January Is A Great Month To Keep A List Of Birds

Last year I was introduced to a listing game called "Big January." The goal is to find as many species as possible between January 1st and January 31st with a minimum goal of 90 species(for CT). Some birders take this game very seriously and go at it with a vengeance! With the encouragement of another birder, I decided to give it a try last January and actually ended up exceeding the 90 species- but... I had a lot of help. It was a fun experience. I had a chance to see several new species of birds and visited some great birding areas for the first time. I learned that the key to getting a good list is to make lots of visits to the shoreline areas. On the down side, by the end of the month, I realized that the scope and tripod I own aren't adequate for serious birding. This year, I decided that I probably don't have time to rack up a big list of birds. Who needs to play this silly listing game anyway? At least that's what I thought until I saw Common Redpolls at my workplace bird feeder on January first and a Gray Catbird a few days later. Then I started thinking-Those would make for two pretty good birds to start a list. So I am making a compromise. I'll keep a list of species that I see in January but I'm not going to worry about how many I end up with. If it's 70, that's fine with me. If it's 95, great! Either way, it's a nice way to make the month of January a little more interesting. So far, I've only managed to get out for one morning of birding and stayed in my local area. Besides the two species I mentioned above, here's what I've got so far:

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Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Common Merganser, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Herring Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, American Robin, Northern mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, American Tree Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

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I think that adds up to a total of 43 so far-not much, but it's a start. I will keep you updated on any new additions as the month rolls along. The ones in red are the ones that I considered the more difficult species to find.

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Are you keeping track of the species you see in January? If not, you've still got 21 days to get your list together and join in on the fun! Set your own goal if you'd like to or just keep track of your total whatever it may be. Any species you see in your state for the month of January counts- as long as it's not caged or domestic. You can post your results on your blog or mine at the end of the month.