Carolina Wren 12-21-10
No, I haven’t seen this bird yet today but I am looking for it! It has been hanging around my yard and I am seeing it on a regular basis now. My first Bird of 2011 was a Tufted Titmouse seen at 7:40 a.m. Since then I have added 11 species to the list:
- Tufted titmouse*
- American Crow
- American goldfinch
- White-throated sparrow
- Dark-eyed junco (slate-colored)
- Blue jay
- Downy woodpecker
- black-capped chickadee
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- House sparrow
- House finch
- Mourning dove
*1st bird of 2011!
I wasn’t sure if I was going to do a Big January this year. No one else has been talking about it, but, I decided to do one anyways, even if all I do is compete against myself since all my previous big Januarys have been from when I lived in Arizona. Now that I live in a new state and in a totally different part of the country I thought it would be fun to see how my lists compare.
For those of you who do not know what Big January is, it is a list of all the bird species seen in the month of January only in the State YOU CURRENTLY LIVE IN. It starts on midnight January 1st and runs through 11:59 p.m. on the 31st. In previous years we have had many birders and eBirders in on this friendly competition. I hope some of you will join me again this year.
For info on previous Big Januarys and Big January Totals, just click on the links below:
- Big January 2010 Bird Count Totals
- Big January (all posts from my Sycamore Canyon blog)
- Brownstone Birding Blog Big January Rules (where I first learned of this game)
And please consider submitting your counts to eBird. This is a fine way to turn fun into useful data that helps the birds! It also helps you too, for once you set up your account eBird keeps track of all of your sightings and lists for you!
Well, I am off in search of more Birds! Wish me luck!
