​We have been giving our resident Snowshoe Hares some food this winter by cutting a few tree limbs for them to munch on. We captured this cute footage of two of them having a midnight snack. 

 We heard the female at the nest last night around midnight and then today there was this crater in the snow...
 You can watch and listen live here...
https://www.youtube.com/user/EllisBirdFarmLacombe

We are very grateful to Lorrine Bouwsema, who has offered to decorate our three new Jim Boyd Purple Martin houses. The houses were moved to her studio last week, where she will work her magic over the coming weeks. We will have a special celebration to honour Jim Boyd and celebrate these new boxes on Opening Day. 

​Ellis Bird Farm is pleased to be partnering with Dr Lynn Moorman (left) and Dr. Dorothy Hill (right) of Mount Royal University to develop an electronic field data collection and management system. Stay tuned! 

Ellis Bird Farm welcomes three new members to our research team! 
Picture 1  Dr. Delano Lewis (right) is a professor at Burman University and has a keen interest in insects and spiders. 
Picture 2 Dr Natalia Lifshitz (left) is a recent PhD from the University of Alberta and is interested in biodiversity as well as the challenges of environmental pollution.  Kelsey Bourguis (right) is a professional biologist who is also interested in biodiversity and environmental monitoring.  (Their dogs accompanied them to a recent meeting, much to the delight of EBF board member, Maureen Carey [centre]) 
Picture 3: The meeting was chaired by EBF Research Committee Chair, Leo de Groot.

Ellis Bird Farm staff and board members enjoyed a potluck supper at the site following the December board meeting. And what a feast it was! 

​Thank you Dow! 
EBF is pleased that Dow has supported an important project at EBF  - a beautiful bridge designed, built and installed by Wayne Froese of Top Peg Timber Framing. This bridge not only increases safety at the site, it showcases the importance of repurposing downed trees and using post-consumer recycled plastic. Shown on the bottom right is JY Vanier (Dow Team Leader), Wayne Froese (Top Peg Timber Framing) and  Jonathan Beekman (Full Circle Plastics) . The bridge will be officially opened when EBF opens for the season in May. 

Ellis Bird Farm hosted an open house for potential new board members on December 1. There has been a great deal of interest about our board positions and EBF looks forward to welcoming several new board and committee members.