Last year I did a pretty miserable job keeping track of all I saw in a year, so I am hoping this will help me do a better job. This will be covering all the birds, mammals, and herps I see in the year, both locally and farther afield.
To kick off my list I took a 2 hour walk around the neighborhood, which is actually one of the birdiest places in Laramie at this time of year. Things were slower than they were on my last walk over a week ago, probably for various reasons including just plain luck. I was hoping to start off the year with a Townsend's Solitaire, A good bird to grab right now since they get pretty tough locally when they leave the lowlands and head back into the mountains. No luck there, but did get some other decent neighborhood birds
In order seen (Birds):
1. American Crow (1st bird of the year)
2. Rock Pigeon
3. House Sparrow
4. Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker
5. Brown Creeper
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. European Starling
8. House Finch
9. Mountain Chickadee (somehow only heard only???)
10. Eurasian Collared Dove
11. Downy Woodpecker
First (and only so far) mammal of the year was the ever dependable Eastern Fox Squirrel.
1. Eastern Fox Squirrel
2nd mammal of the year today: the ever reliable campus Mountain Cottontail.
No clue what is up with them this year, but I have been seeing them on a daily basis, often out and about even at 10 in the morning on a school day
walking home tonight I was pleased to hear a serenade by the campus Great Horned Owls.
That makes the 12th bird of the year