2007 in Birds
Jan. 1st, 2008 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
In 2007, I saw 315 different species of birds, of which 284 were in Washington State (the only ones that really count), another 9 in the rest of North America, plus an extra 22 I fell over on my brief trip to England.
The Washington List: (* means I only saw a single bird)
Greater White-Fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose*
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Brant Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-Winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-Necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-Winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-Tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-Breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Sooty Grouse*
Wild Turkey
Mountain Quail
California Quail
Red-Throated Loon
Arctic Loon*
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Pied-Billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-Necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe*
Black-Footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-Footed Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-Crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret*
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-Tailed Kite*
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Goshawk*
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Red-Tailed Hawk
Rough-Legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Prairie Falcon
Virginia Rail
Sora*
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-Bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Black-Necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Wandering Tattler
Spotted Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Long-Billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper*
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Buff-Breasted Sandpiper
Ruff*
Short-Billed Dowitcher
Long-Billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Red-Necked Phalarope
South Polar Skua
Pomarine Jaegar
Parasitic Jaegar
Long-Tailed Jaegar*
Bonaparte's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer's Gull
Slaty-Backed Gull*
Western Gull
Glaucous-Winged Gull
Glaucous Gull
Sabine's Gull
Black-Legged Kittiwake
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Ancient Murrelet*
Cassin's Auklet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Tufted Puffin*
Feral Pigeon
Band-Tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Monk Parakeet
Barn Owl*
Great Horned Owl
Snowy Owl*
Barred Owl
Long-Eared Owl
Short-Eared Owl
Common Nighthawk
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird*
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis's Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker*
Red-Breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-Backed Woodpecker*
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-Sided Flycatcher*
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Tropical Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Shrike
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-Eyed Vireo
Gray Jay
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Black-Billed Magpie
American Crow
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-Green Swallow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren*
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Bohemian Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Black-Throated Gray Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Palm Warbler*
American Redstart*
MacGillivray's Warbler*
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-Breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Sage Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow*
Harris's Sparrow*
White-Crowned Sparrow
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
Lapland Longspur*
Snow Bunting
Black-Headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Bobolink*
Red-Winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-Headed Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird*
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
Cassin's Finch*
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow
Others in North America:
Falcated Duck (Oregon)*
White-Throated Swift (Nevada)
Black Phoebe (San Francisco)
Phainopepla (Nevada)
Great-Tailed Grackle) (Nevada)
Lucy's Warbler (Nevada)
Virginia Warbler (Nevada)
Abert's Towhee (Nevada)*
Black-Throated Sparrow (Nevada)
Don't talk to me about the gamebirds. Out of 6 possible grouse species in Washington, I have one. Admittedly four are east side only, three of which are rare and local, and only one of which I ever actually looked for, but still... no ruffed grouse is very poor. Or the red-naped sapsucker or house wren, again both east side only, but supposedly dirt common around several places I visited. It's also sad that the white-throated swift only makes the Nevada list, since everyone else sees them over the Columbia River, and I never did.
The British List:
Mute Swan
Red Kite
Common Buzzard
Eurasian Kestrel
Moorhen
Wood Pigeon
Swift
Green Woodpecker
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Pied Wagtail
Robin
Blackbird
Mistle Thrush
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Nuthatch
Common Magpie
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Yellowhammer
Another interesting list for me - birds seen in my garden. These aren't flyovers, these are birds that actually landed (or hovered to feed in the case of hummingbirds) and were visible from the house. (The official US Yard Bird Race counts flyovers too, so you get small suburban properties listing things like trumpeter swans, which strikes me as ridiculous. I'm only interested in which birds actually make use of my property and habitats.)
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Merlin
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Not a bad list of 30. I'm 90% sure we had a sharp-shinned hawk too, but it didn't stick around while I grabbed the binocs to make sure it wasn't a Cooper's. We probably had more warbler species too, if I'd spent more time at home instead of off birding elsewhere! No barred owl this year, after they peered in our windows on a daily basis over the summer of 06. We've heard them in the night, but further from the house, and I never did see one.
The last bird of the year was the Harris's Sparrow on December 14th in West Edison. December 14th is ridiculously early for a last bird of the year, since when I've looked for swamp sparrow (three times), chukar, grey partridge (see? It's those gamebirds again) and rosy-crowned finches, and they haven't obliged. The last Washington birds of the year were the eight short-eared owls floating about the Samish flats at the West 90 at 3.30pm on December 31st, replacing my sightings just over the border in BC. I'd looked for them in that same spot before, and there hadn't been any.
The West 90 is Birding Central for birds of prey, and it was an absolutely glorious afternoon, cloudless with the low sun over the golden, flooded fields, ringed by snow-covered mountains. I was standing in a single spot, watching a bald eagle having an altercation with three owls, the same eagle later disagreeing with a rough-legged hawk, and the ubiquitous red-tailed hawks and northern harriers cruising by. The low sun highlighted all the birds' colours and painted them with a few extras - even the bush full of streaky brown female red-winged blackbirds looked to be full of exotic yellow orioles, the effect was so dramatic. Not a bad way to finish the daylight hours of the year.
And then the SO and I saw in the New Year with not-champagne and Rock Band :-)
On other fronts, I managed to get only one fic out in 2007, all 8,750 words of it. To make that look a little less patheitc, I'm 48,800 words into my current WIP out of a likely 60-65k total, of which 37,300 are actually consecutive from the start. (I've also got 2,000 words of the fic after that - did I mention I never write in order?) The writing lost a lot of time to the birds this year, but my intention is to really push that fic now, and hopefully get it finished and beta-ready within a couple of months. Damn, I want to to see it done so badly, because that will finally tie up my novel-length Mexico arc. And I sure as hell never thought I'd write a novel....
The Washington List: (* means I only saw a single bird)
Greater White-Fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose*
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Brant Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-Winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-Necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-Winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-Tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-Breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Sooty Grouse*
Wild Turkey
Mountain Quail
California Quail
Red-Throated Loon
Arctic Loon*
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Pied-Billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-Necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe*
Black-Footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-Footed Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Fork-Tailed Storm Petrel
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-Crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret*
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-Tailed Kite*
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Goshawk*
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Red-Tailed Hawk
Rough-Legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Prairie Falcon
Virginia Rail
Sora*
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-Bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Black-Necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Wandering Tattler
Spotted Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Long-Billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper*
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Buff-Breasted Sandpiper
Ruff*
Short-Billed Dowitcher
Long-Billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Red-Necked Phalarope
South Polar Skua
Pomarine Jaegar
Parasitic Jaegar
Long-Tailed Jaegar*
Bonaparte's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer's Gull
Slaty-Backed Gull*
Western Gull
Glaucous-Winged Gull
Glaucous Gull
Sabine's Gull
Black-Legged Kittiwake
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Ancient Murrelet*
Cassin's Auklet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Tufted Puffin*
Feral Pigeon
Band-Tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Monk Parakeet
Barn Owl*
Great Horned Owl
Snowy Owl*
Barred Owl
Long-Eared Owl
Short-Eared Owl
Common Nighthawk
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird*
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis's Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker*
Red-Breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-Backed Woodpecker*
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Olive-Sided Flycatcher*
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Pacific-Slope Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Tropical Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Shrike
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-Eyed Vireo
Gray Jay
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Black-Billed Magpie
American Crow
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Violet-Green Swallow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren*
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Bohemian Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Black-Throated Gray Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Palm Warbler*
American Redstart*
MacGillivray's Warbler*
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-Breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Sage Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow*
Harris's Sparrow*
White-Crowned Sparrow
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
Lapland Longspur*
Snow Bunting
Black-Headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Bobolink*
Red-Winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-Headed Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird*
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
Cassin's Finch*
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow
Others in North America:
Falcated Duck (Oregon)*
White-Throated Swift (Nevada)
Black Phoebe (San Francisco)
Phainopepla (Nevada)
Great-Tailed Grackle) (Nevada)
Lucy's Warbler (Nevada)
Virginia Warbler (Nevada)
Abert's Towhee (Nevada)*
Black-Throated Sparrow (Nevada)
Don't talk to me about the gamebirds. Out of 6 possible grouse species in Washington, I have one. Admittedly four are east side only, three of which are rare and local, and only one of which I ever actually looked for, but still... no ruffed grouse is very poor. Or the red-naped sapsucker or house wren, again both east side only, but supposedly dirt common around several places I visited. It's also sad that the white-throated swift only makes the Nevada list, since everyone else sees them over the Columbia River, and I never did.
The British List:
Mute Swan
Red Kite
Common Buzzard
Eurasian Kestrel
Moorhen
Wood Pigeon
Swift
Green Woodpecker
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Pied Wagtail
Robin
Blackbird
Mistle Thrush
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Nuthatch
Common Magpie
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Yellowhammer
Another interesting list for me - birds seen in my garden. These aren't flyovers, these are birds that actually landed (or hovered to feed in the case of hummingbirds) and were visible from the house. (The official US Yard Bird Race counts flyovers too, so you get small suburban properties listing things like trumpeter swans, which strikes me as ridiculous. I'm only interested in which birds actually make use of my property and habitats.)
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Merlin
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Yellow Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-Eyed Junco
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Not a bad list of 30. I'm 90% sure we had a sharp-shinned hawk too, but it didn't stick around while I grabbed the binocs to make sure it wasn't a Cooper's. We probably had more warbler species too, if I'd spent more time at home instead of off birding elsewhere! No barred owl this year, after they peered in our windows on a daily basis over the summer of 06. We've heard them in the night, but further from the house, and I never did see one.
The last bird of the year was the Harris's Sparrow on December 14th in West Edison. December 14th is ridiculously early for a last bird of the year, since when I've looked for swamp sparrow (three times), chukar, grey partridge (see? It's those gamebirds again) and rosy-crowned finches, and they haven't obliged. The last Washington birds of the year were the eight short-eared owls floating about the Samish flats at the West 90 at 3.30pm on December 31st, replacing my sightings just over the border in BC. I'd looked for them in that same spot before, and there hadn't been any.
The West 90 is Birding Central for birds of prey, and it was an absolutely glorious afternoon, cloudless with the low sun over the golden, flooded fields, ringed by snow-covered mountains. I was standing in a single spot, watching a bald eagle having an altercation with three owls, the same eagle later disagreeing with a rough-legged hawk, and the ubiquitous red-tailed hawks and northern harriers cruising by. The low sun highlighted all the birds' colours and painted them with a few extras - even the bush full of streaky brown female red-winged blackbirds looked to be full of exotic yellow orioles, the effect was so dramatic. Not a bad way to finish the daylight hours of the year.
And then the SO and I saw in the New Year with not-champagne and Rock Band :-)
On other fronts, I managed to get only one fic out in 2007, all 8,750 words of it. To make that look a little less patheitc, I'm 48,800 words into my current WIP out of a likely 60-65k total, of which 37,300 are actually consecutive from the start. (I've also got 2,000 words of the fic after that - did I mention I never write in order?) The writing lost a lot of time to the birds this year, but my intention is to really push that fic now, and hopefully get it finished and beta-ready within a couple of months. Damn, I want to to see it done so badly, because that will finally tie up my novel-length Mexico arc. And I sure as hell never thought I'd write a novel....
