Pretty in the sunshine
Saffron Finch / Sicalis flaveola, Trinidad
White-lined Tanager female, Trinidad
Better late than never
Crested Oropendola, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Green Honeycreeper male, Asa Wright, Trinidad
Rose-breasted Grosbeak from the archives
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Crested Oropendola, Trinidad
Yellow Oriole, Trinidad
New birding blind in a local park
Green Honeycreeper male, Trinidad
The process of decay
On the way home from Cartwrights' land
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rondeau PP
Day 2, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rondeau Provincial…
Day 2, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rondeau PP
Fine old truck
Day 6, unidentified object, Tadoussac
Day 7, Watch out for children, Tadoussac
Wide open spaces
Baltimore Oriole / Icterus galbula
Baltimore Oriole / Icterus galbula
American Goldfinch male / Spinus tristis
Rural decay, buildings by Mossleigh grain elevator…
Rural Alberta
A sunrise sky that lasted till sunset
Blacksmith at work, Cochrane Ecological Institute
Pioneer Acres branding iron
Old-fashioned garden decoration
Old house next to metal silo
The joys of an old farmyard
Kinetic sculpture by Katie Ohe, at KOAC
Evening Grosbeak female
Chains
Rust patterns
Ring-billed Gull / Larus delawarensis
I'm tiny - and BLUE
Rumely Oil Pull Tractor, Pioneer Acres, Alberta
Four in a row
Old tractor seat
Pioneer Acres, Alberta
Yesteryear, in Alberta
Ride him, Cowboy!
Green Honeycreeper male, Asa Wright Nature Centre,…
Green Honeycreeper male, Asa Wright Nature Centre,…
Entrance to a ranch
Happy New Year, everyone!
Christmas star
Sunset wildness
Christmas star
01 Run with the wind
Layers of colour
Mountain Bluebird fledgling
Front of an antique store
Blackie Grain Terminal, Alberta
Dainty little Common Redpoll
Farmyard scene on the prairie
Just a splash of colour
Fancy silo with stairs
Common Redpoll in the forest
Outlined in frost
A touch of frost
We ignored the warning : )
Let the sun shine
All decked out
Fields of golden stubble
Strong winds on the prairies
Old, abandoned farm
The windmill from yesterday
Old farmyard windmill
Blackie grain terminal
Driving in a sea of gold
Metal and stone
Grain elevator, Blackie, Alberta
A reminder of the old days
Winter outside the city
Sing, choirs of angels
Happy Christmas, everyone!
Wall decoration
Blue - still life
Little alien at Lake Louise
Frank Lake area
Mystery object from the past
A sign of what's to come
Harley : )
Let the sun shine
A bit of Christmas fun
See also...
Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count, December 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Christmas Bird Count, December 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
Keywords
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Common Redpoll
Today's weather forecast: "Extreme Cold Warning. A prolonged period of very cold wind chills is expected. Extreme cold conditions are expected to continue through the weekend." Our temperature today is -29°C (windchill -38°C) and light snow is still falling. Will this extreme cold ever end? Having just done three, day-long Counts in such bitterly cold weather, it looks like things should warm up just in time for the Fish Creek Provincial Park's annual New Year's Day Count. We will have an awful lot of snow to trudge through, though.
A video from the Weather Network website, showing how cold it is in Calgary right now:
www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/gallery/watch-this-ho...
This photo was taken yesterday, 29 December 2017, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area we covered (right on the east edge of the count circle) was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail (across from the Water Valley area).
The first evidence of any wildlife for me, first thing in the morning, was a Jackrabbit that was nibbling on snow-covered plants right outside our leader's house. Of course, at 7:15 in the morning, it was still dark.
Each year, I look forward to seeing several Llamas at one of the farms we call in at during our coverage. This farmer has several of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. I'm not sure how many Llamas they have - somewhere around 7? Most of these animals were given to them by other farmers who no longer wanted them.
"Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia.
Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. This day, though, with a temperature of -23C all day (windchill probably at least -30C), kept cats indoors. I caught a brief glimpse of just one cat outside. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, but I did get the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of one of the barns, from a side view, which I had only seen for the first time on last year's Count.
Another farm we stopped at had beautiful Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls coming to a feeder. A joy to see these splashes of colour in a very cold, white, white world.
So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Too cold and too much snow to spend much time searching various farmyards, and we had finished the Count by 2:30 pm. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below. Many thanks, Dave, for driving us. You did a great job of handling roads that were not in the greatest condition, and it was greatly appreciated. The light was awful all day, and it was so difficult to see where the ditch was and where one road turned off to another. There is no way I would ever try driving on our back roads in winter! Also, a huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander around their farmyards. These visits make our day much more interesting!
An article from CBC News, including words from Brian Keating about how birds stay warm in such cold weather:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/how-birds-survive-winter-1...
""Common Redpolls can survive up to 20 hours without access to food, even if temperatures drop to -54 C," Brian Keating said.
Redpolls have specially designed esophageal pouches that allow them to hold on to seeds, then later slowly digest them to provide them with energy to maintain their core at a balmy 40 C — "kinda like throwing logs on a fireplace.
Their internal temperature can be 73 degrees warmer than the surrounding air, with the two extremes being separated by less than a half a centimetre layer of feathers."
A video from the Weather Network website, showing how cold it is in Calgary right now:
www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/videos/gallery/watch-this-ho...
This photo was taken yesterday, 29 December 2017, when four of us (using just one car) took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of back roads and farms just like on our other Counts. The area we covered (right on the east edge of the count circle) was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail (across from the Water Valley area).
The first evidence of any wildlife for me, first thing in the morning, was a Jackrabbit that was nibbling on snow-covered plants right outside our leader's house. Of course, at 7:15 in the morning, it was still dark.
Each year, I look forward to seeing several Llamas at one of the farms we call in at during our coverage. This farmer has several of these large, amusing animals, and they are always one of the highlights of this Count for me. I'm not sure how many Llamas they have - somewhere around 7? Most of these animals were given to them by other farmers who no longer wanted them.
"Llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago. By the end of the last ice age (10,000–12,000 years ago) camelids were extinct in North America. As of 2007, there were over 7 million llamas and alpacas in South America and, due to importation from South America in the late 20th century, there are now over 100,000 llamas and 6,500–7,000 alpacas in the US and Canada." From Wikipedia.
Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. This day, though, with a temperature of -23C all day (windchill probably at least -30C), kept cats indoors. I caught a brief glimpse of just one cat outside. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two beautiful old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, no one was home, but I did get the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of one of the barns, from a side view, which I had only seen for the first time on last year's Count.
Another farm we stopped at had beautiful Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls coming to a feeder. A joy to see these splashes of colour in a very cold, white, white world.
So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Too cold and too much snow to spend much time searching various farmyards, and we had finished the Count by 2:30 pm. I will add a list of the bird species seen, in a comment box below. Many thanks, Dave, for driving us. You did a great job of handling roads that were not in the greatest condition, and it was greatly appreciated. The light was awful all day, and it was so difficult to see where the ditch was and where one road turned off to another. There is no way I would ever try driving on our back roads in winter! Also, a huge thank-you to the various landowners who were kind enough to allow us to wander around their farmyards. These visits make our day much more interesting!
An article from CBC News, including words from Brian Keating about how birds stay warm in such cold weather:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/how-birds-survive-winter-1...
""Common Redpolls can survive up to 20 hours without access to food, even if temperatures drop to -54 C," Brian Keating said.
Redpolls have specially designed esophageal pouches that allow them to hold on to seeds, then later slowly digest them to provide them with energy to maintain their core at a balmy 40 C — "kinda like throwing logs on a fireplace.
Their internal temperature can be 73 degrees warmer than the surrounding air, with the two extremes being separated by less than a half a centimetre layer of feathers."
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