Complete with tiny rooster weather vane

Yesterday afternoon, 8 November 2015, I pushed myself out the front door to go on a walk with birding friends. Knowing that I'm supposed to do a lot more walking than I do (which cuts into my Fickr time, sorry!) and also seeing that the weather forecast was for snow today, made the decision that much easier. We met at Votier's Flats in Fish Creek Park and walked eastwards to Shaw's Meadow, where we climbed the hill up to the houses that border the park. This feeder was in someone's garden, being visited by this little Black-capped Chickadee and various other birds. We thought the feeder was rather cute with the tiny rooster weather vane on the top. Not many bird species to be seen, though numbers are always down in the afternoon, compared to morning walks.

Chickadees are such tough little guys, though they are always only 24 hours away from death if they can't get enough fat stored in their body to last overnight.

"The Black-capped Chickadee is notable for its capacity to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights, its good spatial memory to relocate the caches where it stores food, and its boldness near humans (they can feed from the hand)." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_Chickadee

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black-capped_chickadee/id

The final list of 14 bird species prepared by our leaders, Gus, Janet, Bernie and David:

Bald Eagle-1 ad.
Sharp-shinned Hawk-
Ring-billed Gull-2
Downy Woodpecker-2
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Northern Flicker-2
Black-billed Magpie-8
Common Raven-11
Black-capped Chickadee-30+
Boreal Chickadee-2
Red-breasted Nuthatch-8
White-breasted Nuthatch-3
Red Crossbill-1 m
Dark-eyed Junco-1

Red Squirrel-1
Mule Deer-4

After the walk, four of us went for coffee at Tim Horton's. I always enjoy this, just as much as the walk itself.