On a brutally cold New Year's Day Count

This is such an awful shot, but I am posting it as a record of almost the only photo taken of any birds on yesterday's Fish Creek Park's New Year's Day Bird Count. There were four of these Grosbeaks together and not too far away. The rest of this species were way off in the distance.

"These plump finches dwarf every other finch in the trees and nearly every bird that lands on the feeder. The grayish bodies of Pine Grosbeaks are decked out in pinkish reds on males and yellows on females. They easily crush seeds and nip off tree buds and needles with their thick and stubby bill. They breed in open spruce, fir, and pine forests, but they drop in on feeders in winter, especially in the East when they sometimes irrupt outside of their normal range." From AllABoutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Grosbeak/id

Finally, there is a break in the extreme cold weather here, after maybe 10 or 12 days of temperatures that plunged as low as windchills of -41C or -43C on some of the days. This cold spell coincided with all the Christmas Bird Counts and yesterday's annual New Year's Day Count in Fish Creek Park. They have been brutally cold days, with quite a few people dropping out. Yesterday, only 8 of the 13 people who had said they were going, showed up. Today, 2 January 2018, the temperature just after noon is only -1C (windchill -3C).

Of course, the birds had far more sense than the humans - the birds were hiding in sheltered places and my group's sightings were few and far between. A total of 7 species was the final total for my group for three hours of walking in the park. I suspect that at least some of the birds were up the cliff, eating at the feeders of all the houses that edge the park.

Winter boots that say they work for temperatures down to -40C were struggling to keep toes warm yesterday. Our cameras stopped working, in protest of being subjected to such cold. It was a different kind of cold yesterday, maybe a damp cold. Most of our walking was through the trees, but part way when we did emerge, we found blue sky and sunshine. I love seeing the snow that has fallen along the top of the bridge railings. Out of maybe a dozen photos my camera was able to take, only two or three actually turned out. Definitely not a photographer's ideal morning, lol.

After the count, everyone usually gathers at Tim Horton's, but this year, our usual Tim's was closed for some reason. The closest alternative was the nearby McDonald's. Only a few people turned up, but it was so enjoyable to sit and chat with friends over hot coffee and French fries (or some other equally unhealthy food).