Monday, January 30, 2012

Winter and new books

...go together perfectly. These two came in the mail today.



Gunmetal Blue: A Memoir by Shane Neilson.

I've heard great things about both. I look forward to reading them once I finish up my revisions.

Latitude Drifts has posted an interview with Annette Bower on the publication of Moving On: A Prairie Romance. Annette is a friend. I'll be getting this e-book as well.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Lichen winter

...you ask? Of course!


Getting to Know Saskatchewan Lichens: Lichens of the Prairie, Aspen Parkland and Boreal Forest by Bernard de Vries.

The latest addition to our collection of field guides came in the mail yesterday along with a bunch of research-related material, but I'll get to that another time.

More snow fell overnight. I haven't seen this much snow in ages. I cleaned off the feeders before it was light, but I guess it was light enough as the redpolls were there already.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Revisions

 

                                                                                                          

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Apart from the flock

     
       ...and plowing on



                                                                                        
                                                                                           regardless

Thursday, January 05, 2012

A risk

...of freezing rain this morning and more snow on the way. Some rain has fallen already. I could feel it on the snow when I cleaned off the step and the bird feeders.The coffee was ready by the time I came in. I checked my online haunts, Facebook among them. Then I visited Navigatio, a new blog by Frances Greenslade. She has arrived in India where she is researching and writing a new novel.

India captures my imagination. I bought A New History of India by Stanley Wolpert years back and read it one winter. In January, I think, as that's when the snow and cold tend to take hold and I seek some kind of escape. I can't find any mention of it on my blog. Perhaps I read it before I began blogging.  


The pine grosbeaks and redpolls were chattering softly when I stepped out to take this pic. During the winter I'm always up before it's light, but if I were to sleep in, they're too quiet to ever wake me. I can't imagine being in a place where I'd need earplugs to sleep through the birdsong. A birder's dream.

Monday, January 02, 2012

The Creighton Christmas Bird Count

...happened today. It was windy, the roads icy and our favourite road hadn't been plowed. We already had lots of snow and more fell over the weekend after the freezing rain, so we knew we were in for some challenging conditions. Regardless, it was fun. 

One of the highlights occurred right off this morning just 1 km from home. A flock of ptarmigan flew over the road in a serious hurry. Then we saw the Northern Goshawk. I've seen many over the years, but this one was hunting. I was holding my breath.

Here's where we stopped to check for otters.


No luck.

By the end of the day the wind was gusting to 50 km/hr. So were the ravens. They seemed to be having fun. The 443 that we counted, anyway.

We saw a total of 15 species of birds:
Northern Goshawk - 2
Willow Ptarmigan - 20
Sharp-tailed Grouse - 1
Rock Pigeon - 142
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Gray Jay - 2
Black-billed Magpie - 6
Common Raven - 443
Black-capped Chickadee - 5
Boreal Chickadee - 7
Evening Grosbeak - 25
Pine Grosbeak - 31
Common Redpoll - 62
Hoary Redpoll - 6
House Sparrow - 2
My fingers were freezing. I got snow in my boots. It felt good.

Happy New Year!