I spent the first day of the year in my traditional way, watching my feeders and then walking the neighborhood. I began the day with a large mixed flock of Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches and Pine Siskins and proceeded to get expected species through the morning. The biggest surprise was a Brown Creeper that stayed around visiting a suet feeder for a few hours. The only bird I did nto get compared to a year ago was Cassin's Finch, so few and far between this year. My walk down to Bashas and back produced a Merlin, a bird that I had failed to find in 2015.
On Saturday January 2nd I had an early success with a Red-naped Sapsucker in my yard. I then spent time, again following tradition, stopping by the lakes around town and adding waterfowl seen on the CBC. Temperatures had not gone above 3C all week and there was much less open water than a week ago. I found most expected birds, but saw no American Wigeon or Bufflehead. Instead I found a female Hooded Merganser on Lake Elaine and a male Northern Pintail on Lake Humphreys! I waited too long to find European Starling or Acorn Woodpecker in their well-known spots.
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