A long day, a big day, to kick off the year! I started by owling for a few moments after getting back from a New Years Eve party. Fortunately an Eastern Screech Owl responded to a tape in the backyard, so it becomes the first bird of the 2015 Backyard Big Year! (See eBird checklist here).
I went to bed but only slept for an hour before waking up at 3:30am. After over an hour of trying to get back to sleep I just flicked it in and came downstairs to listen to the OldBird 21c microphone. It was pretty quiet. Just after 5:30 I went out and tried to call up a Northern Saw-whet Owl, to no avail. The sky started getting lighter and lighter, and the first bird of the morning–a White-throated Sparrow–called at 6:50am.
A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers spent over an hour working the woods in my west side yard this morning.
Highights of the morning catching the morning gull exodus from Spruce Run. Over 10,000 gulls streamed out in a constant stream heading west from 7:45am until around 9am. In the flock, which was super far away (over two miles) I was able to distinguish larger and smaller birds (Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls). I saw one (new for the yard list–Code 4) and 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the haze and early morning light. Most gulls were just too far to do much with.
After the gulls had gone through, I continued to scan the hills to the north and was rewarded with some quick very distant flybys of a Gadwall pair and a single American Black Duck–both new for the yard list (Code 3). (see morning eBird checklist here).
The afternoon was pretty dead, I spent a lot of time scanning to the north but didn’t find anything new. I did decide that 2 of the many chickadees in my yard show all of the characteristics of Carolina Chickadee, so that was the last new bird for the year. I ended the day with 36 species–exceeding my 30 species goal. I’m very excited about the prospects of seeing waterfowl flying to the north, though I only have a very small visual field in that direction through trees and over my neighbor’s roof! (see afternoon eBird checklist here).
See that distant hillside above my neighbor’s roofline? That was my window onto a huge gull movement. Most birds were 1.5-2 miles away, but with my scope I was still able to pick out 4 gull species and 2 flyby ducks new for my yard list!
I took a lot of photos, but haven’t counted up how many birds I got for the photo big year. Also I ran the OldBird 21c microphone all day, so most of the birds that I heard today should be recorded. I’ll have to go through the recording and cut samples for each species before I know how many I got for the audio big year.
Tomorrow I probably won’t spend the afternoon outside, as it was so dead. But I’m really looking forward to the morning flight again!
