We went to the Salmonier Nature Park on Sunday, under the principal that if a family is going to be sick and miserable, they may as well do it outside. (John drove, which might give you an indication of how rotten I was feeling, as he hates to drive on the weekends and I love driving.) We had a pleasant time and made it home without bickering or tears or death.

There were quite a few animals missing or not out in their enclosures. The "missing" list included:

• America kestrel
• otter – apparently escaped through a hole in the fence, but is still living in the area and pops in from time to time – I got some good pictures of her last year
• one of the peregrine falcons
• one of the arctic foxes
• pine martin -to be brought in this summer

Interestingly enough, they had a pair of red foxes break into the enclosure during the winter and the park folks suspect they may be denned up in there somewhere with a litter.

As usual, we didn't see:

• voles
• beavers
• mink

Due to the presence of a thunderous Katherine, we didn't see any snowshoe hare either. One of these days I'm going to go alone and first thing in the morning, just before feeding time. If I followed the food wardens around, I'm sure I'd get some better photos.
The woodchuck was a new addition. They're native to Labrador, but not to Newfoundland. Curious little things. Haven't seen any since I was in western Canada.

There were enough fiddleheads to satisfy even a New Brunswicker's appetite for the things, although we didn't pick any. The one above is almost finished unfurling, but there were plenty more that were still in the tasty stage.