It wasn't the most ideal day for the Delta Marsh Christmas Bird Count this season. That's from coordinator Bob Jones, who shares the results.

"Unfortunately we picked one of the coldest days of the year to run the count. The temperatures were in the minus 20's for, I think it was, the only time in last year after November the birds were, shall we say, hesitant to get out in the open. And, therefore, our counts were quite down. We only got 30 species."

Jones outlines some of the highlights.

"The largest numbers were the House Sparrow, and of course the Snow Bunting. We got some good ones, though. We had about 14 participants out in the cold. We got, I think it was, five Yellow-headed Blackbirds (which are not supposed to be here), one Red-winged Blackbird, and one Bald Eagle. Those were the highlights of the count."

With foreign birds present, Jones says, "They found a place where they can survive. In this case it was in a feedlot situation. They were hiding in some hay bales and that sort of thing."

He says with warmer weather they likely would've seen a few more, but he can't say how many. Despite the cold weather, their 14 volunteers all showed up.

"It was fun, as it always is. And we welcome any participation from other people, especially bird watchers who happen to be in the area, and have a feeder situation where they're feeding birds. We can use their counts as well. "

If you'd like to be involved, you can contact Bob Jones at (204) 239-1803 or by email at bjonesph@mymts.net, or contact any of the other participants.