Participate in this year's Great Backyard Bird Count

just didn’t report back here.

Today I had to work, so just got a quick look this morning. It would have been a good day for birding as in just a few minutes I saw 9 species.

This was really fun. I will do it again next year and probably invite some 43Thingers to do it with me.

Well, the last day was a quiet one. Nothing out of the ordinary (although I was happy to see the bright red Mr. Cardinal, after seeing pretty little Ms. Cardinal a couple of days ago).

White-winged Dove – 3
Mourning Dove – 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – 1
American Robin – 2
European Starling – 6
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 7
Great-tailed Grackle – 8
Brown-headed Cowbird – 11
House Sparrow – 14

It was a lot of fun participating again this year. Not only did I enjoy it, but my trip to Galveston helped spark an interest in all the fascinating coastal birds to be found less than an hour from my home (uh-oh … I feel a new goal coming on …). Hope everyone else enjoyed it too! :)

I tried really hard today, but it was COLD and WINDY. Hard to stay outside as long as I’d have liked. Today’s list includes my yard and a walk around my neighborhood.

Canada Goose – 16
Mourning Dove – 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 1
Blue Jay – 3
Carolina Chickadee – 1
Tufted Titmouse – 3
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 2
American Robin – 18
Dark-eyed Junco – 3
Northern Cardinal – 5
House Finch – 2
American Goldfinch – 3

I had a wonderful change of scenery today. My husband surprised me with a sunrise drive down to Galveston, where we spotted all kinds of fantastic shorebirds. This was a real treat for me since, in my yard (five minutes from downtown Houston) a heron or spoonbill would be a rare site indeed! Here’s the list:

American White Pelican – 5
Brown Pelican – 3
Double-crested Cormorant – 4
Great Blue Heron – 2
Snowy Egret – 8
Tricolored Heron – 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – 1
White Ibis – 1
Roseate Spoonbill – 4
Laughing Gull – 23
Ring-billed Gull – 12
Rock Pigeon – 9
Northern Mockingbird – 1
Common Grackle – 4
Great-tailed Grackle – 6
House Sparrow – 6

In the morning I participated in a walk with our local land conservancy group. The others saw a lot more, but I got good looks at:

Canada Goose
Mute swan
Mallard Duck
Red-shouldered Hawk
Mourning Dove
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Dark-eyed Junco

The Red-shouldered Hawk was eating a large catfish and we were able to watch him for quite a long time. Very interesting!

Back in my yard, I saw:

Mourning Dove – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 5
Carolina Chickadee – 2
Tufted Titmouse – 4
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Carolina Wren – 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) – 6
Northern Cardinal – 2
American Goldfinch – 5

I didn’t have even 15 minutes since I had to work. So, this is unofficial, but a few quick peeks out the window in the morning and I saw:

Goldfinch – 4
Dark-eyed Junco – 2
Blue Jay – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1

I finally got a chance to do my observing today in the late afternoon. It turned out great, because I got to see a better variety of feathered friends than I did yesterday morning (including my favorite little lady cardinal). Here’s the full list:

White-winged Dove – 1
Mourning Dove – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
American Robin – 1
Northern Mockingbird – 1
European Starling – 4
Northern Cardinal – 1
Common Grackle – 2
Great-tailed Grackle – 3
Brown-headed Cowbird – 21
House Sparrow – 12

I was anticipating a busy day, so I did my counting in the morning. As usually happens this time of year, I had a lot of blackbirds hanging around my feeder—cowbirds, grackles, starlings. Most notably, however, I spotted a couple of Bronzed Cowbirds (with the spooky red eyes), which are pretty scarce except in the southernmost part of the U.S. Here’s the full list:

White-winged Dove – 5
Mourning Dove – 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 2
European Starling – 1
Common Grackle – 2
Bronzed Cowbird – 3
Brown-headed Cowbird – 30
House Sparrow – 8

Except for that unpleasant little thing about having to work tomorrow and Monday. I just filled my feeders since it will be COLD in the morning. Also printed out my state checklist. The checklists help a lot with identifying birds by providing a list to choose from.