Red barn in winter
Jackrabbit, seen in my car headlights
Handsome Pine Grosbeak male
On a Christmas Bird Count, -23C
An old dog named Fang
Happy New Year, everyone!
On a brutally cold New Year's Day Count
On a New Year's Day Bird Count
Pretty in the sunshine
In memory of my daughter
A glimpse through the trees
Cute and curious
An upside-down kind of life
Northern Pygmy-owl
Rural decay
A rural Christmas
The Bow River at Carburn Park
Hooded Merganser male
Winter walk in the park
Joy
Townsend's Solitaire / Myadestes townsendi
A most welcome find
Snowy Owl number 5
Two male Snowy Owls in the same field
You never know where you'll see a Snowy Owl
The end of an Artichoke
Common Redpoll in falling snow
Old barns in winter
Miniature horses in a winter playground
Yesterday's walk in Fish Creek Park
Pine Grosbeak male feeding on berries
A rare glimpse of a Steller's Jay
An old, abandoned Chevrolet
Pine Grosbeak female or juvenile
Silky Scorpionweed / Phacelia sericea, Pocaterra C…
Old and the new
Janet and a tiny friend
Barn of an unusual shape
Before winter arrived
A cute, young face
Yet another snowstorm
Boreal Chickadee, caught just in time
Hairy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker / Picoides villosus
Old wagon in winter
Bald Eagle after a cooling hosepipe shower
A beautiful sign of winter
Pine Grosbeak male / Pinicola enucleator
Cat at the Saskatoon Farm
Little country church
Posting just for the record
Young and innocent
The beauty of winter
Lacy curtain of ice
Red barn in winter
Whites and blues of winter
Better late than never
Ring-billed Gull
Country scene in winter
Meerkat from the archives
A white world
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A lucky Moose day
Common Redpoll
Last night's snow .... and -29°C (windchill -38°C)
Trudging through the snow
Pine Grosbeak female
Mountain Chickadee / Poecile gambeli
Glorious scenery for a Christmas Bird Count!
Pine Grosbeaks
A welcome splash of colour
Barn with the fallen cupola
Back-lit White-tailed Deer
The final stage of an Artichoke
A simple, natural Christmas
Not quite Santa's reindeer
Beautiful and, oh, so cute
Happy Christmas Eve!
Snow-capped
Always a treat
Common Redpoll with an orange spot
Hungry Moose
King of silos
The birding blind at Frank Lake
Feeding frenzy - is the top right bird a Hoary Red…
A welcome addition to our Christmas Bird Count
In search of an owl - with permission
Birders on an Audubon Christmas Bird Count
Common Redpoll
Here comes the snow
Unexpected, and very welcome, Moose
The difference four days make
Farm cat
Under a Chinook arch
Handsome Mulie buck
A sunrise sky that lasted till sunset
"Just" a little House Sparrow
Fine old house
When the land turns white
I spy with my little eye
Little country church
Looking across the prairie
Young White-tailed Deer
Before the next snowfall
One of my favourite barns
Handsome - Norwegian Fjord Horse?
Wild Turkey at the Cochrane Ecological Institute
Blacksmith at work, Cochrane Ecological Institute
Colourful shed at the Cochrane Ecological Institut…
Licorice Allsorts eyes
Handsome buck
Bison/Buffalo
The sweetest little thing
Wild Turkey
White Pheasant
Once was wild
Rural decay on the prairie
Where countryside and civilization meet
The fun times are over
Dazzling sunlight on distant peaks
Part of an abandoned mining camp
Old tractor at Pioneer Acres
Old country church
House Sparrow at the Saskatoon Farm
Modern barn
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
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Love a Llama
Today's (30 December 2017) 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.
This is one of the Llamas seen at one of the farms we called in at during our coverage yesterday. 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!
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.
This is one of the Llamas seen at one of the farms we called in at during our coverage yesterday. 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!
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