Saturday, February 2, 2013

Big January Begins in Reid Park

1. CAKI-kab Cassin’s Kingbird 1-1-2013

My Big January started at dawn on Tuesday morning in my own backyard. The light was still gray as I started to count my backyard birds. I don’t even remember if I ate breakfast before joining Chris Rohrer at Reid Park where we kicked off our Big January with a big list! We knew we would get our ducks and a few herons, but we were also in for a surprise when a rogue Cassin’s Kingbird literally landed at our feet! Cassin’s are usually far south of here in winter and they are also more likely to be spotted in more grassy or Savannah-like habitat, so it was a shock and a surprise to find one here in the middle of Tucson! We wandered all over the park and by the time we were done we had counted 30 species of birds!

2.  Widgeons-kab American Widgeons

 

3. BCNI-kab Black-crowned Night Heron

 

4. RNDU-kab Ring-necked Duck

 

5. Redheads-kab Redheads

 

6. GREG-kab Great Egret

 

7. GIWO-kab Gila Woodpecker eating palm tree fruit

 

8. HOFI-lab House Finch eating palm tree fruit

 

9. Canvasbacks-kab Canvasback male and female

 

10. GBHE-kab Great Blue Heron

 

11. SNEG-kab Snowy Egret

 

12. COME-kab Common Merganser

 

13. CAKI-kab Cassin’s Kingbird

 

14. HOFI-kab House Finches 1-1-13

Later in the afternoon I took a ride through Saguaro National Park with my husband and my kids. While there I picked up a couple more species of birds, including a pair of Black-tailed Gnatcatchers. Big January started out with a big bang for me. In my first day I counted over 40 species of birds! You can see the complete list and read all posts relating to this topic by clicking on the link below!

Big January 

Stay tuned! There are more posts to come!

19 comments:

  1. What a great collection Kathie! A lovely post both to read and to look at all those interesting birds.

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  2. Hi Kathie. That is a fabulous selection from your January sightings and a very nice total for day one.

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  3. Nice Kathie! A park full of ducks and a crazy Kingbird is a great start to any day's birding, much less a Big January!

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    1. Laurence, it sure was a great way to get started!

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  4. What a wonderful month of birds!! And such gorgeous pictures.

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  5. Congrats on your big January, Kathie! It actually sounds like fun. Love the Kingbird! Happy Birding!

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  6. Great shot of the woodpecker Kathie with his protective eye film that appears to come over the surface of the eye when they are pecking at something.

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    1. Roy, I put that pic in on purpose for that very reason! thanks for noticing! I thought it was a more interesting photo than the perfect one with its eye open!

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  7. Hi Katie..Love that first photo of the Kingbird...you have quite the variety,and count for the month !!
    Keep counting : )
    Grace

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    1. Grammie, LOL! I am all done counting for my Big January but never done counting birds!

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  8. Hi Kathie

    It looks like you saw some great birds. I love the variety of ducks.
    Guy

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    1. Guy, having a park like this nearby makes it so easy to see such a wide variety of ducks!

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  9. Love all the shots! Especially the Cassin's Kingbird, the Ring-neck and the Canvasbacks. Happy for you in this fantastic Big January.

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  10. You had a great Big January.nice to see how it all unfolds!

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Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.