Farmland above the Red Deer River

Taken at one of the farms we called in at when a small group of four of us was taking part in the annual Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count, on 4 January 2013. Our group covered the N side of the Red Deer River, including the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology area. This is prairie land, above the wonderfully eroded River, famous for its hoodoos (rock pillars resulting from erosion). I always imagine how the first travellers in Alberta must have felt when they were crossing the comparatively flat prairies and suddenly came across the deep, eroded valley. A very mini Grand Canyon : ) The whole area is known as the Badlands, where dinosaurs used to roam. As you can see, the day cleared and we had beautiful sunshine, temperature rising from -14 to 06C.