It’s my little new year’s tradition to present here my tally of bird species seen in my yard over the course of the year just concluded.

Here are the previous iterations:

• 2012 (39 species)
• 2013 (51 species)
• 2014 (58 species)
• 2015 (65 species)
• 2016 (59 species)
• 2017 (56 species)
• 2018 (60 species)
• 2019 (67 species)

Things are different this year, not because of the pandemic, but because I moved over the summer. So this year I have two lists: a final one for the Fort Valley property, and a new one for our new home, an Albemarle County property near Buck Mountain. Each represents about half a year of time. As usual, I present them in chronological order of first sighting, so there’s a rough seasonality you can tease out of them. Because there is substantial overlap, I’ve bolded the birds that are unique to each list. This perhaps allows a bit of distinction to be made between the two places in terms of the habitat available. There’s more open space and more water at the new place, for instance.

The last Fort Valley yard list:

1. Raven
2. American crow
3. Blue jay
4. Turkey vulture
5. Mourning dove
6. Dark-eyed junco
7. Red-shouldered hawk
8. Downy woodpecker
9. Red-bellied woodpecker
10. White-breasted nuthatch
11. Chickadee
    (I never was able to figure out if these were Carolina or Black-capped chickadees.)
12. Tufted titmouse
13. Brown creeper
14. Golden-crowned kinglet
15. American goldfinch
16. Red-tailed hawk
17. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
18. Pileated woodpecker
19. Northern flicker
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Wild turkey
22. Screech owl
23. Pine warbler
24. Canada geese
25. Winter wren
26. Eastern bluebird
27. Chipping sparrow
28. Brown-headed cowbird
29. American robin
30. Ruby-crowned kinglet
31. Whippoorwill
32. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
33. Brown thrasher
34. Blue-headed vireo
35. Ovenbird
36. Ruby-throated hummingbird
37. Black vulture
38. Hermit thrush
39. Yellow-rumped warbler
40. Wood thrush
41. Great crested flycatcher
42. Blackburnian warbler
43. Black-throated green warbler
44. Red-eyed vireo
45. Scarlet tanager
46. Indigo bunting
47. Great blue heron
48. Cedar waxwings
49. Eastern wood-pewee
50. Osprey
51. American kestrel
    (This was a first for that yard; usually these are open-country birds, not forest dwellers.)
52. Great horned owl
53. Sharp-shinned hawk

The first Buck Mountain yard list:

1. Ruby-throated hummingbird
2. Blue jay
3. Yellow-billed cuckoo
4. Northern cardinal
5. Turkey vulture
6. Raven
7. American robin
8. Chimney swift
9. Red-tailed hawk
10. Black vulture
11. Chipping sparrow
12. Broad-winged hawk
13. Great blue heron
14. Sharp-shinned hawk
15. Eastern bluebird
16. Mourning dove
17. Carolina chickadee
    (…Now that it’s for sure which one’s range I’m in!)
18. Green heron
19. Eastern towhee
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Carolina wren
22. Red-shouldered hawk
23. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
24. White-breasted nuthatch
25. Northern mockingbird
26. Red-eyed vireo
27. Tufted titmouse
28. Brown thrasher
29. Screech owl
30. Downy woodpecker
31. Prairie warbler
32. Pine warbler
33. Belted kingfisher
34. Barred owl
35. Canada geese
36. Cedar waxwings
37. (unidentified ducks flying overhead)
38. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
39. American goldfinch
40. Dark-eyed junco
41. White-throated sparrow
42. American crow
43. Pine siskin
44. Yellow-rumped warbler
45. Northern flicker
46. Ruby-crowned kinglet
47. Red-bellied woodpecker
48. Brown creeper
49. Song sparrow
50. Hairy woodpecker
51. Red-breasted nuthatch
    
52. Bald eagle
53. Winter wren

Interesting that it worked out to 53 apiece. The grand total is 58. Here’s to better birding in 2021! Happy new year!