January 2019 Bird list

A new year of birding brings all sorts of new excitement, and as well as many questions. What will the first bird of the year be? How many new birds will I get today? Where in the heck did all of the blackbirds go? How did I go all year without seeing that bird – now they are everywhere! I enjoy making lists, and early in the birding year there are all sorts of lists to make.

So how was my January birding? Fairly ho hum, I guess. A few birds fewer than last January, but also some surprises and some fantastic sightings and experiences. I ended with 53 species. The biggest misses were mainly waterfowl, as I found lots of frozen water when I did find time to bird. The list is below, but stay until the end to see the gallery of images from the month.

1. Bluejay – very early on New Year’s Day visiting the feeders
2. Carolina chickadee
3. Tufted titmouse
4. Cardinal – I feel like I have seen millions of these this winter. Not unusual at all to have 15-20 at the feeders at once.
5. House finch
6. Red-bellied woodpecker
7. Dark-eyed junco
8. Northern flicker
9. White-breasted nuthatch
10. Downy woodpecker – almost constantly on the suet feeders at home.
11. American goldfinch
12. Starling
13. Rock dove
14. Red-tail hawk
15. Common grackle – a pair flying over the yard one day, then not another throughout the rest of the month.
16. American robin
17. American crow
18. Canada goose
19. Mallard – plentiful all month
20. Song sparrow
21. Turkey vulture
22. Mockingbird
23. Red-headed woodpecker – first one I saw was on the only tree within 100 yards in the middle of a schoolyard, but many more since.
24. Mourning dove
25. Eastern bluebird – very entertaining at the feeders this winter.
26. Red-shouldered hawk
27. Ring-billed gull
28. Snow goose – I was unable to pull out a Ross’ goose in any of the high flying flocks.
29. Great blue heron – always a few lingering birds during winter. They always look cold.
30. American kestrel
31. Bald eagle
32. White-throated sparrow
33. Hairy woodpecker
34. Pileated Woodpecker
35. Great-horned owl – heard a pair hooting repeatedly back and forth last day of deer season.
36. Northern shoveler
37. Carolina wren
38. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
39. Winter wren
40. Sandhill crane – a flock flying low over the highway in Indianapolis, IN. Don’t think I saw a single one all last year.
41. American pelican
42. Wild turkey – large winter group near Bennett Spring.
43. Black vulture – I think I saw more blacks this month than turkey vultures.
44. Red-breasted nuthatch
45. Eurasian tree sparrow
46. Trumpeter swan – the bird of the month. The large wintering flock at Riverlands is a birder’s dream come true.
47. Peregrine falcon – harassing the ducks at Riverlands. I saw the waterfowl scattering well before I saw the falcon.
48. Northern pintail – a sizable surprise flock at Riverlands.
49. Northern harrier
50. White-fronted goose
51. Yellow-rumped warbler
52. American tree sparrow – One of top 5 misses from last year, I had a large flock following me through the brush as I checked game cameras late in the month.
53. Belted kingfisher

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Come back next month to see how my list progresses. Hopefully I can continue to pick up some easy birds and get some good numbers.

For last January’s list, check this out:

January 2018 Bird List