So nice to see all this progress for everyone! It inspires me to go out and look. Love the photos of the bittern, Elphaba! Very cool to see.
I have a couple to add from my driving trip to Tennessee. Both at the Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park
171 - Wild Turkey
172 - White-breasted Nuthatch
Images
1. Turkey
2. Nuthatch
3. Nuthatch Peek-A-Boo
Nice birds, P_Edens and a nice time of year to see Turkeys. We enjoy the little Nuthatches, but today one was giving me the what-for. What for, I don't know. :D
OH! I forgot Wild Turkey. That's 93. Might make 100 after all
Chilly, Those Nuthatches have strong personalities for such tiny little birds. This one was playing Peek-A-Boo with me and getting closer and closer. Very curious little bird.
Mrs. Ed, Glad you remembered that Wild Turkey. You will surely make 100 and then some! If not, you can always cheer up with some of that other Wild Turkey. LOL
i'm sure I can add 7 more water birds if I get out there.
Keep at it!
226 for me, Long-billed Dowitcher - quite a rarity over here
Resin
Congrats, Resin! :)
167. Pileated Woodpecker!!! This time it was seen only about an hour and a half from our home, instead of the last one being 3 1/2 hours. No pictures, though. And they laughed at us as they flew away. Tis ok, we got pictures of some other birds. And do Rhode Islands Red count? What were these chickens doing at the edge of the woods?
And do Rhode Islands Red count? What were these chickens doing at the edge of the woods?
I assumed as much, Resin. :) These woods are surrounded by city. We suspected someone dumped them there. :( There were only two, a male and a female. I was tempted to take them home, but my husband doesn't like the idea of male crowing at all hours.
Three more today...
168. Sharp-shinned Hawk
169. Red-breasted Merganser (lifer)
170. Snow Bunting (lifer) I am pretty excited about this one. That is a beautiful bird and not quite as camera shy as those Pileateds.
Our life list is at 178 and I don't think we'll get to 200 by the end of the year, unless we were to bird in a different state or maybe a different part of Iowa. That can be a goal for next year. We realize that as we continue birding, it will become harder to see new birds, but actually we get pretty excited by what we see now. We saw our first Bald Eagle since August and that is always a thrill.
Just so you know Chilly, the Chicago area is seeing some irruptive birds. Evening Grosbeak, Bohemian Waxwing, Red Crossbills, White-winged Crossbills and Redpolls. So you may want to go scope out some favorite places of those types of birds. The crossbills seem to like hemlock seed cones. The Bohemians I think are mixed with Cedar Waxwing flocks.
Mrs. Ed, Some of those have made their way into Iowa already, from the bird postings I've seen. Ah, but that would be so cool if Evening Grosbeaks made their way down here. We saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings Friday, but now if we run into them again, we'll need to look closer. I enjoy birding in the woods, since it is so different from our habitat (grasslands). It drives me crazy we do not see any Chickadees here. I've had people tell me, if we have enough trees to support the various woodpeckers that come to the feeders, we surely would have some Chickadees. Well... nope!
Today is our first day for doing Project Feeder Watch and we expanded our feeding area, but this makes it so it can no longer be done by one person. It is too much of a workout trying to pop over to all the windows making sure we're not double counting birds.
Went to Florida and saw a Snail Kite and a Limpkin! Those bring my overall year list up to 381, but I've just been doing my Texas list here and I got a new one for the Texas list yesterday, a Broad-billed Hummingbird! That was a lifer and brought my Texas year list to 369. Also saw a gorgeous Calliope and I have two Rufous hummers in the yard. All of those used to be rare here even a year or two ago. Now, only the Broad-billed is considered rare.
Pics are:
Broad-billed Hummer (Russ Pittman Park, Bellaire, TX)
Calliope Hummer (Russ Pittman Park, Bellaire, TX)
Rufous Hummer
Snail Kite (awful pic but only one I got at East Lake Tohopekaliga, FL)
Oops! Forgot that two of my birds don't count (Aplomado Falcon and Red-vented Bulbul), so I'm at 367.
368 - Ferruginous Hawk -- too far away for pics and I was glad to have a more experienced birder with me with scope!
369 - Greater Scaup -- lucky find. Saw the green sheen on the head before the sun disappeared behind huge clouds for the rest of the day. Can't say that head shape is all that obvious to me.
369 - Greater Scaup -- lucky find. Saw the green sheen on the head before the sun disappeared behind huge clouds for the rest of the day. Can't say that head shape is all that obvious to me.
It was confirmed as Greater and several people whose opinions I respect went out today and saw them again. When they did, they found a Long-tailed Duck which I just got back from seeing. That was a lifer for me!
Two more to add, I know I don't have them, whatever they are, but I'm thinking Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Duck.
95 Lesser Scaup
96 Ruddy Duck
It was confirmed as Greater and several people whose opinions I respect went out today and saw them again. When they did, they found a Long-tailed Duck which I just got back from seeing. That was a lifer for me![/quote]
Hmmm . . . 'fraid I'm still not convinced ;-) Did anyone get a good look at the wing pattern? Any more pics of it?
Nice one on the LTDuck!
[quote="Mrs_Ed"]Two more to add, I know I don't have them, whatever they are, but I'm thinking Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Duck.
95 Lesser Scaup
96 Ruddy Duck
Thanks Resin. Only 4 more to go. I will likely get one this weekend when I go to my Mom's and pick up a tufted titmouse. I also heard there was a new gull at the river here. I'll have to check that out tomorrow.
97 American Tree Sparrow
Oh, you are so close, Mrs_Ed. :)
It is unlikely we'll see any new ones before the end of the year. Tomorrow is our Christmas Bird count, but it is supposed to rain. At least from experience at our feeders, the birds are usually pretty scarce when it is wet, but they have to be somewhere...
Aww, that's too bad Chilly. OUr CBC is 12/29, so I'm hoping for something then.
Oh, you are so close, Mrs_Ed. :)
Yes, hope to do something Resin.
I am not sure, but I might have had an owl. Or a bee hive, or a decoy. not really sure. hahaha.
OUr CBC is 12/29, so I'm hoping for something then.
Yes I'm paired with someone experienced. I have no idea how I'll do thought. I suck in the field. ha.
Oh my... tell me about it. LOL We recognize the moment there is an oddball at our feeders, but get us in the field... And then I am thrown off so often when we see what is usually a feeder bird far away from any feeders. "What??? That's a Goldfinch?!"
hahaha. Ticks also suck in the field and love it.
:)
90. I forgot about the Long-billed Corella until one visited this morning. No way will I make it to a hundred by the end of the year. This is a shot of one from a couple of years ago. I didn't mean to post it twice, but once I'd uploaded it I couldn't get rid of it.
Well, I didn't think I'd get another this year. And this was even when we were out on our own!
171. Rough-legged Hawk (Thank you Resin for the confirmation)
My husband and I are debating about doing the Des Moines CBC next Saturday. The children were pretty much birded out by the time we came home and will the weather cooperate. I am a wimpy birder. :)
Just one more to go.
98 Herring Gull
99 Lesser Black-backed Gull
I thought I saw the titmouse the other day, but I was not for sure, so I'll have to pick that up either at Christmas or during the Christmas bird count.
Ooooooh, Marna, so close!
LOL. I really wish Dave's Garden used serif fonts, because it sure looks like you wrote "MAMA".
Get on to them. LOL
Way To Go, Marna! You can do it, I know you can.
Three more days, then this thread closes!
Saturday is my bird count. In other news, last winter my husband and I were sure we each saw a golden eagle, but no photos. My local bird watching friend saw one this morning at the river, so I have to go look tomorrow. I would LOVE for it to be 100.
Looks like I'm going to get the wooden spoon.
I Did it!!!!
100 - Horned Lark
101 - Rough legged hawk
102 - Eurasian Tree Sparrow
103 - Ring-necked Duck
104 - Savana Sparrow
May have been a Lapland Longspur in there, but I'll have to get to the pictures to know.
