On our Christmas Bird Count in the Cochrane Wildlife Preserve and Water Valley area yesterday, a gentleman told us that he had seen hundreds of Snow Buntings "down by the cows". So, the seven of us set off in our two vehicles. When we reached this snow-covered field, one car decided that the ground was just not a good surface to travel. The owner of the other, smaller car decided that Snow Buntings were worth the risk. After this very bad start, they succeeded in making it into the distance - and, of course, were lucky enough to see the wanted birds, LOL. We also saw Coyote-1, White-tailed Deer-6, Mule Deer-25, Moose-4. Temperature for the day was -15 to -05C, and snow depth was 20cm. Bird species recorded:

Rock Pigeon- 21
Downy Woodpecker-5
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Blue Jay-1
Black-billed Magpie-41
Common Raven-26
Black-capped Chickadee-4-
Mountain Chickadee-1
Red-breasted Nuthatch-4
White-breasted Nuthatch-1
European Starling-12
Snow Bunting-40
Pine Grosbeak-1
Common Redpoll-22
House Sparrow-225

Total hours afield: 8; Total by car-5.5; Total on foot-1; total feeder watching- 1;
Total kms; 100km; Total by car 98km; Total on foot-2km.