Birds I've Missed This Year

I ran a report on my Birder's Diary and found that I haven't seen 51 species on my property this year. A few of them I wouldn't expect to see every year: Black-throated Blue Warbler, White-tailed Hawk, Black-chinned Hummingbird and Harris' Sparrow. However, I didn't see some that I haven't missed in a year since we've lived here: Wood Thrush, Worm-eating Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Louisiana Waterthrush, Eastern Screech Owl and Yellow-throated Vireo. There are quite a few that I missed when the year started that I have a good chance to get before the year is out: Greater White-fronted Goose, Ross' Goose, Canada Goose, Anhinga, Osprey, American Kestrel, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark. I think I can get my year list to 140 before the year is out without much problem. It will be fun trying!

Property List Goal Surpassed!

Hurricane Ike brought some unwelcome problems to our lives. Cleaning up limbs, trees and shingles has dominated most of my time over the past week. I'm still not done. As bad as it was for us, it definitely was worse for others. However, the cooler weather and lower humidity after Ike was a welcome relief. I was forced to be outside more over the past week and got to do quite a bit more birdwatching than I would have done otherwise. Because of that, this week I surpassed my 2004 number of species seen on the property. In 2004, I saw 129 species. I began 2008 with the goal of seeing more species than I did in 2004. I added the following birds over the past week to my 2008 list:

• Ring-billed Gull on 9/13
• Herring Gull on 9/16
• Chuck-will's-widow on 9/18
• Olive-sided Flycatcher on 9/19
• Baltimore Oriole on 9/19

That brings my total to 132 species on the property in 2008. There are still several species I didn't see on the property this year, so the total definitely has potential to go higher. I guess my goal now is to get to 140 species by the end of the year.

The hummingbirds have really come in large numbers now. The past three nights have seen 70 to 80 hummingbirds around my feeders in the evening. I have to make nectar everyday to fill the feeders. It will be much easier now that the power is back on and I can get water from the faucet.

Speaking of hummingbirds, I had a very interesting experience. I was sitting in my living room one morning drinking my coffee watching the hummingbirds at the feeders. All the sudden, a large bird swooped in and the hummingbirds scattered. The larger bird flew to a tree behind the feeders. I grabbed my binoculars and it was a Loggerhead Shrike with a hummingbird in its beak! It shook the hummingbird a few times and then flew off toward my neighbor's yard. I lost it then. Last year a shrike tried to catch the hummingbirds with no luck (that I saw anyway) but this one definitely had one. While I hated to lose one of my hummingbirds, it was neat to see the display!

Every night I've heard a Barn Owl screeching. It's amazing what you hear when you have to sleep with the windows open. Now that the heat and humidity are returning, I'll take the air conditioning!

One Step Closer

I'm one bird closer to beating my 2004 property list of 129. It's not because I saw a new bird recently either. I created a checklist for the property and ran a report of the birds I haven't seen this year. One of the birds that came up was Eastern Kingbird. I went back in my blogs and saw one in the spring - and have the pictures to prove it. So, I'm at 127 now with four months to go. I keep watching for Baltimore Orioles in the trees, but no luck so far.

If you haven't seen it already, check out my hummingbird video I put on YouTube. You can access it here. For some reason when I made the original file, the sound messed up and I didn't realize it until I had already uploaded it to YouTube. It's still pretty cool to watch.

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.