From StettlerLocal.com by Claudia Lipski.
The Buffalo Lake Nature Club held our Annual General Meeting via zoom on January 20th and is now finalizing our calendar of events. To view our plans for the year, visit the website http://buffalolakenature.com/calendar.
Here is a recap of how our club ended in 2021.
We held three Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs). The counts are a collaborative program managed by Birds Canada in partnership with the National Audubon Society. The first count was on December 19th, and it was cold! Seven brave folks headed out to survey within Stettler and its surroundings (Circle ABST) and found nine different species, with a total of 426 individual birds. We had to forego the reward of our usual Christmas potluck, which generally follows the count, but we look forward to resuming this tradition next December 18th.
On December 26th, it was still frigid, but 15 people braved the temperature of -24C to -30C while recording 17 species with 641 individuals. The area covered this time was Circle ABBU, which surrounds Buffalo Lake.
The club’s final CBC was on January 2nd and encompassed the area from Erskine south over the Red Deer River (ABRR). Ten folks took part, counting 17 species and a total of 620 individual birds. Everyone is invited to join future Christmas Bird Counts by contacting us for details. We will train you!
The upcoming birding event is The Great Backyard Bird Count, which runs from February 18th through the 21st. Find out how you can participate at https://www.birdcount.org/.