What was your first bird of 2010? Let us know in the comments…and, if you wrote a blog post or have a picture of your first bird of the year online somewhere, well, leave a link in the comments too.
Happy New Year from all three of us at 10,000 Birds! And here’s hoping you see many great birds, including lots of lifers, in 2010!
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
A welcome first bird of the year was the second chick of the threatened Australian Pied Oystercatcher, nesting locally. Only one chick has been seen by observers in the last few days and one was thought to have been predated, so it was great to see the two of them alive and well.
http://bushbirds.blogspot.com/
~Marj
Rooks calling at 04:30 – probably in celebration that our neighbours finally turned their bloody stereo off (GRRRRR).
0600 hours, I step out of my trailer into the predawn blackness and rain, and I flush a Killdeer off the lawn.
Happy new Year
First bird of the year was a Curlew.
The rest of my list so far this year
http://peregrinesbirdlist2010.blogspot.com/2009/12/peregrines-bird-list-2010.html
upto no 35 all seen from my house.
An hour later, still dark and rainy, but a Red-shouldered Hawk deemed it good enough to start wailing. Bird #2 of 2010 🙂
#1. Northern Cardinal singing in the yard.
I got a yelling Blue Jay, which beats the heck out of the expected House Sparrows or pigeons!
Happy New Year!
a blackbird singing at 3:30 this morning. walking home from the party.
White-breasted nuthatch.
@Dale: Admit it, you were just listening to the Beatles!
Just returned back of some baby walk birding 🙂
Here is the result:
http://web.me.com/gyorgy.szimuly/SzimiStyles_Birding_Experience_EN/Blog/Blog.html
Happy New Year to all of you!
Szimi
Eastern bluebird, perched on a branch in the back yard. It’s good to be home on new year’s.
Carolina Wren
A Northern Flicker and, surprisingly, a Spotted Towhee, on my peanut feeder.
California Towhee.
I was greeted this morning by one of my overwintering Anna’s Hummingbirds as I poured my first cup of coffee and looked out the window!
A carolina chickadee at the feeder
First was a Mourning Dove. The best of the first day was an Iceland Gull.
An American Crow, just like last year. My day list is very similar to last year’s as well.
My first bird of 2010? Wait a minute, I’ll go look……
….
….
Raven. There’s nine of them sitting out the blizzard on the roof of the old Patrol Cabin, (formerly the meteorological station and the oldest building still standing here).
Crawled out of bed late after last night’s New Year’s party, looked up in the gray Oregon drizzle and saw (and heard) a flock of Cackling Geese fly over … followed by two European Starlings. Yellow-rumped Warbler was bird # 3.
My very first bird was an unsurprising White-breasted Nuthatch, but I got 20 species today without leaving the house, including Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant, White-crowned Sparrow, Cooper’s Hawk, and an unusually hardy Eastern Towhee.
Remember that Charlie Brown Halloween special in which, as each kid excitedly announced what treat they got at each house, Charlie kept saying, “I got a rock?”
Not to sound too ungrateful. but:
I got a House Sparrow.
White-throated Sparrows and Northern Cardinals, mostly because I closed my eyes on the way to Alley Pond Park so I wouldn’t see the ROPIs (fortunately for everyone, not driving).
My first bird of the year was a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds hanging out in a tree outside my parent’s house this morning.
white-winged dove
My first bird of the day–and year–was a song sparrow, at the backyard feeder.
Another favorite of the day was a blue heron, flying over the salt marsh at Sherwood Island State Park, in CT.
My first bird of the year was a Eurasian Collared-Dove, followed by a a large flock of pigeons.
I was really hoping for the Killdear that I hear almost every morning.
The Bohemian Waxwing – small flock (20 +) feeding on the berries from tree outside 2nd story window…not Cedar Waxwing…verified that.
Location Madoc Ontario Canada. – They were here earlier in late November.
Round, full, and healthy looking…Beautiful
-added note…the Bohemians dropped in New Year’s morning after an all night snow storm…and I will update the # to 50 + – as in the past few minutes – their team mates have arrived….
American Tree Sparrow
a group of American White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) and a couple of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) on the banks of Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland, Florida
Mine was the the exact same as Corey- a calling blue jay.
I want to live wherever you can see an oystercatcher, ibis, or bohemian waxwing before a house sparrow.
Oh dear, I completely forgot to notice my first bird of 2010.
Likely candidates are Eurasian Blackbird, Rook, Common, Herring or Black-headed Gull and House Sparrow.
Beautiful and graceful Black-billed Magpies (and for the first time!). The memories are vivid, but the photographs are somewhat poor.
Up in time to catch the live broadcast of the Rose Parade at 8 am pst only to hear the resident Anna’s hummingbird male begin their diving display. As I was making tha first cup of morning coffee, one of his competitors zipped passed my kitchen window.
phainopepla on very early morning walk to catch the warmth of the sunrise on the east facing side of Indian Gorge in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. chilly night to camp out but what a nice new year’s day greeting – the soft, single note of the little desert silky flycatcher.
I live in snowy, cold Indiana. I put out food for the animals like the cats around the neighborhood. and also throw out a couple of slices of wheat bread for the many birds that stay here all winter. This Sat. morning(Feb. 13, 2010), I threw out 2-3 slices of bread for the birds & left the window to do something else. Just happened to look out the kitchen window, & there was a large robin watching the other birds eat the bread. He was there only a short time. I don’t think robins eat bread, but does anyone know if it’s to early for robins? What would they eat, with everything still frozen & about 9″ of snow on everything. I know it was a robin, but will keep putting out pieces of bread for it to eat. Hurry spring! I will keep camera close to the kitchen window….
Several years ago we had a hanging flower basket on the porch, a robin couple came and nested there and had their babies. Then later my wife and I were standing on the porch and a robin came back to the nest she had left and my wife put her arm out and the robin came and sit on her arm and walked across her shoulder. We made video of this.
We fed them small pieces of bread. Today, February 20, 2010 at 4 p.m., we saw 5 robins in our yard. We are in southern Michigan and we believe this is a sign of an early spring.