FBOY‏ Joe Meche 1/1/14

What was your FBOY (First Bird Of the Year).

Mine was one of three Anna's Hummingbirds that have been with us all along, enduring the cold and always stopping by for a fill up. Remarkable little packages.

Joe Meche

Same here, first bird every morning is one of our Anna's.  Suzetta

Juncos, always juncos Judy K

How about Curve-billed Thrasher?

Clark in Green Valley, AZ

Happy New Year to Whatcom Birders!

My first bird species of the year in the Cockreham Island area of Skagit County was a flock of four domesticated Red Jungle Fowl. Since I can't count those, and don't want to, the honors go to the Black-capped Chickadee at my feeder!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

As I picked up my morning paper, there were three crows heading SW from where ever they go for the night and heading to the beach around fairhaven . Also a group of starlings greeted me with a red tail call from a close by tree and i startled a small flock of Juncos who were ground feeding near where my paper had landed. That's not very exciting, but it is the background normal for my yard.

The red tail call is a fairly normal  call that my neighborhood  starlings imitate. For a while,  years ago, I heard a starling imitating a car alarm! THAT made my day!    Adena Mooers

Pulling open the curtains upstairs at first foggy light I saw a whirling flock of Feral Pigeons that have become ubiquitous in this Happy Valley neighborhood over the last year. A neighbor down the street is feeding piles of corn in her yard and everything from rats to deer are chowing down.

Then as the morning bloomed I had two Anna’s, many Juncos, a horde of Bushtits, one Downy Woodpecker, Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and a Merlin perched across the streets. Glaucous-winged Gulls, American Crows, and Steller Jays winged in and out. Later, driving away from home, I had a Coopers Hawk cruising the backyard fast food feeder stations. A typical day on the first day of the year.

Joe Mackie

My FBOY was a Black-capped Chickadee. If you want to count "Heard Only", my FBOY was tentatively a Spotted Towhee; I was awake in bed with the curtains shut, and I heard some rather forceful groveling in the feeder, about the right sound for a SPTO. This of course is very speculative.

For the last several years, my FBOY was Anna's Hummingbird. This year it was about fourth.

Barry Ulman

Varied Thrush! Spied it at daybreak perching in the Dawn Redwood tree in our backyard. And then the usual morning onslaught of Juncos, no neck Joes (Red-breasted Nuthatches), Black Caps and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. It all happens at once up here on Toad Hill.
-holly

In San Ramon, CA, Western Scrub-jay. Elizabeth Dean

"no neck Joes"? Is that a common name for the nuthatches?



Curious,

Sheila Sondik

I responded just to Sheila, then realized ya'll might be curious to know where the name "No neck Joe" for Red-Breasted Nuthatches came from. No reference to Joe Meche! ; )





No, it's not a common name, unless you live in my house. It's just what my children called these wee birds, before learning their proper names. In my educational experience, using descriptive physical and behavioral characteristics help young children discriminate between similar birds. I often ask kids what they would name a bird based on its physical characteristics or what it is doing. Helps them remember the details of I.D. in a fun and personal way, which fosters connection. For a child, learning just the name of a bird means they can recognize and name it, but they're not often inspired to learn much more about it.




My family went up to Mosquito Lake Rd/Welcome bridge last Sunday and counted 62 Bald Eagles in the trees on either side of the Nooksack River, and at least 25 sightseers on the bridge itself. We saw several dead and mostly dead Chum salmon on the south side of the bridge, where we often go to play on the shore. Love a dynamic river system and how it changes so much in this area! 



Cheers,

~holly