Gardner 1/19/2008 (HP)

This afternoon's 7 mile walk was an effort to add to my human powered list for 2008, or BiGBY birding "if you will". Getting off to a nice start where 2 new birds in my yard, 2 White-throated Sparrows and a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

There was little else of note until I reached the bike path parking lot, across from Mt. Wachusett Community College, approximately 15 Pine Grosbeaks showed well. It seems nearly every time I'm out and about, in town, I see at least a few and I am not yet "sick of them". They are more widespread and abundant since I moved to Gardner in 1988! A few of today's grosbeaks were skermishing with each other and making a raspy buzzy "warning" if one approached another too closely.
Moving in for the "kill" Female type Pine GB
This male Pine Grosbeak had some "splotchy" orangey coloration

Moving past the college I noticed a few American Robins but little else. On Raymond Road I found a few more Pine Grosbeaks, these were feeding on, what appeared to be, "buds" of a Black Spruce tree. There are few houses and fewer feeding stations along this road, a few chickadees , crows and a Hairy Woodpecker was about it, late afternoon walks can be quiet.

The return walk home was uneventfull with the exception of picking up another bird for the BiGBY list, a Great Black-backed Gull. Since the closure of the landfill, in 2005, this species is no longer a "gimme bird" in the dead of winter. My human powered list now stands at 37 species, I will be lucky to crack 50 by the end of February, then things will begin change.

This afternoon's list:

Red-tailed Hawk....1
Great Black-backed Gull....1
Mourning Dove....29
Downy Woodpecker....3
Hairy Woodpecker....1
Blue Jay....1
American Crow....6
Black-capped Chickadee....15
Red-breasted Nuthatch....1
White-breasted Nuthatch....3
American Robin....9
American Tree Sparrow....3
White-throated Sparrow....2
Dark-eyed Junco....12
Northern Cardinal....2
Pine Grosbeak....19
American Goldfinch....2
House Sparrow....1