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Lifebird 200
Jan. 3rd, 2009 08:57 pmToday I saw birds #199 and 200. 199 was a Black Scoter, which I saw at Norris Dam this morning. It wasn't that exciting really, because it was a drab female and not that different from the White-winged and Surf Scoters I saw last month. It's unusual to see any Scoters in Tennessee, since they're diving ducks normally found close to the coasts, so I suppose I should have been more excited. I walked some of the trails up at Norris, looking for the Pine Siskins that have been reported there and everywhere, but no luck. It was a pleasant walk nonetheless. I would like to go up there more often. It was so quiet I could hear birds land and I heard the wing flutter of a Tufted Titmouse that I flushed.
I came back home and checked out the feeders for the Christmas Bird Count. Earlier today I saw a Brown Creeper in my yard, which is what made me decide I should participate after all. Those little fellers are hard to find: they're the size of Chickadees but they don't act like them. They have brown and white speckled backs and a white belly, and they walk up tree trunks in a spiral pattern. This afternoon I mostly had American Goldfinches, lots of them. Then I took a good look at my finch feeder out front and saw the Pine Siskins! Bird 200, right in my yard. They had probably been there before but I hadn't noticed them. If you don't look closely, you might mistake them for American Goldfinches (from their behavior or their wing bars or the flashes of yellow on the wing) or House Finches (from the striped backs). Hence the importance of paying attention.
I came back home and checked out the feeders for the Christmas Bird Count. Earlier today I saw a Brown Creeper in my yard, which is what made me decide I should participate after all. Those little fellers are hard to find: they're the size of Chickadees but they don't act like them. They have brown and white speckled backs and a white belly, and they walk up tree trunks in a spiral pattern. This afternoon I mostly had American Goldfinches, lots of them. Then I took a good look at my finch feeder out front and saw the Pine Siskins! Bird 200, right in my yard. They had probably been there before but I hadn't noticed them. If you don't look closely, you might mistake them for American Goldfinches (from their behavior or their wing bars or the flashes of yellow on the wing) or House Finches (from the striped backs). Hence the importance of paying attention.