A Portion of Christmas Bird Count, Northwest Payne County

                                                             Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

                                                                     Barred Owl

                                                                    Hermit Thrush

                                                             Golden-crowned Kinglet


12-30-17

1050-1610/19 F (wind chill 11F)/mostly cloudy with very light snow/NNE-8

This was a most fortuitous day, even though it was extremely cold and very cloudy.  When one is a
serious birder, the only thing that matters for Christmas Bird Count is that the barometric pressure be rising.  Today, it was.

With this being my first cold day out and about since hand surgery, I was slightly apprehensive, but we were car birding and that literally took the chill out of my apprehension.

When we got to our destination, we encountered a very light snow, which lasted the better part of this trip, which for all intents and purposes, I considered icing on the cake.  Serious birders know that certain things are a plus for birding and I knew this was going to be an incredible day.  Even though we were the last to sign up for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, our area was not terribly desirable due to lack of bodies of water, weather conditions improved it.  When the barometer rises like it did, things rapidly change for the better.

Our day was excellent, not only for what we saw, but for what happened to make itself visible.  These
photos happen to show what I considered good birds for me, because the better part of these, I had been unable to photograph until today.  The shot of the Golden-crowned Kinglet isn't the usual quality that I hope for, but this shot took YEARS.  The Hermit Thrush doesn't usually make itself visible, so this was the first photo op that it ever gave me.  I had only heard it in the past.  This adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was the first adult that I have been privy to in such prime conditions.

My companions were equally as happy.  So when you have something to do when it comes to birding and the weather is not quite to your liking, you'd best get out there, because you could have missed those pictures that you have been trying to obtain for quite some time.  I'm glad that I did it.

By the way, my hand did quite well.