My first bird of 2010 was a male eastern bluebird eating suet dough on the deck railing. I managed to avert my eyes long enough to get this individual bluebird as my first bird of the new year. We had grand plans to go birding on New Year's Day, but they got canceled by poor weather and illness. I was suffering under the effects of a chest cold that laid me low from 12/30 through today (1/4/10)! But thanks to good fortune (and my indulgent wife, Julie) the bluebird (of happiness) was my first bird of the new year.
Because we were denied the annual ritual of going birding on 1/1, the members of the Whipple Bird Club connected by telephone to share our new year's sightings. Shila's first bird was a downy woodpecker. Julie's was a Carolina wren (heard) and a Euro starling (visual). Steve's was a dark-eyed junco.
What was YOUR first bird? I hope it was a good one.
Happy New Year to all!
Sorry to hear your birding aspirations were waylaid! I was toying with the idea of going on a walk led by our local bird club (until my boyfriend reminded me that the odds of me getting up at 6:30 a.m. on New Year's Day weren't exactly in my favor.) I did do my first FeederWatch of 2010 beginning on the 1st, though--first bird was a female cardinal.
ReplyDeleteI was so shocked a few weeks ago when I saw my first bluebird-in-winter, though! Beautiful capture of the one on your deck. (So far everyone has been ignoring the new suet feeder I put up for them. Ingrates!) Hope you're feeling better, and that your birdwatching is back on track soon! You're off to an auspicious start! :)
Bluebirds for New Year's just seems so cheerful.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I got the best Christmas and New Year's present I've ever had. My first bird of the New Year was the Buff-bellied Hummingbird that has been hanging around my house in San Antonio, TX since Dec. 23rd.
Can you believe our first birds of the New Year here in St. Paul, Minnesota was 14 robins? In subzero weather!
ReplyDeleteNorthern Mockingbird for me.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're feeling better, Bill. Being sick is the pits!
Ah, Eastern Bluebird, what a wonderful way to begin the new year!
ReplyDeleteMine was the ubiquitious rock dove.
Remember the Charlie Brown Halloween special where, as the kids excitedly enumerated the treats they'd received at each house, Charlie cheerlessly intoned, "I got a rock?"
ReplyDeleteMy first bird of the year? "I got a House Sparrow."
Beautiful blue bird, what a great first. Our first of the year, which was actually on January 2nd because of rain, was a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
ReplyDeleteBlack-billed Magpie!
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