My Property "Big Year"

This is certainly one of my odder ideas to date.  Perhaps you've heard the term "big year" before.  With regards to birding, it refers to one's desire to see the most species possible through a defined geographical range.  Some birders, such as the characters in Mark Obmascik's book and subsequent film entitled The Big Year, and Kenn Kaufman, who wrote a book about his 1972 birding adventure entitled Kingbird Highway, chose their territory to be the entire United States. Others limit themselves to their own state or even their own county, city or township, and most bird enthusiasts also keep a "yard list" - that is, a list of species that they've seen on their own property.  

Sometime last year, I began reflecting on my own native plantings, and I wondered just how much life lives in or passes through our one-acre parcel in rural St. Joseph County, Indiana.  At some point, I decided that it might be a fun project to keep a running list for an entire year.  A "property big year" of sorts, but instead of limiting myself to birds, I intend to keep track of, and photograph all identifiable life.  Granted, I'm going to miss out on thousands of microscopic things, and I'm sure to misidentify things along the way, but I'll do the best that I can, and it's a given that I'll call upon some of my talented friends to help with identifications from time to time.

How many species will we end up with on December 31, 2014? I created a contest with daughter Sarah to see who could guess the closest number, and here's what we came up with:

Birds:  Steve 50, Sarah 60
Mammals:  Steve 10, Sarah 15
Insects:  Steve 160, Sarah 180
Arachnids:  Steve 30, Sarah 25
Worms and Crustaceans: Steve 5, Sarah 7
Amphibians:  Steve 3, Sarah 4
Reptiles:  Steve 1, Sarah 2
Fungi:  Steve 22, Sarah 28
Lichen:  Steve 12, Sarah 17
Moss:  Steve 10, Sarah 12
Vascular Plants:  Steve 250, Sarah 300

Total Species Predicted:  Steve:  553, Sarah 650

Week One:   January 1-7, 2014

Our journey begins at our kitchen window where the heavy snowfall and frigid temperature has brought many birds to our backyard feeders.  Armed with a couple of digital cameras, I began watching.

Many birders like to keep track of the first bird that they see in the new year.  Mine was a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco Hyemalis).  In  Indiana, Juncos return from their northern breeding grounds arounds September and October, and they remain here through around April before migrating back north.  The species name Hyemalis translated from Latin means "winter."  

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

Another overwintering bird species is the American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea).  When early settlers first saw this bird, they thought that it resembled the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, but the American Tree Sparrow doesn't really frequent trees.  Instead, its prefered habitat is low growing shrubland. American Tree Sparrows are only in the continental United States during the winter months, and in early spring, they'll return north to their breeding grounds in Canada.  Perhaps a most suitable name would be "Canadian Shrub Sparrow?"

American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea)

Last spring, while at the Indiana Dunes State Park, I overhead a man proclaim to his wife, "Oh look honey, the yellow finches are back!  We're going to have to put out our feeders".  He was referring of course to the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), which doesn't migrate, but simply molts its yellow breeding plumage in the fall.  I felt saddened for the birds in their neighborhood.  In winter, when food is scarce, they don't fill their feeders because the birds aren't apparently handsome enough.

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Another common finch species is the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus).  Native to the southwestern United States, captive House Finches were being sold in a New York pet shop in the 1940s as "Hollywood Finches."  As the story goes, when the pet shop owner found out that he could be prosecuted for possessing wild birds that were protected by law, he released them into the wild, and over the course of several decades, they multiplied and spread throughout the continental United States, displacing the native Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) along the way.  This bird serves as a profound example of how the actions of one person affected an entire continent's ecosystem.  

A Female and Two Male House Finchs (Haemorhous mexicanus) 

A common and yet misidentified backyard bird is the Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus). Not only do many people confuse this with the closely related Red-Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), but it's non-melodious "churr" call notes sound more like a squirrel than a a bird.  The picture below is that of a male. The female of the species is similar but the red patch doesn't extend nearly as far down the back of the neck.

Male Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

One bird that's a somewhat infrequent visitor to our feeders is the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia).  In Indiana, Song Sparrows are one of the few sparrow species that are year-round residents.  Both the common name and the species name are in reference to the cheery song, which is a staple of the spring and summer months.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

The family Columbidae includes pigeons and doves.  Aside from the now extinct Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) the only member of this family that is native to Indiana is the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura).   The common name "mourning" is in reference to the bird's melancholic coo-AHH-coo-coo-coo call.   

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Another member of the family Columbidae that's not native to Indiana (or North America), is the Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto).  Released in the Bahamas in the 1970s, they've been slowly spreading throughout the United States.  Interestingly enough though, the only place where I've seen them in St. Joseph County is right in our own neighborhood where they are year-round residents, and they occasionally show up at our feeders, usually in a mixed flock with Mourning Doves.

Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

On the morning of January 2nd, I happened to look outside and notice that there were no birds are the feeders, which struck me as odd.  It was then when I noticed this Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) sitting on a brush pile near the feeders.  Cooper's Hawks, like other members of the genus Accipiter are bird-eating hawks, who frequent backyard bird feeders, especially in winter, hoping to bounce on an unsuspecting feeder bird.  If you've ever encountered a pile of feathers near your bird feeders, it's probably as a result of a visit from a Cooper's Hawk.

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

With one week of 2014 in the books, the tally stands at nine birds.