Backyard 3/14--Chipping Sparrow

The last couple of days have been warm enough to sit in the backyard and read. If you just sit there a while the birds get used to you and come to the feeder and to pick seeds from the grass. Today, I looked up from the biography of George Orwell and saw my first Chipping Sparrow of the year, another spring arrival.

I don't want to get spoiled. It is only March 14th. Spring doesn't even start for another week. The warm days aren't permanently here. Another cold snap is inevitable, even in this extraordinarily warm winter.

This morning, early, I took a much longer walk than usual in the WMA. Pine Warblers are singing, Tree Swallows are snagging bugs over the fields and the lake, and the four Ring-necked Ducks still patrol the waters.

The combined list--our official backyard and the WMA, which Shari considers our backyard also--was 26 species today.

Canada Goose	1
Mallard	2
Ring-necked Duck	4
Turkey Vulture	1
Mourning Dove	9
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
Downy Woodpecker	1
Blue Jay	2
American Crow	1
Fish Crow	3
Tree Swallow	8
Carolina Chickadee	25
Tufted Titmouse	15
White-breasted Nuthatch	1
Carolina Wren	1
Eastern Bluebird	4
American Robin	11
Pine Warbler	4
Chipping Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	5
White-throated Sparrow	2
Dark-eyed Junco	11
Northern Cardinal	3
Common Grackle	14
House Finch	2
American Goldfinch	2