I’m excited to be at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa this morning (just a nice 10 minute walk from our Nature Canada office) to be a judge at Wildlife Habitat Canada’s art competition for the 2014 Canadian Wildlife Habitat Conservation Stamp and Print. Each year, WHC invites Canadian wildlife artists to participate in this art competition featuring some truly amazing creative representations of Canadian nature – check out this past year’s entries.

The eligible species for the current art competition is the Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium). The winning entry will be featured on the 2014 Canadian Wildlife Habitat Conservation Stamp and Print.

Easy to identify with its reddish brown body, black bill and distinctive red eyes, the cinnamon teal is one of the most striking ducks you’ll see. Found almost exclusively on the Pacific Flyway, the cinnamon teal’s breeding range includes southern B.C. and southwestern Alberta.

The winner of this competition will not be announced until April 2014. But considering previous stamps,I’m predicting that I’m going to see some beautiful nature art today.