Mormon Lake CBC

The 2013-14 CBC season started with the Mormon Lake count on Saturday December 14th. There were just 7 of us this year and we divided into 3 groups to cover the territory. I had my usual Anderson Mesa and Upper Lake Mary area.

Tim, Steve and I had tallied 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 13 Dark-eyed Juncos, 3 Stellar's Jays and 4 Common Ravens in our first 3 hours, but after trudging through the snow to Vail Lake, we saw a number of species on the ridge. The best bird was a Merlin seen by Tim. Coming down the hill we had 8 Wild Turkey at the U-bend but then nothing of note as we drove along the ice covered lake. After temperatures as low as -23C (-9F) and over a week continuously below freezing some people were playing ice hockey on the lake.

I ended the day with 14 species, my team with a tally of 20 and the whole group a total of 29. For the first time ever I did not see a Bald Eagle on this count.

Wild Turkey tracks