That is what they used much of the great plains south of the border, and it seems appropriate for the Canadian section as well of late. I'm not sure that the temperature has been logged higher than 32c (about 90F) but in a land with no shade, that feels at least ten degrees higher. The days are burning, the twilights long and golden, and the evening skies clear.



The heat has woken the crickets, and much other invertebrate life Prey for the frogs, then, and also for the swarm of summer migrants whose calls have been increasingly enlivening the prairie hillsides as the idea of springtime takes hold.

Some of them are new to me. This is a chestnut-collared longspur, keeping watch on a boulder near the gate of the park.



And this...well, it's definitely one of the Accipiter hawks. Telling Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks apart is a challenge for people who see far more of either species than I do, but I'm tending towards the latter here, if only because the legs seem quite long and the head quite small.



Down in the Frenchman Valley, I saw a bird whom I did recognise - with a module of surprise given that the clock read about 10am!




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Meanwhile, the bison are still being watched (willingly or otherwise) by the trailcams.



And the raccoons are still curious!