From The House This Morning

Still feeling a little weak, I decided not to try and push myself too much by doing any active birding this morning, so I went from window to window in my house with binoculars in hand. I was treated to quite a show from the birds. I added four to my property list just from the little while I watched out the windows. So, two birds a day for the first twelve days of the year means I'm on pace for 730 on my property list by Dec. 31! (Something tells me that won't be happening!)

One of the nicest birds I saw today was a really nice looking Pine Warbler flitting around in the cedar trees along our driveway. Several Yellow-rumped warblers were in those trees as well, as were lots of American Goldfinches.

I'm looking forward to feeling better and getting down in the woods to do some "real" birding!

'08 Property List as of Jan. 12: 24

"Birding" on January 11

Well, my "Property Big Year" got off to a slow start thanks to 1) being out of town on my first Friday off and 2) recovering from the flu on my second Friday off. But, I was able to get out just a little bit and see some birds. All of them were ones that you would expect to see around here on January 11. Guess I'll have to really double my efforts to make up for the past two weeks!

Last night, I was having a restless night and around 10:45, a Great Horned Owl began calling from somewhere just around our house. I couldn't tell exactly what direction he was calling from, but he was close. That was pretty cool to hear.

'08 Property List as of Jan. 11: 20

New Property Bird

I looked out at my feeders this afternoon and saw a lone sparrow at my ground feeder. Expecting a House Sparrow, I looked with my binoculars anyway. To my surprise, a Savannah Sparrow was eating the millet. Pretty good way to start the new year. That makes property bird #182.

My first bird for 2008 was an American Goldfinch. I wanted it to be a good one instead of a House Sparrow! I have quite a few goldfinches this year. Probably 25+.

I will keep a record throughout 2008 of the birds I've seen on my property. Should be fun to watch!

Property birds as of January 1: 7

My Own Big Year

I am going to use 2008 to challenge myself to have my own big year. I won't travel around the state or nation to see as many birds as I can. I lack the time and funds it would take for that endeavor. No, what I'm going to do is spend as much time birding on my property as I can and try to break my record of species seen in 2004 - 129. I plan on taking Friday mornings and going birding as often as possible and maybe even take some Saturdays. Of course in the spring, I'll be out there as often as possible for the migration. But that's my challenge to myself for 2008. I would like to end the year with 150 species. I have 181 on my current property list, so I'll have to see most of them and possibly add a few more. I'll update my blog as often as I go birding and keep you updated on the status. I know it's not terribly exciting and there won't be any kind of reward, but I think it will be a neat thing for me. I need to take a little more time for myself anyway to reduce stress. I will have to miss the first Friday in 2008 because I'll be in Atlanta at the National Conferences on Youth Ministries (NCYM). So, I guess my first official birding day on the property will be January 11. I can't wait!

Other news from the property:
The goldfinches have shown up in pretty good numbers. I've got to get some more nyjer for them. I've had as many as 11 birds on my feeders. I am only putting out three feeders this year instead of the 8 that I have. It's just too expensive!

Last night about 11:30, my dogs went absolutely crazy barking and woke me up. I was treated t the sound of several coyotes barking and howling. It sounds like they have some little ones around as well. We see them occasionally, but that's the first time I've heard a big group of them like that in a long time.

Interesting Bird at the Feeders

Yesterday morning, I looked out at my feeders and noticed a bird hopping around under my tray feeder (on legs) and around my ground feeder (a piece of plywood directly on the ground). It was too big to be a sparrow, but not quite big enough to be a robin. I have seen robins around because of the water not too far away from my feeders. So, I grabbed my binoculars and looked. It was a Hermit Thrush. I'm not sure exactly what he was doing around the feeders, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Maybe he was going for some of the insects that are attracted by the seed.

I am seeing more and more Eurasian Collared-Doves all the time around my feeders. They have even gotten over to my mom's feeders. About 15 years ago, my grandmother told me about "a dove with a black ring on its neck." She was sure it was a Spotted Dove, but I wasn't as convinced. I just wonder if that was one of the first ones that escaped captivity and started a population here.

I wonder about the goldfinches. I worked for years at Wild Birds Unlimited. We would tell our customers to put a finch feeder out around Thanksgiving. It seems to me that even in the ten years since I first started working for WBU that they have arrived later and later and leave earlier and earlier. It also seems that we have fewer numbers of them around as well. I know finches of all species can be very sporadic in their seasonal movement. Some customers would be covered up with finches one year only to have a few the next year. But it sure seems like there is a trend with them to me. I just wonder if they're going the way of the Purple Finch, nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos and Pine Siskins as far as not as many coming south. I remember as a kid having my feeders covered with Dark-eyed Juncos and now I'm lucky if I see one or two a year. Maybe in the next ten years, if the trend continues, we'll have fewer and fewer American Goldfinches in the area to have them replaced with Lesser Goldfinches that might be moving more northward.

Other birds seen at my feeders yesterday were: American Goldfinch (4), Blue Jay (1), House Sparrow (20+), Chipping Sparrow (5) and Carolina Chickadee (3).

Some Winter Activity

We've had a few winter birds showing up around the feeders here. I had four American Goldfinches this past week. They came to the finch feeders several times. I haven't seen them in a few days, though. I hear them calling occasionally from the trees. Two Chipping Sparrows have been visiting my ground feeder where I have put millet. They also hang out in the tallow tree in our front yard with the Yellow-rumped Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds. One of my favorite winter birds is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that comes to my suet log. He showed up last year and has started coming again this year. So far I haven't had a White-throated Sparrow visit my feeders. I wish I had more time to go walking in the woods to see what is showing up down there.

Winter Bird Feeding

I had my first American Goldfinches yesterday at my feeders. I put some thistle out that had been left over from last year and they still came. The goldfinches must not be too picky around here!

Also yesterday, I had a hummingbird show up at my feeder. I keep a feeder out year-round in case I get a winter hummer in my yard. So far I've never seen one. But, yesterday one showed up. I don't know what kind it was. I was looking through a pair of 8x21 binoculars through my windshield. To make matters worse, the binoculars were fogging up. I know it wasn't a Buff-bellied or male Rufous, but other than that, I'm not sure what he/she was. Hopefully it will show up again and I can make a positive identification.