Yesterday's walk in Fish Creek Park

Yesterday, 18 January 2018, I almost came home with an empty memory card in my camera. Luckily, we were treated to a distant view of a Pileated Woodpecker at the furthest point of our walk, and then to a couple of gorgeous Pine Grosbeak males feeding on berries. Usually, when I see Pine Grosbeaks, they are either flying high overhead or else perched at the top of a very tall tree in the distance. To see them close shows them in all their glory. In some ways, I think a back view is the most beautiful, showing the black and white wing pattern.

Much as I would love to jump in my car and go for a drive, I just haven't been able to do so the last 10 or so days, dealing with various services shutting down after my credit card was compromised by someone in eastern Canada, and consequently cancelled. So, a morning's walk in Fish Creek Park with a group of friends sounded appealing, especially as others had seen a Black-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker and even the tiny Northern Pygmy-owl. As almost always happens, none of these birds were seen yesterday, ha.

"Fish Creek Park is a provincial park located in the southern part of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the second largest urban park in Canada after Pippy Park in St. John's and one of the largest urban parks in North America, stretching 19 km (12 mi) from east to west. At 13.48 km2 (5.20 sq mi), it is over three times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park.

The growth of Calgary has left the park bordered on all sides by the city. It is also bordered on the west by the territory of the Tsuu T’ina Nation (Sarcee), a First Nation.

Fish Creek flows along the length of the park and joins the Bow River at the east side of the park. Fish Creek park used to span the width of the city but Calgary has grown beyond the edges of the park." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Creek_Provincial_Park

We are still having milder weather, often sunny and even a few degrees above 0°C on some days. Yesterday was 2C-7C, which felt wonderful. Perfect weather for getting out ... sigh. We know there is still plenty of snow that will come before spring arrives.