Latest from the field

We blew-out the old bird watching record around our house this past weekend......maybe it was due to being confined by the ice and flu, at any rate-25 species seen. Not bad for living in town, a few blocks from the downtown. A friend and fellow birder wonders if it doesn't have to do with the river being close by-forming a continual habitat linking some wetlands. This could be-along with the railroad that runs through no more than a stone's throw from our feeders.

The official list:

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, F (back)

Red-Bellied Woodpecker, M, F

Downy Woodpecker, M, F

Hairy Woodpecker, F

Northern Flicker, F

White breasted Nuthatch, 2

Red breasted Nuthatch

Eastern Bluebirds, 3

Slate colored Juncos, 5

Song Sparrow

House Sparrows, 13

Goldfinch, 4

House finch, 6

Tufted titmouse, 2

Black-capped Chickadee, 2

Carolina Wren

Mourning Dove, 11

Cardinal, M, F

Blue Jay

Crow, 2

Mallard, M, F

Canadian Geese, 3

Rough-legged Hawk

Cooper's Hawk, F (flew right over our heads)

Starlings, 13 (not welcome)

and a Partridge in a Pear tree.