Birds In Your Backyard

Image via Wikipedia

This last weekend I took my first official birdwatching trip in almost 32 years and I didn’t even leave my yard!

I have finally decided to get back into birdwatching “officially”.  When I was in the Boy Scouts I earned the “Bird Study” merit badge.  And that was about it as far as “serious” birdwatching goes.  Over the years I have looked at birds but not really any more than that.  Well, I’ve decided to change that.  We have a nice wooded backyard that attracts birds year round.  The more that I watched them come and go from our feeder the more interested I became.  If I was going to be spending my hard earned $$’s feeding them I sure as heck was going to find out what they were!  Being the numbers/statistics oriented person I am I decided I would start keeping track of what we saw…And so it began, 32 years later.

Building My Life List

I have seen many birds in my life but haven’t officially kept track of them since I was a kid.  So, I need to start over.  Here is my “Life List” as it stands right now:

1. Red-bellied Woodpecker
2. Downy Woodpecker
3. Pileated Woodpecker
4. Carolina Chickadee
5. Tufted Titmouse
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Brown-headed Nuthatch
8. Eastern Bluebird
9. American Robin
10. Brown Thrasher
11. Eastern Towhee
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. Northern Cardinal

It’s not much but it’s a start   I hope to add many more to the list as time goes on.  I will post updates of my list as it grows along with summaries of observations.

So far I am really enjoying backyard birdwatching and I hope to grow my knowledge of birds and their habits.  I plan on using this site as a way to share my experiences and provide a resource that anyone can use to better enjoy the wonderful birds that we have around us.  Stay tuned…