Lac des Roches resident Wendy Marshall reported that the Bridge Lake Naturalists held their 12th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Jan. 3. It was a beautiful morning and a few volunteers braved the -24 C for the traditional bird count. They began at Marshall’s, followed a pre-defined route around the north shore of Bridge Lake with several stops to count species and numbers. As always, the black-capped and mountain chickadees topped the list for numbers of individuals. One boreal chickadee and high numbers of pine grosbeaks were counted this year. All five woodpeckers were present and of special interest was one ring-necked pheasant (likely an escapee from one of the local pre-staged hunts last summer). One American dipper presented itself in the stream and a flock of Bohemian waxwings were seen feeding on rosehips. The final tallies will be posted on the Audubon website www.audubon.org/bird/cbc.
Snow and more snow
Our neighbours on the coast have good reason to complain about their weather as they have had more snow in a month then they would normally experience over several winters. A few Cariboo neighbours are similarly complaining about shovelling the snow again and again this year. Some would argue that shovelling and plowing snow is what we do here in the winter. One neighbour described how she loads her favourite tunes on an iPod recorder, puts in her earplugs and contently shovels snow for hours. I daydream and compose this column while I clear a kilometer of doggie walk paths after every storm. Another neighbour’s comment on all the repetitive shoveling was "enough already"! While there are a number of us who enjoy the exercise, fresh air and sense of accomplishment we get from shoveling, it must be true; that everything should be enjoyed, in moderation, even shovelling snow.
Snowmobile update
Sledders using the trails off of the Wavey Lake Forestry Service Road have been providing updates of condition and changes observed up the road. The loggers have moved their equipment out and the moose have moved in. More moose and moose tracks have been sighted in the first half of January than were observed by some sledders during all of last winter, likely due to the deep snow that has accumulated since Christmas forcing them onto the roads and trails. The snow in some of the cut blocks is reportedly five to six feet deep but is so powdery from the cold weather that keeping sleds from getting stuck has been a real chore, even for some of the more experienced sledders on powerful and long-tracked machines. The wet snowfall and milder temperatures we have started to see since mid-January may improve the sledding conditions in the mountains, but have made for extremely wet conditions on most of the lakes.
Town hall meeting
The Area L town hall meeting is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the Interlakes Community Hall. CRD staff will present the proposed 2009 budget and business plan and discuss community services and general issues. Residents have been invited by Bruce Rattray, our area director, to advise him in advance of particular topics for discussion so that he can ensure the right resources are available.