Backyard Bird List Up to 20 Species

Are you taking Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge? How many bird species have you seen in your backyard?

A friend asked me how many we have, and I realized we are up to 20 species already! Our list is over in the sidebar to the right, and also below (because that's what will print out when we print our blog book):

1. European starling (1/1/2015)

2. Dark-eyed junco (1/1/2015)

3. Black-billed magpie (1/2/2015)

4. Eurasian collared dove (1/5/2015)

5. House finch (1/5/15)

6. Canada goose (1/5/15)

7. Great horned owl (1/6/15)

8. Northern flicker (1/9/15)

9. American goldfinch (1/11/15)

10. Mallard (1/11/15)

11. Chickens (1/11/15)

12. Red-tailed hawk (1/9/15)

13. Common raven (1/14/15)

14. American Robin (1/24/15)

15. Red-winged Blackbird (1/26/15)

16. Northern harrier (1/27/15)

17. Killdeer (2/13/15)

18. Western meadowlark (2/13/15)

19. White-crowned sparrow (2/13/15)

20. Sandhill crane (2/22/15)

Don't you just love #11? The kids insisted we add that. 

I was very excited to hear the killdeer (photo above) and sandhill cranes, as they were gone for part of the winter. The meadowlarks are already singing their mating songs. Some birds we had in the yard last year but haven't seen yet this year are Cassin's finches and pinyon jays. I think with the really warm winter they have stayed up higher on the mountain.

Desert Girl is getting very good at some of the most common birds we see, like dark-eyed juncos and black-billed magpies. The next few months will be a lot of fun as the list grows quickly. Will we make it to 50 species this year? I've got my fingers crossed!