January 100 Species Challenge
The month was slipping away. This was the last full weekend before February and with 2 solid days where I could go birding. And it was supposed to snow on Saturday, which made finding my final bird for the month just that more important. However this was the last thing on my mind as I made my way to Oxford Ohio to visit my oldest son for the evening. Then I received the phone call…it was my best friend Phil…a male and female Northern Bobwhite were under his stationary feeders eating the seeds on the ground. And here I am an hour away with hardly any daylight left. So I told him the situation and asked that he keep me informed as to whether they return the next day.
Northern Bobwhites were once a very abundant species, however with the loss of habitat they’ve now become fewer in numbers till you could almost call them an uncommon species. So when the call came yesterday while still at work that they just showed up again to feed lifted my hopes. Even though Phil’s house fronts a very busy road, the back and sides offer the cover that Bobwhites like, and they used that cover to sneak in and out to feed throughout the day. From what Phil was observing they would stay for about 15 minutes, feed, then leave. I smell a pattern that I might be able to use to catch these birds with my bins.
So after work yesterday I made my way over to his house to play the waiting game. As the clock approached 5:30 they came out. 1 male and 1 female, and 100 species.
Sorry for the poor quality photo. You see I was taking this picture through 2 doors. One with just a glass pane and the other through a screen.
So here’s the list of birds for this January 2014.
- Carolina Chickadee
- House Finch
- House Sparrow
- American Crow
- Tufted Titmouse
- American Robin
- American Goldfinch
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Blue Jay
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Northern Mockingbird
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- European Starling
- Northern Cardinal
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Barred Owl
- Canada Goose
- Cackling Goose
- Pigeon
- Trumpeter Swan
- Tundra Swan
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Bald Eagle
- Carolina Wren
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- American Coot
- Gadwall
- Mallard
- American Black Duck
- Song Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Ring-billed Gull
- Ring-necked Duck
- Mourning Dove
- White-throated Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Bufflehead
- Canvasback
- Greater White-fronted Goose
- Mute Swan
- Snow Goose
- Hooded Merganser
- Redhead
- Greater Scaup
- Lesser Scaup
- Hermit Thrush
- Common Grackle
- Ruddy Duck
- American Wigeon
- Common Goldeneye
- Northern Shoveler
- Brown Creeper
- American Tree Sparrow
- Wood Duck
- Northern Harrier
- American Kestrel
- Swamp Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Great Blue Heron
- Double-creasted Cormorant
- Killdeer
- Northern Flicker
- Herring Gull
- Snow Bunting
- Fox Sparrow
- Horned Lark
- Glaucous Gull-Lifer
- Lapland Longspur
- Eastern Towhee
- Black Vulture
- Savannah Sparrow
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Eastern Bluebird
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Wild Turkey
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Horned grebe
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Snowy Owl
- Merlin
- White-winged Scoter
- Common Merganser
- Surf Scoter
- Field Sparrow
- Turkey Vulture
- Green-winged Teal
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Common Loon
- Bonaparte’s Gull
- Belted Kingfisher
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Short-eared Owl
- Winter Wren
- Northern Bobwhite
Some pretty common birds that I dipped on this month are very common, however I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes the birding Gods are with you, such was the case of the Snowy Owl, Glaucous Gull (which I saw on the coldest day of the year), Short-eared Owls. And other times no matter how hard you try you just can’t find them. Such as…
- Northern Pintail
- Rusty Blackbird
- Brown Thrasher
- Cedar Waxwing
- Wilson’s Snipe
- Eastern Phoebe
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Pine Siskin
- Sandhill Crane
So until next year I’ll just keep on birding.