You can always count on a Chickadee

Just a quick shot taken yesterday afternoon, 6 December 2015, when I went on a two and a half hour walk in Fish Creek Park with three friends. The weather was beautiful and sunny and I think it actually got up to 9C in the city, Crazy weather for December, but I love it!

"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

Not a whole lot of bird life to be seen, but we did see a juvenile Bald Eagle, which is always a pleasure to see. Will add our leader's list of species below. My friend also had a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches and a little Downy Woodpecker fly down to her hand. Always amuses me how different the individual birds can be. Some are so quick and grab the first thing, others take a second or two to try the different pieces before making up their mind. Some land very gently on your hand, others less so.

"Due to a lack of water fowl and a number of fisherman in the waters north of the boat launch it was decided to go south under the 22X bridge to the edge of Lafarge Meadows. Winds were calm, skies a sun/cloud mix, temps +4 to +6C.

1. Canada Goose - 36
2. Mallard - 110+
3. American Wigeon - 1
4. Common Goldeneye - 19
5. Bufflehead - 3
6. Common Merganser - 3
7. Bald Eagle - 1 juv.
8. Killdeer - 2
9. Feral Pigeon - 5
10. Northern Flicker - 1
11. Downy Woodpecker - 2
12. Black-billed Magpie - 5
13. Common Raven - 2
14. Black-capped Chickadee - 10
15. White-breasted Nuthatch - 4

White-tailed Deer - 3

Leader: Janet Gill"