We spent the day doing the annual Creighton Christmas Bird Count, a dreamy way to spend New Year's Day. We birded from before sunrise to after sunset. Coffee and granola bars for breakfast on the West Arm Road. Camembert and baguette for lunch on the Mystic Lake Road. Lots of time to reflect and dream and let go.
We saw 13 species:
Willow Ptarmigan - 31
Rock Pigeon - 17
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Hairy Woodpecker - 4
Pileated Woodpecker - 4
Gray Jay - 1
Black-billed Magpie - 13
Common Raven - 157
Black-capped Chickadee - 4
Boreal Chickadee - 10
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - 1
Pine Grosbeak - 28
Evening Grosbeak - 2
Happy New Year!
13 comments:
Love the photo, moody and beautiful!
Thanks! It was such a beautiful morning. The whole day was a beauty.
Great photo. Birding in the winter is fun but very harsh. I had a great time birding yesterday.
Thanks Bill! Nothing like a cold day to make one feel alive!
Great photo.
You forgot the Fondue-forked Tracybird!
Thanks!
Ha! That's a rare species, the rarest species of all!
sunrise to sunset should be about 10 to 2 up there. right?
cool shot.
we had 36 species in our count on the 14th.
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We get a fair bit more sun than that. Today's sunrise was 9:10. Sunset will be at 4:35.
Thanks!
36 species! Nice.
You're an inspiration. (Though all day at -33, I don't know; that may earn you "inspirational yeti"...!)
Very jealous of all that northern beauty and all those sightings. Jealous in a good way!
Ha! The day did warm up a little. Of course we spent lots of time in the car covering the count circle, but we did do a fair bit of walking thanks to the lack of wind. Yay for warm winter clothes!
Hi Brenda. Beautiful photo, kind of eeire and otherworldly. Many of your photos are great. I hope the Raven count included some repeats, or you are seriously overrun. I've been noticing them more and more and they are beginning to show up in my poetry. As cold as it is, it's always good to get out for a bit. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.
Best in the new year.
I am anonymous (not actually, just unsure of what I'm doing).
Thanks Carla! Happy New Year! Ravens are numerous here to say the least. On count day, for instance, we saw over 70 at once at the Hapnot Lake Sanctuary, aka the duck pond, where they were feasting on something or other. Because we spent much of the count day out in the bush hoping to run across some less common birds, we never made it to the dump where we likely could've doubled or tripled that number. On the 2007 CBC we counted 313. I love ravens. Such brilliant birds. Many roost for the night at/near the mining complex. It's so stirring to watch them head to roost in the dying light.
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