Only five so far

Ray and I are not great listmakers. We usually keep a list of birds seen on one particular outing, but neither of us knows how many birds are on our life list or how many birds we've seen in any given year. We certainly don't know how many times we've seen a certain bird, or what day of the year we've seen them. I've never thought much about which bird I see first or last in a year, either. As a member of the Saskbirds group and a recent reader of the The Big Year, however, I am becoming more aware of these things.

So today I am reporting that I have seen five birds this year. Though I can't be certain, I'm pretty sure the first was....ta da!...the ever present House Sparrow! The second might well have been the Common Redpoll.They've been enjoying the lilac seeds. I've seen a few with the red chests, but they're not posing for photos.Number three was, on our farm at least, another everpresent. The Black-billed Magpie, a bird that I see and hear every day but seldom photograph.

And number four is, like the Redpolls, a resident this winter but not every winter. (How do they decide these things?) It is the Blue Jay. I know we have at least two now, but earlier in the winter we had as many as six in view at one time.

(This jay, by the way, was photographed on October 10, 2011. The other photographs are all from 2012.)

Number five is the last of our three year-round residents. The Rock Pigeon. What farm doesn't have them?
If I continue at this rate, I could see 365 birds in 2012. Hmmm. Maybe not.