The Great Backyard Bird Count continues! And thanks to a surprise Dixie Snowfall (it started snowing 9:30 AM and hasn't quit yet) I contented myself to monitor the birds through the day, and counted in four separate half hour shifts (8AM, 11AM, 2PM, and 4PM). The overall species count for the weekend now stands at 26 as I picked up 11 not seen Friday. In fact, I picked up a yard life lister in the form of a Fox Sparrow in the early afternoon! Others that decided to show up included the Pine Siskins, goldfinches, the Hermit Thrush, White- and Red-Breasted Nuthatches, towhees, bluebirds, Brown Thrasher, and Blue Jay. I did not see a massive Red Winged Blackbird attack like yesterday's, and saw at most 15 birds. But the Siskins...(!) At one point I counted no less than 47 birds...and I suspected there were more either just out of sight or which I could not identify. The photo shows some of them mixed with odd goldfinches. But that was all in all the most siskins I have seen in my life...and this an irruptive winter species in these parts! So I will conduct more counts tomorrow. And I am still looking for a few species that I should see, among them, the flickers, Pine Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Common Grackle, Northern Mockingbird, and Ruby Crowned Kinglet. And Crows? and who knows what else. All is looking fine!
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