January 2nd - adding to my list

With my wife at work I decided to go on a short morning's drive around town to add to my 2015 list. However just before I left I had my 17th yard bird of the year, my second ever record of Downy Woodpecker:

Downy Woodpecker

I began my drive by dipping on Great-tailed Grackles in the Asda car park - we had 18 on December 27th! I then drove around the golf course hoping to add the duck and geese species seen on the CBC. Alas the snow had covered the fairways so that Canada Geese numbers were well down and the Ross's Goose nowhere to be seen. Deep snow did not allow access to some spots and open water was much reduced by ice so I did not find all the duck species I'd been hoping for.

At Walnut Canyon ponds NorthernShoveler were working hard to keep some of the water ice free, and Mallards had joined them in a small, densely populated gap in the ice. American Coot clearly were not welcome and these birds appeared to have been planted in the snow!

American Coot

I finished my drive with a stop at the Purina plant to add Eurasian Starling, and at the AcornWoodpecker spot on Lugano Way in Flagstaff. I ended the day with 27 species having missed out on Great-tailed Grackle, Pinyon Jay, Ross's Goose, Canvasback, Hooded Merganser and Ruddy Duck seen less than a week eaelier.