Introduction

Part of our Wildlife Management Plan includes doing an annual bird count for the farm. On December 22, 2013, Joni and I drove to the farm to do our usual December bird count. We began our 24-hour count late that afternoon. We finished the bird count a day later, on December 23, 2013.

Here's the list of birds observed during the approximately 24-hour period:

1. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

2. Northern Caracara (Caracara cheriway)

3. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Crows are a common sight and sound on the farm.

4. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)

5. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

These birds are not particularly shy and often provide for wonderful photographs.

6. Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)

7. American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Found in abundance every December.

American Robin

8. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

9. Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)

10. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

11. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

12. Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

13. Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

XX. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

One of the last birds seen. It always flaps off when we approach the pond

XX. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Surprisingly, the very last bird added on the bird count. Typically they are seen on the power lines around the farm, but not this time. I saw one Mourning Dove flying over the pond as we were closing out the bird count.

13. Pine Warbler (Dendroica pinus)

The Yellow-throated Vireo and the Pine Warbler are pretty similar species to my eyes, but I've decided to identify this bird as the Pine Warbler.

Pine Warbler

Pine Warbler

14. White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Walking along the road, about halfway down to the pond, I saw several sparrows in the underbrush. They didn't seem particularly shy, and I just waited as they moved from bush to bush until they finally were quite close. I have identified them as White-throated Sparrows. Here's some of the better photographs for identification purposes:

White-throated Sparrow	White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow	White-throated Sparrow

XX. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Cedar Waxwing

xx. Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)

Joni joined me down at the pond, and we decided to finish the morning off with a walk out and around the Hi-Fi Pasture. On that walk we saw a Carolina Wren.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren