The Birds are Calling

What is Project 366? Read more here.

Now that the leaves are long gone one can easily see the twisted branches of trees. I found the contrast between the gnarly branches of this weathered three, the golden shrubbery and the dark blue visually striking. I don’t know what kind of tree it is. Deciduous trees are harder to identify when they don’t have leaves toree al their identity.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

Along a stretch of the Whitemud Creek (south of the Whitemud), along a bend in the creek that is off the beaten trail I came across a long swath of the bank that had recently collapsed due to erosion. This bank is on the outside of the loop and is referred to as a cut bank. Cut banks are often vertical bank or cliff that forms where the outside of a meander cuts into the floodplain or valley wall of a river or stream. Cut banks are under constant erosion due to helicoidal flow (cork-screw-like flow) of the water in the meander. As the cut bank is undermined by erosion, it commonly collapses as slumps into the river channel. One consequence of this constant erosion and regular collapses is that the tree roots are often exposed and undercut, eventually leading the trees to fall into the river. The ice covered creek was covered by the remains of trees that must have fallen onto the ice over the last few days, shattering upon impact. It was quite a dramatic sight illustrating that the Whitemud Ravine is in constant flux and that things can change rapidly in nature.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

The two weeks have been an ongoing thaw-freeze cycle with thawing during the day and freezing at night. As a result large parts of the creek are ice free or with just thin sheets of ice covering the parts where the water flows slowly. The trails are icy and, without the proper footwear, dangerously slippery. The mild weather has, however, made the birds more active. This is quite typical weather here in central Alberta and it is just a matter of time before we are plunged back into an arctic deep freeze.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

It was a grey, cloudy and breezy day. It was drizzling and the temperature was hovering around the freezing point. Perhaps not an ideal for a nature walk but as I was already down at Snow Valley on other business I decided got for a walk along the creek on the south side of Whitemud Drive. The last few days have been going back and forth between thawing and freezing so the trails were icy and slippery. It was a good opportunity to try out my new cleats and they made all the difference, doing an admirable job of securing my footing on even the iciest of surfaces. As soon as I entered the trail the wind died down, the clouds parted and the sun came out. It was not long before the sun was beaming down from a clear blue sky. Nature can be unpredictable at times. The usual suspects were out in full force, several dozen Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Downy Woodpeckers were fluttering around in the forest while ravens were soaring and cawing high above the tree tops. Most of the action, however, was at the Nutz Saloon were a couple confident and noisy and Red-breasted Nuthatches were having a jolly good time. I spend quite some time at the saloon before moving on. I’ll bring some refreshments next time to refill the saloon.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

Looks can be deceiving, specially when it comes to ice. After a few days of cold temperatures the creek finally froze over. This was followed by snow covering up the ice. After all of this the creek looked like it was frozen solid and that it may support a person walking on it. In reality the ice is thin enough to be entirely transparent and is fat from being thick enough to support a person. It will take a weeks of extremely low temperatures (in the double digits) to make the ice thick enough to walk on. The moving water under the ice likely causes it to take longer to build up thick ice.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

On the concrete embankment under the Fox Drive overpass across the Whitemud Creek fresh snow has blown on and covered the concerted in a pristine thin and fluffy layer of fresh snow. A series of animal track Crossed the snow diagonally. The tracks looked fresh so I tried to follow them for a bit but they disappeared into the shrubbery and were lost. There are not many choices in terms of who could have made the tracks. Size-wise they could be squirrel tracks but are missing the imprint of the long forepaw and they are too large for a vole. I suspect they were made by a weasel, likely a least weasel.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.

What is Project 366? Read more here.

Last week weekend the time changed back to winter time. As a result darkness falls even earlier now, making it difficult to do any nature walks in the afternoons during the week. This picture was taken at around 3:30 in the afternoon with the sun already starting to set behind the tree tops. The earliest I would be able to reach this spot during the week would be around 5 pm, at which point darkness is falling and there would be no possibility to take any pictures. We are currently about one month away from winter solstice (December 21) so the darkness will get worse first, before things will start to move in the opposite direction.

May the curiosity be with you. This is from “The Birds are Calling” blog (www.thebirdsarecalling.com). Copyright Mario Pineda.