The Stroud Preserve, 22 January 2013

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Don’t let the photo of the sunny sky fool you. Today was a flippin cold! If I said it was cold on any other day this winter I was wrong.  I started out the day at 18 degrees and by the time I got back to the car it had climbed all the way up to 19. Oh, and the wind did blow! Fortunately I used my grad school education to check the weather and dressed appropriately...before I left home. So, I was pretty warm with the exception of my nose. The birds didn’t like it much either. It was pretty darn quite. Some regulars like Morning Dove, Eastern Bluebird, and American Goldfinch were completely absent.

What drives a person to go out on a day like this? Well, I have been reading about all the wonderful winter finches that other birders in the region have been seeing. White-winged and Red Crossbills, Northern Shrikes, Common Redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks are abound everywhere but here. Other than hundreds of Purple Finches and a single day of Pine Siskins, I have not had any of these wonderful visitors from the North. They certainly were not around today. In fact, had the lowest total species tally thus far in 2013 with a whopping 28.

Stat time: 8:50

End time: 11:15

Temp: 18-19!

Wind: Strong out of the west

Skies: Completely clear

Species Total: 28

  • Black Vulture – 4
  • Turkey Vulture – approximately 12
  • Canada Goose – approximately 300
  • Mallard – 2
  • Common Merganser – 2
  • Red-tailed Hawk – 3 adults
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3
  • Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 3
  • Downy Woodpecker – 2
  • Northern Flicker – 1
  • Blue Jay – approximately 10
  • American Crow – approximately 150
  • Carolina Chickadee – approximately10
  • Tufted Titmouse – 1
  • White-breasted Nuthatch – 5
  • Carolina Wren – 4
  • American Robin – 4
  • Northern Mockingbird – 2
  • European Starling – 13
  • Eastern Towhee – 1
  • American Tree Sparrow – 3
  • Chipping Sparrow – 1, Bird of the Day!
  • Song Sparrow – approximately 20
  • White-throated Sparrow – approximately 50
  • Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 50
  • Northern Cardinal – approximately 15
  • Common Grackle – 1
  • House Finch – 1