Winter 2

This will look very familiar to a few of my friends, who have also come across this Inukshuk east of the city. "Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."" From www.inukshukgallery.com/inukshuk .

After a morning's walk in Weaselhead today, I decided to drive just south of the city to see how much snow was in the fields surrounding this now "famous" row of red sheds. Not a lot of snow in the field, but it was pretty deep along the edge of the road - as I found out when I tried to walk over to the fence : )

This was taken yesterday, on the Nanton Christmas Bird Count, south of Calgary. Three of us covered Cayley (about half way between High River and Nanton) and the area south from Cayley. Our area was flat farmland, like the band that cuts across the midle of this photo. As you can see, the main roads were clear and the weather was gorgeous! This is a zoomed in photo, so the mountains appear closer than they really were. Needed a "lazy" day (i.e. a day at home, working on my computer) today, ready for another long Bird Count day tomorrow.

On our Christmas Bird Count in the Cochrane Wildlife Preserve and Water Valley area yesterday, a gentleman told us that he had seen hundreds of Snow Buntings "down by the cows". So, the seven of us set off in our two vehicles. When we reached this snow-covered field, one car decided that the ground was just not a good surface to travel. The owner of the other, smaller car decided that Snow Buntings were worth the risk. After this very bad start, they succeeded in making it into the distance - and, of course, were lucky enough to see the wanted birds, LOL. We also saw Coyote-1, White-tailed Deer-6, Mule Deer-25, Moose-4. Temperature for the day was -15 to -05C, and snow depth was 20cm. Bird species recorded: Rock Pigeon- 21 Downy Woodpecker-5 Hairy Woodpecker-1 Blue Jay-1 Black-billed Magpie-41 Common Raven-26 Black-capped Chickadee-4- Mountain Chickadee-1 Red-breasted Nuthatch-4 White-breasted Nuthatch-1 European Starling-12 Snow Bunting-40 Pine Grosbeak-1 Common Redpoll-22 House Sparrow-225 Total hours afield: 8; Total by car-5.5; Total on foot-1; total feeder watching- 1; Total kms; 100km; Total by car 98km; Total on foot-2km.

A quick couple of uploads this evening - have been out on a local New Year's Day Bird Count all day and I am SOOOO COLD. The kettle is on for a hot mug of coffee and hopefully I will stop shivering before midnight, LOL!! Hot soup sounds very appealing, too. I remember one day that I was colder, but trust me, today requires some serious thawing out! It was -22C (-35C with windchill) when I left the house before 8:45 a.m. and it was supposed to soar to a balmy -4C this afternoon, but certainly didn't. It's -14C right now at just after 6:00 p.m., but it felt like -30C all day! The last part of the afternoon was standing in more or less one spot for some of us, and I thought I was going to die, LOL. We were down by the river all afternoon, where of course the temperature drops, too. Anyway, saw this little red barn on 29th December, on a Bird Count in the Cochrane Wildlife Preserve/Water Valley area.

This is where a few of us ended up yesterday afternoon, on the east side of the Bow River. The morning was the New Year's Day Bird Count for Fish Creek Park and then, in the afternoon, we could choose whether to go or not to look for any less common sightings that had been reported in the morning. A Snow Goose had been seen in this area but, despite a really careful look for it in the afternoon until it got dark (!), it was not to be seen. The sunlight was pretty at this moment, and I always love to see someone wearing a bright, cheery jacket in winter time.

Though the day was bitterly cold yesterday for our Fish Creek Park New Year's Day Bird Count, grasses and bushes were covered with ice crystals in places along the Bow River. Just too cold, though, to take more than a handful of photos.

These beautiful ice crystals were growing along the edges of a small pool of open water in a tiny creek. We walked over the ice nearby, but I never really like crossing ice when I can see a nearby patch of open water, however small : ) Thought about going back there again today, partly to see if I could find one of my ice-grabbers that had fallen off one of my winter boots during the New Year's Day Bird Count, LOL. However, the definite appeal of indoor warmth and hot coffee kept me home all day again.

Yet another view of the "famous five" red sheds south of Calgary : ) I had been looking forward to seeing them surrounded by piles of snow, but I found that there was far less snow than I had been expecting. Still pretty, though, I thought, including the curves of the tracks. Got home 45 minutes ago (7:15 p.m.) from a long day's Christmas Bird Count in the Snake's Head/Sundre area, north west of Calgary. This was our final Count. My alarm was set for 3:50 a.m., though it took me a while to drag myself out of bed after only one hour of sleep! An overcast day today with a few snowflakes and a temperature, I think, of around -12C.