Day 1 of 2018

One of the pros of New Years Day being in winter is that you get to oversleep because the bird diversity will be the same throughout the day. I didn't look for anything until 1 pm, when I went up to my roof. My first species was not unexpected at all, a Ring-Billed Gull. A nice surprise is what followed, a VERY distant Turkey Vulture, about a mile and a half to the southwest. I will see this species later this year, but it can be a toughie in January. I then headed to the Reservoir in Central Park in search of a Common Loon and a trio of Common Mergansers found today. I also added Rock Pigeon and Herring Gull along the way. When I got to the Reservoir, I found the Common Loon right away, and was able to get a blurry but distinguishable photo, my first species of my photo big year!

Blurry Common Loon, but it'll have to do.

It took a while to spot the Common Mergansers, but I found them along the dike in the middle, and were too distant to photograph. I then began walking around the entire Reservoir, adding species after species to my year list, including a trio of Ring-Necked Ducks.

This young Red-Tailed Hawk was also at the Reservoir

After the numerous good birds at the Reservoir, I decided to go to the Ramble to get some of the more regular passerines and woodpeckers. After finding nearly all of them, I recieved a report of a Rusty Blackbird at Laupot Bridge. I searched all around the Gill, finding no Rusty Blackbird. However, I did spot a Golden-Crowned Kinglet there. These guys have stayed much later than normal this year (with several on the Christmas Bird Count), and I wondered if I would get one of these today. I then started to head past Laupot Bridge, when a bird suddenly flies up from under the bridge onto a log. The Rusty Blackbird! This is a really good bird for January, with only a few showing up in the winter.

Rusty Blackbird at Laupot Bridge

I then headed to the Pond just so I could add the continuing Northern Pintail and Great Blue Herons to my list, which wasn't hard at all.

Northern Pintail and Wood Duck at the Pond

In total, I have spotted 40 species today, a record high for me on New Years Day. I photographed 15 of those species. A lot of common species I neglected to photograph because of the cold, so my photography list will greatly increase this month. Stay tuned for more birding!