Bad roads and few birds.

We drove over 100 kilometers through the countryside yesterday. The roads were not good as there was snow and then blowing snow that created ice covered sections. We saw a few ravens and two batches of snow buntings but with just three and then four birds.

The feeder is still only visited by black-capped chickadess and red-breasted nuthatches (photo). In spite of the milder weather there are still just a few birds visiting the feeder. Maybe March will see more traffic.

A flock of snow buntings

Today I visited the dump. At the dump I counted ten ravens. There was another brown bird about robin size but it flew off too quickly to identify. There are plenty of rock doves (pigeons) at a grain elevator in Shoal Lake.
On the way home I saw one flock of snow buntings (photo) the first I have seen in some while. At the feeder there have been only black-capped chickadees and red breasted nuthatches today.

Warmer weather but no more birds!

We drove close to six hundred kilometers to Winnipeg and back. We saw only an occasional raven but absolutely nothing else. Maybe we were not attentive enough!

The feeder continues to be visited but only occasionally. For days I have not even seen one house sparrow but this morning I saw one lone male (pic). The chickadees are the most frequent visitors but there are also some red-breasted nuthatches in the spruce trees that occasionally take some seeds.

Back in the deep freeze..

On the few trips we have made out of town we have seen few birds just the odd raven (photo) and one flock of small birds that we were unable to identify. Most flocks are of snow buntings but these were smaller and there was no sign of white on the birds.

The bird feeder is visited regularly but birds are few in number and only three species are represented so far: black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, and the occasional house sparrows.

The last couple of days there have been windchill warnings with windchills down in the minus forty range. However, there is lots of sunshine and the days are getting longer already.

A few snow buntings

The deep freeze has mellowed slightly so we went out to the next town shopping and to the dump. On one trip we saw a few snow buntings(photo) and at the dump there were a few ravens but nothing more.

The feeder now has a few sparrows that feed now and then plus the faithful black-capped chickadess and also an occasional red breasted nuthatch. No new birds as yet. I expect to see at least a downy woodpecker one of these days.

Back in the deep freeze!

This whole weekend has been perishingly cold. This morning the wind-chill is closing in on minus fifty! The temperature is to go down into the minus thirties this evening again. We haven't bothered to venture out so I can report on birds at the feeder. There is not much variety.

A few more house sparrows (photo) have visited the feeder but at most I have seen three at a time not large flocks as in the fall. There are just as many if not more black-capped chickadees. Finally there are just a very few red-breasted nuthatches. The feeder is actually a bit busier than before the really cold weather hit.

The cold would not be bad if it were not for the wind. Although there has been no snow to speak of there were blizzard conditions from blowing snow yesterday and many highways had to be closed because of zero visibility.

In the countryside.

We went to Inglis that is just west of the west border of Riding Mountain National Park. On the way we saw few birds just an occasional raven and one solitary magpie (photo). There were no flocks of snow buntings. Perhaps they are already on their way back north! There is no sign of winter leaving though.

At the bird feeder there were all of three house sparrows at one time the other day but mostly there are a few red-breasted nuthatches and black-capped chickadees.

A bit warmer for the groundhogs..

In our trips out of town we have seen a few ravens. At the local dump today there must have been almost a dozen of them feasting on the garbage. There were no stray cats. It is doubtful though that the ravens feasted on them unless they ganged up on them and worked together as in a Hitchcock movie!

There was one lone sparrow at the feeder today but apart from that there were just a few black-capped chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches.

The weather is warming up a bit so perhaps there will be more birds as February moves along.