Introduction

Part of our Wildlife Management Plan includes doing an annual bird count for the farm. On December 31, 2010, Joni and I started our 24-hour count around 3:00 p.m. We finished it mid-afternoon, January 1st, 2011.

Here's the list of birds we saw that day:

1. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

I started out the morning in the blind which was set up next to the pond. I heard crows from the blind. We also heard and saw them flying several times during the day.

2. Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius)

This little bird appeared in a bush close to the bird blind where I was sitting. He perched for a bit while I snapped off a few photographs, then he darted off. He was in the middle of a rather tangled and brushy area; that's why the photographs have some blurry parts.

This was the first time I've seen a Blue-headed Vireo on the farm. Thanks to my sister, Emily, for help in identification.

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

3. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

The Northern Cardinal is abundant on the Sula-Richards Farm. The first one was seen from the bird blind in the morning. But Joni, Ananda, and I observed them all day. They're so common, I neglected to take any photographs!

4. Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)

This Carolina Wren was also one of the birds I photographed from the bird blind, a bit before Ananda arrived.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren

5. American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

As I sat in the bird blind by the pond, I noticed a large number of robins moving through the trees. We see them a lot during the winter months, and this day they were most definitely in attendance.This was the first of many sightings of this rather large, easily recognizable bird.

Throughout the day, they were seen all over the farm, usually in large flocks, constantly moving, rarely staying in the same tree for long. Joni, Ananda, and I observed that they seemed to particularly like the trees along the edges of open fields. As the day progressed, and the abundance of robins did not abate, our count estimate went up accordingly: from "scores of robins" to "hundreds of robins" to "thousands of robins" for the day.

This rather poor photograph was taken late in the afternoon, when the thought came to me that I should get at least some photographic record of the most abundant bird of the day.

6. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)

I saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers from the bird blind. Most were fairly far away; however, here are a couple of photographs of a Yellow-rumped which was accomodating enough to pose within a few yards of me.

These were the last bird photographs I took from the blind that morning. I walked back to the cabin, and Ananda arrived soon after.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler