Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2017 finds you well and enjoying a day off with your slippers on and a hot cup of coffee (or cocoa) at your side.
As is customary at this time, I like to take a moment to reflect on the most recent year of my life. I’ve got my 2016 bird journal here, and I’ve been thumbing through its pages with great contentment. Some of the things I read were still fresh in my mind, while others were delightfully rekindled in my memory.
So, if you will indulge me, I’ll take a quick tour of 2016.
January started with a particularly odd feel to it. El Nino was here and temperatures were in the 40s by day and teens by night. Snow wasn’t accumulating anywhere, and one page of my journal has an entry that simply says, “We haven’t really had winter yet.”
However, on Jan. 24, two big events took place —
I looked out to the west of the house and saw what looked like a small child up in a tree. That turned out to be an immature bald eagle.
Then, about an hour later, I saw a male rose-breasted grosbeak feeding along with the white-throated sparrows on my deck. That was a good day.
February saw more strange weather. On Feb. 14, I recorded the lowest temperature I’ve ever seen at my current home (-17). Two days later the high temperature of the day was 51 degrees.
In between, on Feb. 15, I logged photo 1,000 for 2016 — a male purple finch. This was the latest date for photo 1,000 of any year since 2009, and perhaps it was just another clue to how odd 2016 really was.
On February 27, I saw my first common grackle of the year, and as March arrived, it brought more harbingers of spring with it. On March 2, I saw turkey vultures. On March 9, I saw my first Canada geese, song sparrows and tree swallows, and I even heard American robins singing. The fact that it was 80 degrees in March the day that tree swallows arrived suggested that El Nino hadn’t loosed its grip on us in any way. By the time March ended, there were peepers singing, woodcocks displaying in the meadow and kestrels hovering over the fields.
April was a very good month. Phoebes arrived on March 1, and they were greeted with snow on March 3. Field sparrows and brown thrashers had arrived by April 13, and I had to say “goodbye” to them as I boarded a plane for Florida on April 16.
I was very excited about being in the wetlands of Florida during the height of the breeding season, and on my first day, I managed to take more than 3,000 photos. It wasn’t until April 19, however, that I took what I think might be my best photo of 2016. It was a great egret with a small fish that was impaled on its lower beak. Every aspect of that photo is, in my eyes, perfect. I still look at that one with great pride.
May was a particularly nice month, and I managed to see 59 species of birds in my yard. This was two short of the record (set in 2015), but I didn’t have any complaints. As the month unfolded, I was able to record the arrival of one species after another, and by the end of the month the temperatures were in the 80s by day and the 50s at night. It felt as though the summer was going to be delightful.
June, July and August didn’t disappoint. Because there had been no snow during the winter, schools got out early in 2016. By the time June was over, I had set a new record of 53 species seen in my yard, just beating the old record that had been set in 2009. July and August also saw new records set, but this time the old records were smashed by six and eight species, respectively. I was deep into nature and I loved every minute of it.
Even September had its bright moments. Another birding record was set, but this time only by a margin of two species.
Then, with the arrival of October, I started missing birding goals. Last year was the most challenging year of my teaching career, and it really took a lot out of me. Days at home, either outside, or inside looking out, have been of particular importance to me this winter, and the little birds that come to my feeders never fail to cheer me up. Chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches are particularly bright and wonderful.
And now, on with the show. I have a feeling that 2017 will be one of the most bizarre years that I ever experienced in my life. The antidote will be a close association with nature and all of her wonderful children. Birds, frogs, flowers and rabbits will be the ones making sense, and I shall seek out their company whenever possible. Of course, you are invited too. I’ll share as many details of as many adventures as I can. Stay tuned.
Bill Danielson has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, and the Massachusetts State Parks. He has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 19 years and he also teaches high school biology and physics. Visit www.speakingofnature.com for more information, or go to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.