Weaselhead

This little Dark-eyed Junco was seen, along with a second one, yesterday morning, 19 November 2015. I so rarely see these birds, though they are not uncommon. "Dark-eyed Juncos are neat, even flashy little sparrows that flit about forest floors of the western mountains and Canada, then flood the rest of North America for winter. They’re easy to recognize by their crisp (though extremely variable) markings and the bright white tail feathers they habitually flash in flight. One of the most abundant forest birds of North America, you’ll see juncos on woodland walks as well as in flocks at your feeders or on the ground beneath them." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/dark-eyed_junco/id "Adults generally have gray heads, necks, and breasts, gray or brown backs and wings, and a white belly, but show a confusing amount of variation in plumage details. The white outer tail feathers flash distinctively in flight and while hopping on the ground. The bill is usually pale pinkish. Males tend to have darker, more conspicuous markings than the females." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-eyed_junco Friends had seen a family of three Bobcats two days earlier, and, though I knew it was highly unlikely that they would be seen again, I didn't want to learn later that I had again missed seeing them. Needless to say, there was no sign of them yesterday. Also, I had missed the walk last week, so didn't feel guilty about going on two mornings this week. As it turned out, there was little of anything to be seen during this three hour walk in Weaselhead, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, despite the temperature being -6°C to -2°C. There was a fair amount of new snow, but it had been packed down and so was reasonably safe for walking. This is the leaders' list of the 21 bird species seen: Canada Goose-300+ Mallard-8 Bald Eagle-2 (1 ad/1 juv.) Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-4+ PILEATED WOODPECKER-1 Northern Shrike-1 Blue Jay-3+ Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-40+ Boreal Chickadee-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Bohemian Waxwing-150+ Dark-eyed Junco-3 Pine Grosbeak-10 House Finch-6 White-winged Crossbill-100+ Common Redpoll-20

This is a reminder of the new snow that had fallen overnight, seen yesterday morning, 19 November 2015. Friends had seen a family of three Bobcats two days earlier, and, though I knew it was highly unlikely that they would be seen again, I didn't want to learn later that I had again missed seeing them. Needless to say, there was no sign of them yesterday. Also, I had missed the walk last week, so didn't feel guilty about going on two mornings this week. As it turned out, there wasn't much of anything to be seen during this three hour walk in Weaselhead, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, despite the temperature being -6°C to -2°C. There was a fair amount of new snow, but it had been packed down and so was reasonably safe for walking. This is the leaders' list of the 21 bird species seen: Canada Goose-300+ Mallard-8 Bald Eagle-2 (1 ad/1 juv.) Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-4+ PILEATED WOODPECKER-1 Northern Shrike-1 Blue Jay-3+ Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-40+ Boreal Chickadee-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Bohemian Waxwing-150+ Dark-eyed Junco-3 Pine Grosbeak-10 House Finch-6 White-winged Crossbill-100+ Common Redpoll-20

This is a reminder of the new snow that had fallen overnight, seen on a morning walk on 19 November 2015. Various friends had seen a family of three Bobcats two days earlier, and, though I knew it was highly unlikely that they would be seen again, I didn't want to learn later that I had again missed seeing them. Needless to say, there was no sign of them. Also, I had missed the walk last week, so didn't feel guilty about going on two mornings this week. As it turned out, there wasn't much of anything to be seen during this three hour walk in Weaselhead, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, despite the temperature being -6°C to -2°C. There was a fair amount of new snow, but it had been packed down and so was reasonably safe for walking. This is the leaders' list of the 21 bird species seen: Canada Goose-300+ Mallard-8 Bald Eagle-2 (1 ad/1 juv.) Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-4+ PILEATED WOODPECKER-1 Northern Shrike-1 Blue Jay-3+ Black-billed Magpie-12 Common Raven-2+ Black-capped Chickadee-40+ Boreal Chickadee-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch-1 White-breasted Nuthatch-3 Bohemian Waxwing-150+ Dark-eyed Junco-3 Pine Grosbeak-10 House Finch-6 White-winged Crossbill-100+ Common Redpoll-20 The temperature this morning, 23 November 2015, is -2C (windchill -5C). We were supposed to get snow today, but it has been postponed till this evening. The sky is dreary and overcast, though, so I will stay home and get on with writing "early" Christmas letters. My overseas letters have already been sent, as I still hadn't told some friends and relatives that my older daughter had died in January. Didn't want them to receive this news right at Christmas time. Also, I know I won't feel like writing the closer it gets, so this is something I must get done in the next few days. How my daughter loved Christmas - it will be a sad time for all of us.

Nine days ago, on 16 November 2015, it would have been my older daughter’s birthday. Feeling that I needed to get out for a while, I met up with a group of friends for a three-hour walk in Weaselhead. It had snowed a bit overnight and, though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was around 1°C. This meant winter jacket and winter boots complete with ice-grabbers as the paths were very icy and slippery. 27 species of bird were seen. Only two or three people saw what they reckoned was an owl (Great Horned) in flight from the forest. A Snow-shoe Hare in its white, winter coat was just about visible, hiding in a tangle of bushes. We had quite good views of several White-winged Crossbills. These are such colourful birds - at least the males are. The females are a greenish yellow, but still beautiful. Their bills are crossed, to enable them to get the seeds out of the cones. They tend to land high up in tall trees, hence a zoomed and cropped image. “A medium-sized finch of the boreal forest, the White-winged Crossbill is adapted for extracting seeds from the cones of coniferous trees. It moves large distances between years tracking the cone crop from place to place.” From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-winged_crossbill/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-barred_Crossbill 1.Canada Goose-200+ 2.Swan sp.,-7 3.Mallard-4 4.Common Goldeneye-1 f. 5.Northern Goshawk-1 6.Rough-legged Hawk-1 7.Killdeer-1 8.Ring-billed Gull?-1 9.Great Horned Owl-1 10.Downy Woodpecker-4+ 11.Hairy Woodpecker-1 12.Northern Flicker-2 13.Blue Jay-4+ 14.Black-billed Magpie-20 15.Common Raven-2+ 16.Black-capped Chickadee-50+ 17.Boreal Chickadee-4 18.Red-breasted Chickadee-1 19.White-breasted Nuthatch-1 20.Bohemian Waxwing-100+ 21.Dark-eyed Junco-1+ 22.Pine Grosbeak-10+ 23.House Finch-1 24.Red Crossbill-1 f. 25.White-winged Crossbill-75+ 26.Common Redpoll-30+ 27.House Sparrow-6

On 16 November 2015, it would have been my older daughter’s birthday. Feeling that I needed to get out for a while, I met up with a group of friends for a three-hour walk in Weaselhead. It had snowed a bit overnight and, though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was around 1°C. This meant winter jacket and winter boots complete with ice-grabbers as the paths were very icy and slippery. 27 species of bird were seen. Only two or three people saw what they reckoned was an owl (Great Horned) in flight from the forest. A Snow-shoe Hare in its white, winter coat was just about visible, hiding in a tangle of bushes. We had quite good views of several White-winged Crossbills. These are such colourful birds - at least the males are. The females are a greenish yellow, but still beautiful. Their bills are crossed, to enable them to get the seeds out of the cones. They tend to land high up in tall trees, hence a zoomed and cropped image. “A medium-sized finch of the boreal forest, the White-winged Crossbill is adapted for extracting seeds from the cones of coniferous trees. It moves large distances between years tracking the cone crop from place to place.” From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-winged_crossbill/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-barred_Crossbill 1.Canada Goose-200+ 2.Swan sp.,-7 3.Mallard-4 4.Common Goldeneye-1 f. 5.Northern Goshawk-1 6.Rough-legged Hawk-1 7.Killdeer-1 8.Ring-billed Gull?-1 9.Great Horned Owl-1 10.Downy Woodpecker-4+ 11.Hairy Woodpecker-1 12.Northern Flicker-2 13.Blue Jay-4+ 14.Black-billed Magpie-20 15.Common Raven-2+ 16.Black-capped Chickadee-50+ 17.Boreal Chickadee-4 18.Red-breasted Chickadee-1 19.White-breasted Nuthatch-1 20.Bohemian Waxwing-100+ 21.Dark-eyed Junco-1+ 22.Pine Grosbeak-10+ 23.House Finch-1 24.Red Crossbill-1 f. 25.White-winged Crossbill-75+ 26.Common Redpoll-30+ 27.House Sparrow-6

Lol, according to Flickr's added tags, this is my pet cat. Will now delete those tags. Very often, my photos of Red Squirrels come out very blurry because of the low light deep within the forest. This one actually came out sharp enough. Taken in Weaselhead on 25 March 2013. They are such fun creatures, timid, but they do seem to like to perch and watch as we walk past. They defend their territory with a lot of fierce "chattering". "The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is one of three species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus, known as the pine squirrels (the others are the Douglas squirrel, T. douglasii and Mearns's squirrel, T. mearnsi). American red squirrels are also referred to as pine squirrels, North American red squirrels, boomers, chickarees, and fairydiddles. They are medium-sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammals that defend a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coast, where they are replaced by Douglas squirrels. Recently, American red squirrels have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel

Not exactly a spectacular scene, but I always like the trees reflected in this creek that joins the Elbow River at Weaselhead. On this day, 16 November 2015, it would have been my older daughter’s birthday. Feeling that I needed to get out for a while, I met up with a group of friends for a three-hour walk in Weaselhead. It had snowed a bit overnight and, though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was around 1°C. This meant winter jacket and winter boots complete with ice-grabbers as the paths were very icy and slippery. 27 species of bird were seen. Only two or three people saw what they reckoned was an owl (Great Horned) in flight from the forest. A Snow-shoe Hare in its white, winter coat was barely visible, hiding in the snow in a tangle of bushes. We had quite good views of several White-winged Crossbills. These are such colourful birds - at least the males are. The females are a greenish yellow, but still beautiful. Their bills are crossed, to enable them to get the seeds out of the cones. They tend to land high up in tall trees, so my photos are usually zoomed and cropped. 1.Canada Goose-200+ 2.Swan sp.,-7 3.Mallard-4 4.Common Goldeneye-1 f. 5.Northern Goshawk-1 6.Rough-legged Hawk-1 7.Killdeer-1 8.Ring-billed Gull?-1 9.Great Horned Owl-1 10.Downy Woodpecker-4+ 11.Hairy Woodpecker-1 12.Northern Flicker-2 13.Blue Jay-4+ 14.Black-billed Magpie-20 15.Common Raven-2+ 16.Black-capped Chickadee-50+ 17.Boreal Chickadee-4 18.Red-breasted Chickadee-1 19.White-breasted Nuthatch-1 20.Bohemian Waxwing-100+ 21.Dark-eyed Junco-1+ 22.Pine Grosbeak-10+ 23.House Finch-1 24.Red Crossbill-1 f. 25.White-winged Crossbill-75+ 26.Common Redpoll-30+ 27.House Sparrow-6

After today, 5 December 2015, our weather forecast is for five consecutive days of temperatures between 7C and 9C!! Fantastic weather for December! Wish the sun would come out, though - it's another overcast, dreary day. Though this little Squirrel doesn't look very "red", it was seen down in Weaselhead, so it would be surprising if it was an Eastern Gray Squirrel and not a Red Squirrel. The photo was taken on 25 March 2013, too long ago for me to remember for sure. Very often, my photos of Red Squirrels come out very blurry because of the low light deep within the forest. This one actually came out sharp enough. They are such fun creatures, timid, but they do seem to like to perch and watch as we walk past. They defend their territory with a lot of loud, fierce "chattering". "The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) is one of three species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus, known as the pine squirrels (the others are the Douglas squirrel, T. douglasii and Mearns's squirrel, T. mearnsi). American red squirrels are also referred to as pine squirrels, North American red squirrels, boomers, chickarees, and fairydiddles. They are medium-sized (200–250 g) diurnal mammals that defend a year-round exclusive territory. The diet of these tree squirrels is specialized on the seeds of conifer cones. As such, they are widely distributed across North America wherever conifers are common, except on the Pacific coast, where they are replaced by Douglas squirrels. Recently, American red squirrels have been expanding their range to include primarily hardwood areas." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel

It almost looks like this male White-winged Crossbill has a red feather sticking out from the top of its head, but it's just a bit of disgarded husk from one of the many seeds it had been eating from the cones. You can really see the crossed tips of its beak in this photo. On 16 November 2015, it would have been my older daughter’s birthday. Feeling that I needed to get out for a while, I met up with a group of friends for a three-hour walk in Weaselhead. It had snowed a bit overnight and, though it was mostly sunny, the temperature was around 1°C. This meant winter jacket and winter boots complete with ice-grabbers as the paths were very icy and slippery. 27 species of bird were seen. Two or three people saw what they reckoned was an owl (Great Horned) in flight from the forest. A Snow-shoe Hare in its white, winter coat was just about visible, hiding in a tangle of bushes. We had quite good views of several White-winged Crossbills. These are such colourful birds - at least the males are. The females are a greenish yellow, but still beautiful. Their bills are crossed, to enable them to get the seeds out of the cones. They tend to land high up in tall trees, hence a zoomed and cropped image. “A medium-sized finch of the boreal forest, the White-winged Crossbill is adapted for extracting seeds from the cones of coniferous trees. It moves large distances between years tracking the cone crop from place to place.” From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-winged_crossbill/id en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-barred_Crossbill 1.Canada Goose-200+ 2.Swan sp.,-7 3.Mallard-4 4.Common Goldeneye-1 f. 5.Northern Goshawk-1 6.Rough-legged Hawk-1 7.Killdeer-1 8.Ring-billed Gull?-1 9.Great Horned Owl-1 10.Downy Woodpecker-4+ 11.Hairy Woodpecker-1 12.Northern Flicker-2 13.Blue Jay-4+ 14.Black-billed Magpie-20 15.Common Raven-2+ 16.Black-capped Chickadee-50+ 17.Boreal Chickadee-4 18.Red-breasted Chickadee-1 19.White-breasted Nuthatch-1 20.Bohemian Waxwing-100+ 21.Dark-eyed Junco-1+ 22.Pine Grosbeak-10+ 23.House Finch-1 24.Red Crossbill-1 f. 25.White-winged Crossbill-75+ 26.Common Redpoll-30+ 27.House Sparrow-6