My New- Year End Goal-The Count to 200!

Bird number 196-American Coot

That's right folks, you heard it right!! A new challenge to end my year which will be a goal of 200 birds by December 31st, 2009 at 4:15PM to be exact! I am currently at 196 and figure four more new birds can be obtainable yet challenging as four doesn't sound like too many but it has to be 4 new ones and those are kind of hard to come by this late in the year so it looks as if I will have to venture off to the coast in hopes of getting some gulls and perhaps a Rough-legged Hawk which would be a great way to end the year. ;-).

The pine trees I spend a lot of time at in search of the Common Redpoll

Of course the biggest feather in my cap would be the Common Redpoll that I tried so hard to get last winter but failed as this newbie spent all of her time around pine trees thinking that's where she could find them as they surely ate pine cones since they lived in Canada! (that's when I met my buddy Alan who lives in town who was reading my blog and he finally emailed me to invite me to do some local birding with him as it was obvious I was failing miserably on my own! HA). I remember birding with him for the first time and got I think 6 life birds with him the first day including Common Ravens that were nesting.

He took me to the area they could be found and let me see the female through his scope as she was sitting on her nest and I blurted out how cute she was which puzzled Alan as he had never heard anyone refer to a raven before as cute. I remember being a little embarrassed but never did take back my remark as I still stand strongly behind it! Afterwards I asked him how possible it would be for me to get an Eastern Phoebe this year so we later ventured over to the Central Cemetery in Millbury where an Eastern Phoebe landed on a tombstone and I was ecstatic because it was on my target list! I told Alan it would be super if I could get to 100 by the end of the year and he thought about this for a moment and said I could easily get to 150 which boggled my mind because I wasn't even aware there were that many birds in the state of Massachusetts. My how times have changed as I blew past the 150 long ago to where I currently am at 196.

The Common Raven sitting on her nest

Anyhow, back on subject here as I do have a tendency to get off topic at times. Here is the list of birds I have gotten thus far. I will make sure I update it as well as get a picture of every new bird I get from now until December 31st.

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Wood Duck

Gadwall

American Wigeon

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Ring-necked Duck

Tufted Duck

Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaup

King Eider

Common Eider

Harlequin Duck

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Barrow's Goldeneye

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Ruddy Duck

Ruffed Grouse

Wild Turkey

Common Loon

Pied-billed Grebe

Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Northern Gannet

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Cormorant

Least Bittern

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Northern Goshawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Virginia Rail

American Coot

Black-bellied Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Spotted Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Whimbrel

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Dunlin

Short-billed Dowitcher

American Woodcock

Bonaparte's Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Black-billed Cuckoo

Great Horned Owl

Barred Owl

Common Nighthawk

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Alder Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Yellow-throated Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Carolina Wren

House Wren

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Eastern Bluebird

Veery

Hermit Thrush

Wood Thrush

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Northern Mockingbird

Brown Thrasher

European Starling

American Pipit

Cedar Waxwing

Blue-winged Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Palm Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart
Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Louisiana Waterthrush

MacGillivray's Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

Canada Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Scarlet Tanager

Eastern Towhee

American Tree Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Henslow's Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Bobolink

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Rusty Blackbird

Common Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Orchard Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Purple Finch

House Finch

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Take care all!