Middle Tennessee: hiked about three hours at a nearby state park and got the following:
Canada Goose (10)
Mallard (12, 6 mating pairs)
Ring-necked Duck (at least 7 female and 2 male)
Bufflehead (2 male definitively, diving in lake pretty far away)
Great Blue Heron (1, flew right up to us)
Black Vulture (3, soaring)
Bald Eagle (1, perched near nest)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, soaring with the vultures!)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (3)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Pileated Woodpecker (1, everybody was stopped and staring at this one, took me forever to see it)
American Crow (2, heard 'em before I saw 'em)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (2)
Eastern Bluebird (3, first birds I saw today)
Northern Cardinal (2 female, 1 male)
Then, I came home, watched the feeders and the surrounding yards, and then took a quick hike around the neighborhood. Got the following:
Mourning Dove (2 roosted, 2 in flight)
Hairy Woodpecker (1 female on a neighborhood topped oak, had to ponder this one, but definitely bigger than a downy)
Northern Flicker (next-door neighbor's tree, one of my favorite birds)
Tufted Titmouse (same as above, same tree)
Carolina Wren (on a phone line of all places, but close to some dense habitat)
European Starling (at least 3, pretty far away, but their speckles lit up when the sun hit them)
Northern Mockingbird (all on phone lines)
American Robin (too many to count, the backyard was Robin Central today)
House Finch (at least one female and one male)
Dark-eyed Junco (just one, can you believe it?)
White-throated Sparrow (3)
Brown-headed Cowbird (1 female spotted)
28 species total. Wish I could have gotten to 30, but no Blue jay today. Or Eastern Towhee, which is often near the backyard feeder. Or even Eastern Wild Turkey, which is often seen in rafters around the state park. The park ranger said a Green-winged Teal was spotted on the lake, but I didn't see it.
Still, a good start to the year!
Canada Goose (10)
Mallard (12, 6 mating pairs)
Ring-necked Duck (at least 7 female and 2 male)
Bufflehead (2 male definitively, diving in lake pretty far away)
Great Blue Heron (1, flew right up to us)
Black Vulture (3, soaring)
Bald Eagle (1, perched near nest)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, soaring with the vultures!)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (3)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Pileated Woodpecker (1, everybody was stopped and staring at this one, took me forever to see it)
American Crow (2, heard 'em before I saw 'em)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (2)
Eastern Bluebird (3, first birds I saw today)
Northern Cardinal (2 female, 1 male)
Then, I came home, watched the feeders and the surrounding yards, and then took a quick hike around the neighborhood. Got the following:
Mourning Dove (2 roosted, 2 in flight)
Hairy Woodpecker (1 female on a neighborhood topped oak, had to ponder this one, but definitely bigger than a downy)
Northern Flicker (next-door neighbor's tree, one of my favorite birds)
Tufted Titmouse (same as above, same tree)
Carolina Wren (on a phone line of all places, but close to some dense habitat)
European Starling (at least 3, pretty far away, but their speckles lit up when the sun hit them)
Northern Mockingbird (all on phone lines)
American Robin (too many to count, the backyard was Robin Central today)
House Finch (at least one female and one male)
Dark-eyed Junco (just one, can you believe it?)
White-throated Sparrow (3)
Brown-headed Cowbird (1 female spotted)
28 species total. Wish I could have gotten to 30, but no Blue jay today. Or Eastern Towhee, which is often near the backyard feeder. Or even Eastern Wild Turkey, which is often seen in rafters around the state park. The park ranger said a Green-winged Teal was spotted on the lake, but I didn't see it.
Still, a good start to the year!
