It was a pretty good day in the back yard yesterday. The sun was out, it wasn’t overly chilly and I managed to add a couple new species to my list.
There should be a schedule. The birds seem to come through in waves and flocks. Maybe they know what time they are supposed to come through my yard, but I don’t. I’m just sort of catching them when I can.
This week, I managed to spot a couple species I was hoping would be on the list much earlier. It’s a funny thing. I can list a lot of different bird species I have seen in the yard over the years. But when you start an actual list of birds you see from a certain date forward you start to realize that it has taken several years to see all those types of birds hanging around.
The first to be added was a mourning dove. Those things are everywhere, so I don’t know why it took three weeks for one to show up in the back yard. But it finally did, so it can be added to my list.
Mourning doves are one of those birds that make me wonder a bit. Years ago, you didn’t see very many mourning doves. Now, they are everywhere. It seems you can’t go anywhere without starting a mourning dove and make it fly off with that weird squeaking sound they make when they fly. It makes me wonder if mourning doves need to be oiled. It seems like their wings squeak when they fly.
There were also a few gold finches that came through. I was hoping to have both gold and purple finches on the list by now, but again, it took a while to actually spot one.
But the highlight of the show this week would have to be the cedar waxwings. It’s -pretty hard to compete with the bunch if cardinals that I seem to have around most days, what with the flashy red outfits, but the waxwings managed to stand out. Although there was quite a crowd of them.
So three new ones for this week. The list now stands at:
crows
starlings
black capped chickadees
white breasted nuthatch
sparrows
blue jay
cardinals
robins
mourning dove
gold finch
cedar waxwings
I know there are a few more I can add. If and when I see them.
