Birding Journal Observations - January / February 2016

Wading Bird Trifecta: Great White Egret,
Great Blue Heron, and Little Blue Heron

The winter of 2016 will go down as our third wet winter in a row. The Lowcountry became so saturated that many say this is as wet as they can ever remember. Some even speculate that natural springs may be able to come back to life for a short time with the water table way up. To me it reinforces that nature revolves in cycles, a time of drought followed by a time of wet, and the actual duration of those cycles may be in longer rotations than humans can fathom. We also had cold temperatures again, though they were streaky, but I did record 25-degrees on January 20, 2016.

My first goldfinch showed up right after the cold on January 23, and soon after that I noted my first ever bufflehead duck swimming in the pasture pond on January 29. Also on the 29th I saw my first brown-headed nuthatch of the year and on February 9 I saw the first fox sparrow. Cold weather brings lots of songbirds to the seed feeders so on those days it was not unusual to record 15 species or more.

Other bird observations of note include dove, cardinal, downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, red-bellied woodpecker, chipping sparrow, towhee, mockingbird, yellow-bellied sapsucker, white-breasted nuthatch, robin, Carolina chickadee, blue jay, kinglet, white-throated sparrow, Carolina wren, pileated woodpecker, Northern flicker, red-shouldered hawk, meadowlark, Canada goose and house finch.

To view the most recent Birding Journal Observations click November / December 2015

To view past Birding Journal Observations from January / February click 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009