Christmas Bird Count Today

Today was the bird count and though it was a little chilly, the weather cooperated - no snowstorms, wind or rain which made for much easier hiking than last year.

After some delicious coffee cake and hot drinks, we broke up into about five groups. Haynes was the leader for the Kennard Park, Brown and Oak Hill areas. He has the final list and tallies, so I will do my best to recall some of the birds we saw today, though nothing unusual was spotted.

Between the two areas, we saw many juncos, robins, starlings, some crows, seagulls, geese and ducks. There were carolina wrens, chickadees, titmice, song sparrows, a red-bellied woodpecker, nuthatches, a red-tailed hawk, downies, cardinals and blue jays.

As we were leaving, Haynes spotted some unusual shaped, freshly made holes in a healthy pine tree near the entrance to the Kennard, that he felt could be serious evidence of a pileated woodpecker. That would be quite exciting! May go back to investigate.