New year’s day is the time I tally up and report the bird species seen in my yard on the forested slope of Massanutten Mountain in Shenandoah County, Virginia. This is my seventh such annual list.

Here are the previous iterations:

• 2012 (39 species)
• 2013 (51 species)
• 2014 (58 species)
• 2015 (65 species)
• 2016 (59 species)
• 2017 (56 species)

It’s been a good year. Two new “seen for the first time ever” species for the yard are noted in bold type.

1. Carolina wren
2. American goldfinch
3. Chickadee
4. Dark-eyed junco
5. Red-bellied woodpecker
6. Mourning dove
7. American robin
8. White-breasted nuthatch
9. Barred owl
10. Pileated woodpecker
11. Brown creeper
12. Tufted titmouse
13. American crow
14. Downy woodpecker
15. Red-tailed hawk
16. Eastern phoebe
17. Eastern bluebird
18. Turkey vulture
19. Pine warbler
20. American raven
21. Golden-crowned kinglet
22. Sharp-shinned hawk
23. Bald eagle
24. Hairy woodpecker
25. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
26. Hermit thrush
27. Black vulture
28. Blue jay
29. Red-eyed vireo
30. Northern flicker
31. Whippoorwill
32. Brown-headed cowbird
33. Wild turkey
34. Canada geese
35. Chipping sparrow
36. Cooper’s hawk
37. Red-shouldered hawk
38. Pine siskin
39. Blue-headed vireo
40. Yellow-rumped warbler
41. Ruby-throated hummingbird
42. Ruby-crowned kinglet
43. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
44. Broad-winged hawk
45. Eastern towhee
46. Indigo bunting
47. Tree swallow
48. Northern cardinal
49. Ovenbird
50. Rose-breasted grosbeak
51. Magnolia warbler
52. Eastern wood-pewee
53. Yellow-billed cuckoo
54. Scarlet tanager
55. Blackpoll warbler
56. Great crested flycatcher
57. Chimney swift
58. Black-throated green warbler
59. Purple finch
60. White-throated sparrow

It was a respectable year on the yard bird count front. I hope for more quality time in my yard ogling my fine feathered friends in 2019…