thing we really enjoy - we regularly see blue jays, grosbeaks, common grackles, northern flickers, finches, crossbills, chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, and great horned owls to name a few. We see birds at the cabin that are rarely, if ever, seen in the city. Last summer, a cowbird laid an egg in a nuthatch's nest & the poor little thing practically killed itself trying to keep that massive baby fed! The bird world has it's share of birds who know how to work the system.
Blue jay - I love their colour and markings
For anyone interested, more here: Wildlife of Alberta
Karen