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Cassin's Finch and Eastern Bluebirds!

Just a little update with a few nice Green Year Birds that I have gotten while I've been laying low at home while trying to recover from the shingles. 

January 11, 2020

Bryan Arnold posted on CO-Birds about a Cassin's Finch at his feeder, and lucky me, he lives a half mile away in my neighborhood! I'd been watching my feeders for a Cassin's, with no luck. I emailed Bryan and he invited me over to take look. I found the bird almost immediately! This was the first time I'd met Bryan (after a lot of emails about birds and cycling over the last couple years) and it was a real pleasure. Not only did I get Cassin's Finch, but we had a great time chatting at a distance, masked, on his sidewalk. It was a wonderful morning. I look forward to cycling and birding with Bryan sometime. This is what birding is all about.

Cassin's Finch was an early 2021 target as a few are still around town, which is fairly unusual. They'll be much harder to get once they return to the foothills (meaning a lot of going uphill on the bike to find one)! I'm so happy to have been able to get one so close to home!

It seems like every bird has a good story and this is no exception. I walked over to Bryan's with my real camera hoping for some nice photos, if I found the bird. I started taking photos of the Cassin's and was thrilled with the photo opp. I previewed the shots only to realize I never put the memory card back in! Fortunately the bird was quite cooperative and I managed a few digibin (phone binoc) photos (below).




Janet Shin had reported Eastern Bluebirds along Lilly Gulch on Saturday, January 9th. I'd seen bluebirds along that section of Lilly Gulch a few times right before the New Year (https://ebird.org/checklist/S78082732), but none since. I went over on the 9th and didn't find any and looked almost every day after that with no luck. Admittedly, some of these walks were too long and I felt pretty terrible afterwards. I'm stubborn. 

On January 12, I decided to go down to Weaver Park, just to the south of my house, where I'd seen bluebirds a couple times in December. There was also a report of a bird there a couple days earlier. I found a couple Townsend's Solitaires (green year bird!) that were calling and chasing each other and then at least 6, maybe 7, Eastern Bluebirds!! I obtained a couple digibin photos and they moved west along the creek and vanished. I am quite happy to have gotten Eastern Bluebird early in the year. I'll likely find some during the year, but that's not a given! I can now focus my energy on other rarities, once I'm able to ride my bike again. 
List with the bluebirds: https://ebird.org/checklist/S79138279

A poor digibin photo of a male Eastern Bluebird.

My Green species list now stands at 70 species. This is great for 2 legit days of birding and walking from my house while on the mend. Hopefully I can get on the bike next week, but I can't push it too much. This is a year long effort and I'm only 15 days in! I need to get healthy first.

Below is my current species list with info on where and when I saw the birds, and a couple eBird lists for fun.  I'll update this list for each post.
2021 Joe Roller Memorial Green Big Year Species List


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