Eastern bluebird (and its lunch, a camel cricket)
Purple finch (male)
At New Year’s, I post my “yard list” here. It’s a list of all the bird species observed in my yard in Fort Valley, Virginia, over the course of the previous calendar year. I have been posting this list every year since I moved here:
Yellow-billed cuckoo (window-killed, unfortunately)
Ruby-throated hummingbird (female)
Tufted titmouse
Goldfinch (male, summer plumage)
Goldfinch (male, winter plumage)
Downy woodpecker (male)
This year, I regret to report that my numbers have fallen off this increasing trend of the first four years, with only 59 total species observed.
Here’s the list, presented in chronological order of first appearance in the year:
- White-breasted nuthatch
- Red-bellied woodpecker
- Goldfinch
- Carolina chickadee
- Downy woodpecker
- Tufted titmouse
- Mourning dove
- Dark-eyed junco
- Ruby-crowned kinglet
- American robin
- Brown creeper
- Carolina wren
- Hairy woodpecker
- Pine siskin
- Northern cardinal
- American crow
- Pileated woodpecker
- Turkey vulture
- Barred owl
- Purple finch
- Red-shouldered hawk
- Northern flicker
- Blue jay
- Red-tailed hawk
- Eastern phoebe
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Eastern bluebird
- Turkey
- Pine warbler
- Whippoorwill
- Canada goose
- Chipping sparrow
- Black vulture
- Eastern towhee
- Blue-gray gnatcatcher
- Broad-winged hawk
- Raven
- Ruby-throated hummingbird
- Blue-headed vireo
- Rose-breasted grosbeak
- Hermit thrush
- Indigo bunting
- Ovenbird
- Scarlet tanager
- Red-eyed vireo
- Yellow-rumped warbler
- Eastern wood-peewee
- House finch
- Yellow-billed cuckoo
- Cedar waxwing
- Bald eagle
- Great crested flycatcher
- Great blue heron
- Chimney swift
- Orchard oriole
- Black-throated green warbler
- Yellow-bellied sapsucker
- Golden-crowned kinglet
- Sharp-shinned hawk
All told, it’s not too shabby. But: better luck next year!
Carolina chickadee
Rose-breasted grosbeak (male)
Brown creeper
Swainson’s hawk (this one’s from Idaho, not Virginia)