New Year's Day Bird Count

Yesterday, 1 January 2016, I took part in the annual Fish Creek Provincial Park New Year's Day Bird Count. Unlike all the other recent Counts, this one was just half a day. To quote our leader's report, it was "overcast, with light snow falling at start, with 20 cm of new snow on ground overnight, which made for heavy slogging." The low light was really bad for photos and I only came home with several shots through the trees and a couple of extremely blurry photos of a male Pileated Woodpecker that we saw. Birding was very slow, with only 12 species seen, compared to last years's Count, when we found 22 species.

Walking through the freshly fallen snow was difficult and I ended up returning to the parking lot before the destination was reached - I got to bridge 5 and most of the others made it to bridge 7. We divided up into three groups to cover this area. I think it was one of those days where you ask yourself why you are doing this, lol, especially when so few birds were being seen. The view through the trees was beautiful, though. On the last stretch back to the parking lot, two of us returning early saw a group of deer lying in the deep snow on the distant hillside. I know they are warm enough, but they just looked so cold.

Each year, taking part in a number of Christmas Bird Counts totally wears me out, partly because I end up getting barely any sleep. Being a terrible "night owl", I get to bed maybe around 2:00 am, and then have to set my alarm for around 4:15 am. It's rare that I don't edit photos ready for posting on Flickr the next day, but that is what happened today, and I ended up posting early afternoon. There is just one more Count coming up that I signed up for, but I'm not sure if I'll go or not.

After this Count, participants from the various areas in the park gathered at a Tim Horton's for coffee and lunch and to hand in their species lists.

This is the final list from our leader:

24th New Year's Day Bird Count, Bebo Grove to Bridge #7, FCPP, 0900-1200, 01Jan2016. Overcast, with light snow falling at start, with 20 cm of new snow on ground overnight, which made for heavy slogging, NE Wind 15kph, -10°C. Fish Creek 99% frozen. 8 party hours on foot, 8 party kms on foot.

Canada Goose-109
Sharp-shinned Hawk-1
Downy Woodpecker-2
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Northern Flicker-1
Pileated Woodpecker-2
Black-billed Magpie-7
Common Raven-39
Black-capped Chickadee-39
Boreal Chickadee-2
White-breasted Nuthatch-3
Bohemian Waxwing-1030
This compares with 22 bird species seen on this territory last year.

Coyote-1
Red Squirrel-4
Mule Deer-16