Roller coaster roads in winter

On 21 December 2014, it was the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton (roughly 98 km / 61 miles S of Calgary) was so different from the previous year's Count, with snow mainly seen only on the roads at higher elevations. This made the roads so much easier to drive, along with temperatures that were much milder (-7C). As usual, I got practically no birds photos other than a close shot of a beautiful Sharp-tailed Grouse, but I was happy to get photos of other things, such as scenery. Needless to say, seeing five (or 6?) distant Golden Eagles was a real treat! I love the landscape in this area, in the SW quadrant of the Count circle for Nanton - rolling hills that are beautiful at any time of year.

The PREVIOUS Nanton Count was originally supposed to have taken place on 28 December 2013, but the weather forecast warned of a Flash Freeze, and so it was postponed till 5 January 2014. The weather was bright and sunny for us that day. However, photos taken on that day did not show how brutally cold it was! On the hour-long drive south of Calgary, we hit -34C (-29.2F)!!!!! It did eventually warm up a few degrees and thankfully, there was no or very little wind, which makes all the difference. The only walking we had to do was when we called in at various farms and homesteads. One backroad in particular had too much snow on it, so we had to leave that one out. Also, there was just too much snow in many of the farmyards, so we weren't able to check out all the trees and bushes as thoroughly as we would like to have done.

After the Count, we returned to the meeting place at the home of Leah and Bill, where they had prepared a delicious supper that they so generously provide each year for us (as well as a breakfast snack). You couldn't wish for a nicer, more welcoming family (includes their son, Mike, who puts in a lot of effort organizing as well as taking part in, this annual Count each year).

I'm posting Andrew Hart's E-bird Summary of our small (just four of us in one car) group's day (leader Tony Timmons). Won't be of interest to most of you, but it helps me remember what we see from year to year!

"Andrew Hart
BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Dec 14, 2014

Number of Checklists: 7
Number of Species: 14

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:20 AM
(2): CA-AB-Cayley - 50.3485x-114.0250 - Dec 21, 2014, 8:57 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:55 AM
(3): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 9:45 AM
(4): CA-AB-Nanton - 50.3330x-113.8737 - Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM
(5): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:52 AM
(6): Williams Coulee
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:20 PM
(7): Nanton general area
Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:30 PM

36 Sharp-tailed Grouse -- (2),(3)
6 Golden Eagle -- (1),(3),(5),(6)
3 Rough-legged Hawk -- (2),(3),(6)
102 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(4)
1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1)
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (4)
1 Merlin -- (4)
1 Prairie Falcon -- (1)
27 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
42 Common Raven -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7)
11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3),(4)
4 European Starling -- (4)
21 Common Redpoll -- (4)
38 House Sparrow -- (2),(4),(7)

Andrew Hart"

I will also add leader Tony Timmons' account - simpler to read : ) A few of the numbers are slightly different in each summary, though I'm not quite sure why. We were so lucky to see so many Golden Eagles this Count.

"Nanton Count-Area D

Species 14

Rough-legged Hawk 3
Golden Eagle 5
Merlin 1
Sharp-tailed Grouse 46
Rock Pigeon 106
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Northern Shrike 1
Black-billed Magpie 36
Common Raven 44
Black-capped Chickadee 11
Common Redpoll 21
European Starling 4
House Sparrow 38

Prairie Falcon 1 Seen in Williams Coulee, included in Area B

Tony Timmons"

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WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...