GBBC - Day 2

Heavy rains this morning made this an even poorer day for viewing and counting birds than the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count. We had 1.6 inches of rain in my yard today and have had almost four inches this week, so conditions are not optimal. Even so, any day of watching birds, even under less than ideal conditions, is a good day.

My species count for the day was a paltry 14, even less than yesterday, but I did manage to add one species to my overall total for the weekend.

A male Red-winged Blackbird hung around the backyard feeders all day today. Every time I looked, he was somewhere in the area.

He spent much of his time exploring the vines and shrubs along the back fence. He seldom showed his epaulets except when flying. Here you can see just a bit of the yellow on the wing but none of the red.

Most of my watching and counting today was done through my study window which looks out on the front yard bird feeder.

The Northern Cardinals like this feeder a lot and can be seen there throughout the day.

Here, a pair of them share a mid-afternoon snack.

The cardinals also share the feeder with the Carolina Chickadees.

Meanwhile, in the backyard...

 A female cardinal shares the platform feeder with a White-winged Dove.

This is the only American Goldfinch I saw in the yard all day. Most of them really are gone!

I also saw this pair of UFOs (Unidentified Furry Objects) in my front yard today. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a place for them on my day's checklist.

With the addition of the Red-winged Blackbird, my species count for the weekend now stands at twenty. There are at least a dozen more species that visit my yard. I hope to see some of them tomorrow when the weather promises to be more friendly to bird-counters. (Fingers crossed!)