Monday, January 30
5:30 PM
It is +7 °C. We left Lethbridge this morning to take some photos of two southern Alberta cemeteries. This is the first opportunity I have had today to create this web page.
From the Environment Canada website:
Tonight Clearing early this evening. Wind west 40 km/h gusting to 60. Low plus 1.
2:30 PM Birding
While driving east on highway 3 near Purple Springs we spotted a white bird flying toward us and adjacent to the highway. As it went by it became clear that we had just seen a Snowy Owl. This was a new "lifer" for us. After updating my Bento database I was able to determine that it was #144 on our Alberta list, #202 on our Canada list, and #605 on our Global list. It is only the second owl that we have identified - the other being a Great Horned Owl which we have seen 4 times.
Then later that afternoon we spotted a Ring-necked Pheasant beside the road just as we were leaving Taber. This was the 4th time that we had recorded seeing this species in Alberta, plus twice in the US. I have added these sightings to my eBird website.
3:00 PM Geocaching
Earlier this afternoon we pulled into a side road off highway 3 just east of Grassy Lake and made a quick find of a geocache that had been first been put out on November 25, 2011. I was the 8th person to log a find for this cache. It was also my first find for a January 30th.
- GC389TP - Grain Elevator