The Yard List that keeps going...

I know I posted about yard lists a while back, but the last few weeks have been quite something! The Jan/Feb lull was a time of complacency (and frozen pipes) but spring seems to have hit right along with the 90+ degree days. Thankfully it's been cooling off nicely in the evenings, but for those of y'all not following our other blog, you may not have realized that most of the three counties out here have pretty much been, at least in part, on fire since early March. The fire just to our north, Iron Mountain, is about 8 miles out and has been going for around a week. Somewhere in the vicinity of 50,000 acres have burned and it's still only about 80% contained. On the bright side, the Rock House Fire is FINALLY out (after a bit over a month!) as of a few days ago. Oof!

Right, back to the bird list, starting where we left off:

Zone-tailed Hawk 4/5/11
Scott's Oriole 4/10/11
Harris's Hawk 4/10/11
Broad-winged Hawk 4/16/11
Yellow-headed Blackbird 4/20/11
Pine Siskin 4/23/11
Swainson's Thrush 4/23/11
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4/26/11
Green-tailed Towhee 4/26/11
Painted Bunting 5/9/11
Gray Flycatcher 5/10/11
Willow Flycatcher 5/11/11
Black-throated Sparrow 5/11/11
Orchard Oriole 5/11/11
Western Wood-Pewee 5/12/11
MacGillivray's Warbler 5/13/11
Vermilion Flycatcher 5/15/11
Common Yellowthroat 5/15/11
Yellow Warbler 5/15/11
American Redstart 5/15/11

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I should also throw in this gem of trivia: 95 bird species are on my tentative 'expanded' freezer list (to include wildlife work and rehab, but not captive zoo work nor pets). Most seem to be roadkill, but windows overlap a good bit (I knew I had 47 or 48 spp from Illinois, and now there are a few more window critters to add...)

Really, though, it's either impressive or depressing that roughly 20% of the bird species I've ever seen in the US have at one time or another been in a freezer that I've been associated with. Can't believe I didn't make/start the list sooner, it seems like something I'd do. At this rate, I'll have filled up a few chest freezers over the course of my rather short lifetime; every one of them 'salvaged' (not actively 'collected' with gun or trap).

To avoid ending on such a strange note, here's a Painted Bunting! She's alive, stunned, but otherwise uninjured. Found her in the middle of the road to Fort Stockton on my way to Houston earlier in the month. Houston? I guess that trip needs a post one of these days, too!