Christmas Bird Count

     You've heard this before. I always do the Christmas bird count. I've done the same area for about 40 years. I've looked back on previous posts and find that the number of years I've counted   varies??? I've missed the odd year when I would be away or sick. Sometimes it was just far too cold. 

      I know what species should be in my area. On any given day I'm happy to see half of them.  There should be 15 to 20 species in my area. Some species like the cross bills only appear when the cone crop is good. We have lots of cross bills this year. Pine siskins only show up when the right food is available.

     So Sunday I had a good day. The temperatures were from minus 15 to minus 5. It was partly cloudy. If it's a good day for me it's also a good day for birds.

     So I saw nine species which is about what I usually see.

     So I had a great day of bird counting.

The pileated woodpecker found me as it flew in to feed beside me. He's easy to photograph as he's large and he stays in one place. I watched him until I got bored and then moved on.