A Rare Start to the Year

My wife and I like starting the new year by spending time with the birds and seeing all the new-this-year species. We will pick a local area and spend most of the day visiting several birding hot spots. This isn't "Big Day" style birding but a day focused on being out there and seeing birds. And if the weather is decent, all the better.

This year our day started with watching the morning flock at our backyard feeder. For the past couple of days we had been hosting a Western Tanager. The tanager would generally show up with a big mixed flock of bluebirds, finches, several sparrows species, cardinals, pine warblers, and many others. This morning, the visit was cut short by a Cooper's Hawk swooping through the yard. But we still managed to see 13 species in 5 minutes of watching.

Western Tanager

Western Tanager

That was one rare bird seen to start the new year. Our next stop was at an fellow birder's who was hosting a rufous hummingbird. The hummingbird, like the tanager, is a western US bird that migrated east instead of south. We don't normally chase rare birds since we feel the payoff of seeing it and adding it to a list doesn't offset the usual long wait that frequently ends in totally missing the bird. This was the exact opposite. When we arrived at the house, two other people were there. After introductions and some small talk we started watching the feeder. A minute or two later, one of them turned to us and said, "you know that it is right here in this tree" and pointed about 20 feet away. And there is was sitting on a branch. It soon took to the air to grab a bug and return. It continued perching and flying around for the next ten minutes or so. Only then did it go to the sugar water feeder. That was rare bird #2 for the day and we had spent about 15 minutes of watching time. We also saw several other backyard birds sharing the space with the hummingbird.

Rufous Hummingbird

A couple of years ago we had good luck at a local farm where you can bird along a driveway through the fields. That time we saw snipe and Killdeer in the fields and several hawks species overhead. My wife wanted to see snipe to honor the those of last year and the first one we ever saw together, also coincidentally on New Year's Day.  However, this year the fields were really dry, it hasn't rained here in about two weeks, and we didn't see any birds in the fields. There were many turkey vultures in a neighboring field and a handful of rock pigeons on the wires. So we moved on.

While it wasn't particularly cold, there was a biting wind making standing in the open uncomfortable. So our next stop was a small boat launch park that was well protected. We saw four woodpecker species and our first American Robins of the year. After a coffee stop, we drove along a parkway that travels along the James River. 

After a couple of quiet stops we came across a mixed flock that gave us a lot of good views and hung around for a while. The flock was mainly White-throated Sparrows. Traveling with them were a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches, a pair of Hermit Thrushes, and three Eastern Towhees among more typical members like chickadees and titmice. 

Further along the parkway as we drove past a mowed patch, my wife saw a handful of Tree Swallows feeding. There is no parking on the side of the road there so we u-turned and passed back by slowly. And by slowly I mean creeping along at zero miles per hour as our attention was on the swallows. The swallows are eBird-rare, meaning they are unusual enough we have to provide additional justification. At a later stop we also saw a Laughing Gull that is also eBird-rare. Both are typical fall birds that probably winter only a little south of us so it isn't uncommon to see them in early winter or even through winter. But unusual enough to feel like a special treat. 

By this time the light was starting to fade and the cold was seeping into us, so we headed home with a total of 51 species seen. 

Great Blue Heron seen along the shore

A wonderful way to start the new year, in which I am now fully retired. So I plan to post more-- keep an eye here.