Adventures in Birding

#58-59, Another bird walk

I went on another bird walk with the North Branch Bird Club. They don't cover my county, but an adjacent county. It's in the area where my sister lives, so we meet up and go for walks with this club about once per month (at least in the Winter and early Spring).

It wasn't as successful of a year as the previous years, but almost. We had 31 different species this year, including two new ones for me, #58, Ring-billed Gulls   and #59, Ring-necked Ducks (also another lifer, I think).

Birders in our area (central PA) have noticed sings of Spring this week! Several species of birds have started singing. Birds have calls and songs (typically only the males "sing" as a way to attract mates). Song Sparrows and Northern Cardinals have started singing this week! I also heard some American Robins in my neighborhood this week! Robins don't typically migrate, but they move into deeper woods and change their eating habits in Winter. As Spring approaches, they come back to more urban areas.

This weekend was the Great Backyard Bird Count, where they try to get people all over the world to submit bird lists of what they see in their neighborhood. (Our bird walk yesterday counted as a checklist) Actually, if you have an ebird profile, any checklist you submit this weekend counts! I highly suggest checking out www.ebird.org if you like looking at birds! You can see checklists and hotspots in your area (and all over the world), plus they have a lot of good resources about birds and birding!

I'm trying to be patient and wait for Spring, but we had another 5 inches of snow last night, and I'm really hoping it melts fast!