February 20, 2020
A start of a new year brings fresh excitement to my yearly bird list. As I mentioned last month, I started using eBird this year to mix things up a bit. As a result, I managed to spend quite a bit more time birding this month and increased my January birds total over January 2019. The cool part is that most of the birding occurred at local parks and usually on my lunch break or after work.
Highlights
Without a doubt, my birds of the month were the pair of whooping cranes observed over the course of an afternoon on January 1st. The full story and photos are chronicled in this post:
I also observed large mixed flocks of snow geese and greater white-fronted geese in the nearby fields on New Year’s Day. The birds were leaving the fields at sunset and flying off to wherever they roost for the night.
Cold Birds
As you might expect, January birds are often battling the elements and the cold weather and may allow for closer looks. One day I was able to observe a flock of robins feeding on crabapples next to a commercial lot. The birds allowed for very close observation as they focused their attention on the lingering fruit.
Other birds cooperated as well. I had great blue herons at Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary just happy to hunt in open water. One exceptionally cold day I watched a mockingbird chase other birds away from its roost. However, the bird allowed me to get within just a few feet of it and didn’t appear to concerned by my presence.
A few more random birds
Additional January birds included plenty of the usual suspects. I enjoyed birding the same locations over and over again, and began to find the same birds in the exact same locations. For instance, I can pull into Lone Elk Park and find a red-headed woodpecker within 60 seconds. Pretty exciting, I know.
EBird? I love it so far!
I am thrilled that I began using eBird this year. The charts are awesome, species guides helpful, and my personal lists are a game changer. The best part is that I have barely scratched the surface of what information is available. Here is the link to my eBird page.
My total species for January ended up being 58, a few birds more than last January. February should be relatively slow for me as far as growing this list, but certainly I will add to the tally. Hopefully I can get some waterfowl listed. Come back next month and see how it all worked out.
