Jan 1, 2025
What a wonderful 1/1 birding day. We had a couple of simply magical moments and ended the day with 43 species positively ID’ed- by far our best First Day. All told, we walked six miles in several different locations.
Before I go into the magical, I want to share the oddities. We saw more than a dozen Western Bluebirds, a Common Grackle, and a Double-crested Cormorant. These are all birds we typically see in the spring or summer.
Magical Moment 1- We were in the Scratchgravels and we heard tapping a bit off the trail up on a rocky bluff. So we did what any good birder would do- we followed the sounds until we found the bird responsible. We were about 200 meters up a nicely forested slope when we started seeing small birds by the dozens moving from tree to tree. We stopped and listened and were completely surrounded by Pygmy Nuthatches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees. All singing their soft, sweet songs or chirping quietly. We just stood in their midst and listened for a good 3 to 5 minutes. Magic.
MM 2- we ran into a good friend who informed us that she had been hanging out with a little grey bird that was playing in the water. A Water Ouzel, or American Dipper! We found the Dipper hanging out on the bank of a small stream and it didn’t seem phased by our approach. So we watched it for about 10 mins. And by that, I mean we sat and watched it as it sang and bobbed up and down. We’ve never heard a Dipper sing before today.
We also saw three each of Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks, and Red-tailed Hawks; two Northern Harriers, two Merlin’s, and one Kestrel.
I honestly think we could have found 50 species if we could have stayed out all day, but 5 hours afield was our limit today. The new year is off to a bracingly good start!
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