147 is the new cumulative total: Red-headed Woodpecker was hanging around the yard for the weekend (117/143). A GBHE fly-over while I was installing a water feature in the back yard brings the year list is 118. Two hen WITU have been visiting the feeders daily this week with 14 youngsters. They come together as a large flock, but the poults are distinctly different ages and stick with their respective moms when they separate. There has been an elusive MERL seen by others attacking birds at the feeders recently. Where it is when I'm around is anyone's guess.
I'll post a description of my yard when time allows. Sufice it to say, its mostly a wild 8 acres.
Rick
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Rixta- Perhaps you should explain how you know what birds are around your yard when you are not home??? This is not a "situation normal" for the rest of us!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm lucky enough to have another active, astute birder living on the premises spring, summer and fall. She lives in my family's ancestral homestead next door April-June and then moves into a room I had built for her here through mid Oct. My mom is a sharp 85 yrs. Her life yard list far surpasses mine as she has had many more years at it than I. Besides her allerting me to birds that are around which I could potentially find (ie: the elusive MERL), I have a number of friends and relatives that casually bird the property and keep me posted. No, Putter, I don't count on my list the birds only they find. Perhaps that takes some of the mystery out of it for you. I'm curious, though, aren't there others in this crew who have other birders - whether casual or serious - in their households?
ReplyDeleteMy Dad knows just enough to make him dangerous, he will tip me off to something really noticeable or the most common of feeder birds (occasionally an owl calling when he walks the dog late at night) but I definitely don't count what he reports to me unless I see it...
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