Big January Begins in Reid Park

 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!

American Widgeons

 

Black-crowned Night Heron

 

Ring-necked Duck

 

Redheads

 

Great Egret

 

Gila Woodpecker eating palm tree fruit

 

House Finch eating palm tree fruit

 

Canvasback male and female

 

Great Blue Heron

 

Snowy Egret

 

Common Merganser

 

Cassin’s Kingbird

 

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!