Winding through the woods

Four of us set out at 7:00 a.m. (actually, I had left home at 6:30 a.m.) to drive around the area near Cochrane (north west of Calgary), to record birds and mammals seen on the Cochrane Bird Count. We found only 12 species of bird but 6 species of mammals, including two Moose. We did a pretty brutal hike at Big Hills Spring Provincial Park, sometimes following this partly frozen creek. Lots of snow on the ground, of course covering those nasty fallen branches and rocks : ) Around mid-afternoon, we called in at a farm to see what birds might be hanging around. However, our vehicle got stuck in the snow in the long driveway and took forever to get it cleared. The owner of the farm got his son to drive a piece of equipment to help clear some of the snow and get us out of there. By this time, the decision was made to call it a day and return home. Our temperature rose to around 4C this afternoon, but there was a very cold wind. In places, it looked as if the water had frozen mid-air, giving a beautiful, lacey look. Having had only about two hours sleep on each of the last three nights, I have to be up again tomorrow around 4:45 a.m. for another Bird Count, this time in the Nanton region, located 40 minutes south of Calgary.