Cold Day on the River!

A few ducks over winter on the River. I haven't come across many this year. Here is a female  Common Goldeneye that decided to be a northerner. She was staying in the current and letting the new formed ice flow around her. There is enough current here that the river stays open.

Winter on the Athabasca River

Today was a nice sunny day after two weeks of bad weather. It was time to take Daphne, my camera, and me and go for a walk. I had been down this access road during the summer, but never in the winter. The walking was good! The temperature was mild at -8C or 17.6F for you non bilingual folks. I followed the road about a mile and a half, hoping to see some wildlife. There were lots of tracks, but no critters.

The road came to the river. There was lots of ice floating down with the current. This part of the river never seems to freeze completely.

 Here is more ice floating down along with some shore freeze.

About 2 miles down, I came to an Indigenous Peoples ceremonial site. I must be politically correct and not use the Indian word, even though most of thenatives that I know refer to it themselves.

 We are coming up on the shortest day of the year and here is the sun behind the trees at high noon!

 I stopped following the road at this point because the river was rising and the water was flooding up where the road was. The slush was about a foot deep.

Here is another picture of the ceremonial site. It is being used as there is fresh wood cut and the snow has been cleared. That's all for today. 5 miles of walking and now time for a nap!

You all stay warm!

What to do When it's -20C or -32C counting the wind chill factor!

Well, I guess the first logical thing to do would be to stay in with a good book. Not so. After 5 days in the above temperature, I decided to grab the camera and see how the wild life was faring.

 The Magpies seemed to be doing well, and not being bothered by the cold.

 Fluffed up and enjoying the sun. We haven't seen it for a week

 This one was face planting, probably looking for a stash of food. The pigeons were out flying about and were extremely skittish.

So much for the birds! There were lots coming to the feeders, but that is for another day. I wandered down to the Athabasca River to see what was going on. This is a picture of ice forming in the current (yep, it's cold) and being sucked under an ice bridge.

 Here is the freezing water being discharged from under the ice bridge. Think very big, unflavoured slushy!

 Just a couple of more frozen water shots. Somebody think "Spring". Please!

We are only getting about 7 hours of daylight now. Anybody in the deep South want to exchange dwellings for 3 months?