American goldfinch at the Indigo Hill feeding station.Happy New Year, everybody!
My first bird of 2008 was an American goldfinch in winter plumage.
I could have waited around, blind-folded until Julie saw a less common species and led me to it—say a nice eastern bluebird, or a purple finch, or a red-breasted nuthatch—but when I cracked my eyes open for a few minutes at about 8:30 this morning, it was the GOFI that I saw.
This is a game I've played for a couple of decades. Some years I really try to get a "good" bird to start the year off. When I lived in New York City it was almost always a rock pigeon (then rock dove) or a house sparrow. One year I lucked out with a herring gull. In Baltimore, I could sometimes see the neighborhood American kestrel that roosted in the church steeple across the park from my apartment.
I did not see another bird today until about 2:45. I was sleeping to recover from a very late night last night. More on that later...
My first bird of 2008 was an American goldfinch in winter plumage.
I could have waited around, blind-folded until Julie saw a less common species and led me to it—say a nice eastern bluebird, or a purple finch, or a red-breasted nuthatch—but when I cracked my eyes open for a few minutes at about 8:30 this morning, it was the GOFI that I saw.
This is a game I've played for a couple of decades. Some years I really try to get a "good" bird to start the year off. When I lived in New York City it was almost always a rock pigeon (then rock dove) or a house sparrow. One year I lucked out with a herring gull. In Baltimore, I could sometimes see the neighborhood American kestrel that roosted in the church steeple across the park from my apartment.
I did not see another bird today until about 2:45. I was sleeping to recover from a very late night last night. More on that later...
10 comments:
We had the same First Bird. (Same species, different bird) But, I think it is cheating to keep your eyes closed until someone else spots a "good" bird. I think it should just be luck that determines what you see. Saw the report on Julie's blog about the Orang's happening; it looks like it was a totally rockin' night. Sorry I missed it.
~Kathi
MoDo first, topped off by red breasted nut hatch. Oh, and the dder who came to the window.
RR
dder is similar to a deer
My first look outside was to the peanut feeder where I saw a white-breasted nuthatch with a deformed bill. I hope that's not an omen...
Happy New Year, Bill! I heard about the best gig in town on New Year's Eve!
Black-capped Chickadee here! Actually it was a few of them scolding me for being late in getting the seeds out!
What great luck I had. My first bird of 2008 is my second favorite bird...a pileated woodpecker on the suet. No lifers today at all, but if you start out with a pileated shining in sun, who cares about a lifer?
two gazillion chickadees here, so i WON'T count them! but i did suddenly get a mourning dove, so i'm going to count that. have not had one since summer. even got a photo of it, not a good one, but i got one! My goldfinches have all gone somewhere!!
My first bird of the new year? a lone Black-capped Chickadee. Quickly followed by GOFIs, WBNH, and all the eastern winter woodpeckers except YBSS and RHWO. I then took a quick trip to the WI river to add RBGU, HEGU and LBBG. Ended up with 28 species on the first day of the year. Today, I bagged a Northern Goshawk. (I'm glad I got that one out of the way) It's going to be a great year! 600 here I come!
--Chris W, The SW WI birder.
Lovely lady junco was first bird on my deck feeder, with hairy woodpecker into the peanuts close by.
Caroline in the Black Hills of SD
My 1st on the 1st was a robin, eating pyracantha - first time this winter I've seen one in that bush, too! The robins are only here approx. Nov.-Feb. so I appreciate them.
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