Little cabin in the woods

Actually, it's a shed, but "Little shed in the woods" doesn't have quite the same "ring" to it, lol! This belongs to the Myra family, one of the places we call in at each year when a small group of us covers part of this particular Christmas Bird Count. This welcoming couple has the coffee and cookies ready for us, which is so kind.

Again, all three photos posted this morning were taken the day before yesterday, 28 December 2015, during the annual Audubon Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count. The area that my small group of seven people, in two cars, covered was N of Cochrane and E of Highway 22, very roughly across from the Water Valley area. Though the word 'Reserve' is in the name, this count was like most others, driving all the country backroads and calling in at several farms. The weather was bad, with poor light and gently falling snow pretty well all day long. Thanks so much, Stephen, for driving the four of us safely!

I will add our leader's report for this day's count below. Not a huge number of species, with a Pileated Woodpecker being the highlight plus so many Snow Buntings.

"The day was overcast, light snow most of day, calm, -09°C. 20 cm snow on ground. Most streams frozen over.

Total Party kms by Car - 84; Total Party kms by foot – 2km.
Total Party hours by Car – 3; Total Party hours by foot -2 hrs
Total Party hours feeder watching – 1:40 min.

Rough-legged Hawk-1
Rock Pigeon-4
Downy Woodpecker-10.
Hairy Woodpecker-3
PILEATED WOODPECKER-1
Black-billed Magpie- 19
Common Raven- 18
Black-capped Chickadee- 41
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 3
White-breasted Nuthatch-1
American Tree Sparrow-7
Dark-eyed Junco-1
Snow Bunting-3550
Pine Grosbeak-25
White-winged Crossbill-15
Common Redpoll-1811
House Sparrow-106

Red Squirrel-2"