On January 5, 2013 seven intrepid birders headed into the wilds of the Arboretum to count birds...and there were a lot to count! A total of 535 individuals easily breaks the previous record of 434 set in 2006. Why so many birds this year? Well, we had a flock of over 100 American Robins, two Bohemian Waxwing flocks of approximately 50 each and multiple flocks of Common Redpolls totalling 169 birds. These three species are what made 2013 such an abundant bird year. We also added 3 new species to the count list which is quite a feat as the survey has been done yearly since 1980. Our famous but hard-to-find Barred Owl was revealed by two loud crows. A Brown Thrasher, which is a very rare winter bird for this area, has been seen daily since January 1 and we found it eating Asian Bittersweet berries. Last but not least, a Red-bellied Woodpecker was near the bird feeders in the Gosling Wildlife Gardens. We hope you enjoy the photos below. To see more shots of some of our winter feathered friends, please check out our Flickr page by clicking here. Thanks to everyone who came out to the count!

Barred Owl | Photo by Chris Earley

Brown Thrasher in Asian Bittersweet | Photo by Chris Earley