{"id":603191,"date":"2024-09-01T15:33:24","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T19:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/?p=603191"},"modified":"2025-02-19T15:28:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:28:36","slug":"ottawa-valley-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/animals\/ottawa-valley-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Valley Project: Flying Squirrel, Red Fox and Snowy Owl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Hello, Earth Rangers! I\u2019m Megan Quinn, and I\u2019m a researcher with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. I\u2019m working with a team in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, which is home to all different kinds of wildlife \u2014 including the snowy owl, the flying squirrel, and the red fox!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"
Photos by Mike Dembeck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Snowy owls have beautiful white and brown feathers that camouflage them against their snowy habitats. Their feathers form rings around their bright yellow eyes and help reflect sound to their ears. These birds of prey are almost three feet tall, with wingspans of almost four feet. They\u2019re really good at judging distance, which allows them to swoop down and catch their prey. Unlike most owls, snowy owls are diurnal, which means they hunt during the day. While lemmings are their preferred prey, these birds will also eat arctic hares, ptarmigan, foxes, mice, and seabirds. Snowy owls swallow their smaller prey whole \u2014 GULP!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

We have two species of flying squirrel here in the Ottawa Valley \u2014 the northern flying squirrel and the southern flying squirrel. These creatures have either reddish-brown or gray-brown fur, and they have large dark eyes and flat tails. Unlike most squirrels, Northern and Southern Flying Squirrels are nocturnal. Flying squirrels make their nests in holes in trees, and they\u2019re omnivores, so they eat insects, bird eggs, mushrooms, flowers, fruits, and nuts. They have a furry membrane called a patagium that extends between their front and rear legs and helps them glide through the air. While they don\u2019t exactly fly as their name suggests, these squirrels can glide up to 45 yards!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"
Photo by NCC staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"\"
Photo by Nila Sivatheesan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Red foxes can be found in many different habitats around the world \u2014 they can even live in human environments. These animals have rusty red fur, pointy faces, and bushy tails. While they make their homes out in the open, they will dig burrows and go underground during bad weather. Red foxes are excellent hunters, as they have sharp senses of sight, hearing, and smell. During the winter, they prefer small animals like mice, squirrels, lemmings, and rabbits, and in the summer they also eat berries, earthworms, and insects. Red foxes are also great at communicating with one another, using body language and a range of barks and calls. And they\u2019re strong swimmers and jumpers \u2014 red foxes can jump fences more than 6 feet high!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Photo Nila Sivatheesan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the Ottawa Valley is home to a lot of plants that shouldn\u2019t be there. These invasive species can choke out the native plants and harm the surrounding habitats. My team is working to remove those invasive species and encourage local communities to help us, so animals like the snowy owl, flying squirrel, and red fox have healthy habitats for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can help, too  \u2014 check out the Adoptions section in the Earth Rangers App or visit the Earth Rangers Shop to get your snowy owl, flying squirrel, and red fox Adoption Kits. Make a difference today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello, Earth Rangers! I\u2019m Megan Quinn, and I\u2019m a researcher with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. I\u2019m working with a team in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, which is home to all different kinds of wildlife \u2014 including the snowy owl, the flying squirrel, and the red fox! Snowy owls have beautiful white and brown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[449],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-603191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-animals"},"pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605530,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603191\/revisions\/605530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/CA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}