Simple Effort...Big Birding Rewards

Birding is like sports, the right bounce here/there success (sometimes large) follows. So, I stepped outside (see photo below) this morning (9:20 am) on a clear, cold (10 F) day hoping to start my 2015 birding list with some common birds. Almost immediately, heard a American Robin "chortling" in the near distance, awesome first bird for year...very local around fruit bearing trees/shrubs. This was quickly followed by five other species: Common Raven, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Black-billed Magpie and American Crow.

Then walked to the other side of house near neighbors Mountain Ash and feeders down the street. My neighbor came outside to retrieve his newspaper and we proceeded with some football talk. After a couple of minutes of Peyton Manning et al a group of Western Bluebirds swooped into his Mountain Ash tree. I was stunned, never seen them in January...WOW. Abandoned the conversation and ran for my camera. Returned to find them perched atop nearby Blue Spruce (see photos below). Spent couple of minutes taking photos at different settings (want diagnostic pic). With mission accomplished a Northern Flicker blasts by me above and to left giving a odd call. Birds scatter, gotta be a hawk.

Yep, spy the streak to the left land in the branchy middle of Ponderosa Pine...it's an Accipiter. Quick look with my binoculars, square tail...Sharpie. Camera in hand start taking photos while walking towards the bird. Get to within 35 yards before it flushes. This is really my morning, didn't do anything special...just catching all the breaks :-) Walking to the front door of house, you guessed it, more gold...Townsend's Solitaire flys over. Three species of thrush in January in 35 minutes; that is what is cool about birding...the unexpected. Get outside for your share of excitement :-)

Western Bluebird

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Outside Xmas Been Good or Bad Lists…Wildlife Checklists for New Year

Like you, I've been out and about looking for wildlife (mostly birds) to add to my lists (annual and life) for the new year. So far, it has been slow going compared to last year. Thirteen species of birds are on my checklist year-to-date. Caveat being short time invested (about 4 hours) and habitat visited. Two habitats have been concentrated on at this point, open country and Rocky Mountain Forest a) Subalpine Mesic Spruce-Fir and b) Dry-Mesic Montane Mixed. Targets for a: buteos, horned larks, snow buntings and longspurs and b: winter finches and corvids. Have done well with buteos (photo below).

Rough-legged Hawk

The forest has been really quiet...winter finches are mostly absent (CBC's bear this out). For good reason, the cone crop is pretty much non-existent. I took a field trip to Lolo Pass and found few trees (photo below, likely Subalpine Fir) with cones. The good news is the snowpack (44 inches) is 84% of normal.

Lolo Pass-Conifers and Snowpack

I record my sightings, observations in a variety of ways, hard copy and digital. I've downloaded the AOU checklist (American Ornithologists Union) and imported it into Google Sheets for annual and life list tracking. By being cloud-based, I can reach my list using any computer, tablet. Similarly, have downloaded and adapted checklists (mostly national) for dragonflies (Odonates really...provided by the Slater Museum-University of Puget Sound), butterflies (source: North American Butterfly Association), and wildflowers (Montana has an excellent natural heritage web site for plants...your State probably has extensive resources also).
The way I'm doing this is a bit dated; there is a plethora of digital resources (apps) coming online. Included are checklists (E-Bird) integrated with identification guides and natural history information (Audubon Bird Guide)...all in a mobile platform. App checklist competition comes from a published work by Whit Bronaugh titled Wildlife of North America-A Naturalists Lifelist.
Yes, tracking wildlife-watching efforts is important, think S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based) objectives for learning about wildlife. Just don't forget wildlife-watching (drilled down from generic just "being outside" category) is also a path for daily happiness (being in the moment); here's a visual checklist "how-to-be-happy" from Pinfographics.
Leave me a comment with a link to your recent observation checklist :-)