Year List Update

We've thawed out over here in the San Juan Islands and after five days of sub-freezing temperatures we've returned to our regular array of drizzly, gray, windy weather - though in early March there have been a few sunshine breaks as well! Here's hoping the "In like a lion, out like a lamb" holds true and we'll exit this month in the midst of spring. Overall I've been working hard on another writing project - I'll be posting more about that at some point in the future - which means my creative energy has been focused elsewhere and I was somewhat surprised to realize I haven't blogged in almost a week!

With a couple of recent sightings and another month gone by it's time to check in on my year list. Last weekend during the snow I finally saw the varied thrush (127) that had surprisingly eluded me through the first eight weeks of the new year. Alongside an icy road was a large group of them mixed in with some robins.

With that, February concluded with 13 more year birds added to the list. That's down from the 18 birds notched last February, though my two month total in 2010 was only 106.

A walk along the Airport trails yesterday yielded my first March year bird - a Cooper's hawk (128). It's presence also perhaps explained the fact that I hadn't seen a single other bird along that stretch of the trail. Once I headed into the woods, though, about a half mile on past the hawk, I came across a nice variety of birds including this male Anna's hummingbird:

It was mostly too dark for other photos, but here's one of a spotted towhee taking flight:

I'm exciting to see what the rest of March will bring, as some of the first spring migrants should start showing up any day now!