The Week Before Christmas and all through the house

No one was stirring. Not even me.  I was sitting here by the fire trying to thaw out, feeling so lucky to have the tree trimmed, the house straightened (as much as usual), gifts bought and wrapped. Yes, life is good now.

We have even taken time to do the first of the Christmas Bird Counts that we participate in this time of year.  The sky was so beautiful at dawn. The fact that it was only 2degreesF to start the morning didn't dampen our spirits. 

 Owls were out on this cold morning looking for the last morsel to keep them warm through out the day. The skies turned to buttermilk as the morning wore on. There wasn't any more of the sun to be seen for the rest of the day as the clouds congealed and filled with ice and snow to be later dumped on the area.

 We won't complain because we saw 60 species of birds. Quite good for these kind of weather conditions. We were a small part of a team of 45 hard core birders at the Goose Pond Christmas Count this year. When all was totaled there were 104 species of birds seen. One of the teams found a Ross's Goose in with a flock of Canada Geese. This was a first for this count. While this was a special find since this bird is a rare species for this area my favorites are always the more common birds. The Short-eared Owls flying around barking at each other and a Tundra Swan taking flight from a pond edge that was open. These usual characters make me think it is all worth getting out on a cold winter day.

If you would like to read more about last year's count you can go here. It will be a few days before this year's official numbers and species are counted and published. I hope everyone is doing the fun things they want to do on these cold winter days. Take care and keep warm.