I thought I’d set myself a challenge today, to see if I could get ten photos featuring ten different species. Sort of a “mini big day.”
Here are the birds I got, and the times at which I got them:
- 06:03 – House Finch
- 06:46 – Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- 08:04 – Rock Pigeon
- 08:06 – Dark-eyed Junco
- 08:20 – Pygmy Nuthatch
- 08:34 – House Sparrow
- 10:27 – American Robin
- 12:00 – Anna’s Hummingbird
- 13:21 – Mourning Dove
- 16:55 – Western Scrub-Jay
I actually was on track to complete the ten birds much earlier; a Scrub Jay that would have been my 10th species visited the ball feeder at 13:48, and over the next three minutes other players snapped 10 different pictures of it. But I got an important phonecall during that time, and my back was to the computer, and I didn’t notice it. When the call ended and I saw what I’d missed, I mentally kicked myself, then decided that I needed to get a life, and went out to watch some real birds. I didn’t get back to the computer until late in the afternoon, so I also missed all the fun today when someone found a Mourning Dove perched on what I think of as the “Upper Limb”, that big tree branch in the middle of the forest that is up above that other big branch (which I think of as just “The Limb”) where I’m always hoping to see something big and impressive perched. A Red-shouldered or a Cooper’s Hawk, maybe; either one of those would do nicely.
Anyway, there you go: ten species in ten photos, completed as of 16:55. Consider the gauntlet thrown down, fellow players. Let’s see you beat it.