It is getting increasingly more difficult for me to see new life birds in my area. Many of the eastern birds that I do not have are tougher to get. Out of 67 new birds this year, 54 were seen in Oregon and Washington. Four were seen during the Biggest Week in Ohio and a few were found in Bombay Hook in Delaware. Until recently, I only had one new bird in Pennsylvania – the Worm-eating Warbler. And then I ended the year with three new birds, seen in my state during December, with a New Jersey lifer in-between.
The bird in New Jersey was a surprise lone Ross’s Goose at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
A lone Ross’s Goose at Forsythe in November
Two of my life birds seen in Pennsylvania are rare species for the area. A Harris’s Sparrow has been hanging out at feeders on a private residence in Williams Township. We waited a few hours for the bird to show up while getting to know the host. You could tell that she loved showing people this bird – she was very accommodating and really does deserve all of the rare birds that happen to find her property (her yard list is well over 200 birds).
Harris’s Sparrow grabbing seed from a rock
Harris’s Sparrow on a platform feeder
The other is a bird that I just wrote a post about, the pair of Barnacle Geese that showed up at a lake 20 minutes away from me. For more on these birds, see my previous post.
Barnacle Goose at Weir Lake
All of these were great birds, but the best is the most recent bird I saw. Another friend-of-a-friend has been seeing a Northern Saw-whet Owl on his property. While we were out and about last Friday, my friend sent the host a message asking if we could see the bird. It turned out that he already located the owl that day and was showing it to a couple of other people; he invited us to tag along.
Northern Saw-Whet Owl at eye level
That was a pretty easy one to get! I never realized how small these owls were until I saw this one. Four local life birds in less then two months – what a great way to end the year!
Northern Saw-Whet Owl