Christmas bird count

Today was mostly the Audubon Christmas bird count. Four of us met at 7:15 and spent the next 5 hours or so covering 64 miles of roads and counting all the birds we could find. It wasn't as bad a day as I'd feared. The first real measurable snow (an inch or so) fell overnight, but the birds were out and about once it got light. Highlights included a large gathering of cedar waxwings, a flock of sandhill cranes that flew right over our heads at an unusually low altitude (probably due to poor visibility aloft,) two Cooper's hawks, and literally hundreds of Canada geese in a cornfield, apparently picking up corn that was dropped during the harvest.

Got home, then went out grocery shopping and after Gary made dinner, we put up our (limited) Christmas decorations. The tree is up, and two wreaths. This year I hung out the decorated Christmas stockings my mother made for us. Those haven't been displayed for several years I think.

No caboose photos, ran out of time. But perhaps tomorrow.