1, 2, 3, 4 . . .

High: 23° F
Low: 2° F
Mostly sunny with falling temperatures throughout the day and into the evening.

Day two of Audubon’s Backyard Bird Count, and the nation has been busy. Already, over 1.5 million birds have been recorded and sent to Audubon. Here at "Out With Ari" our numbers are not nearly so inclusive, but we've had some great sightings nonetheless.

Jane in Peoria,IL reports a hearty flock of goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) and dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), who spent part of the morning at her feeders. They were rudely interrupted by three blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata), who bullied their way into the neighborhood. “They’re nasty,” says Jane. “No social niceties at all.”

Rusty the Squirrel Chaser is also looking for more adherence to the great chain of being out in avian land. He says a mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) attacked his nemesis, Bob The Mean Cat. His mom even managed to get a picture of it. We’re hoping she’ll post it soon.

Mack the Boston Terrier wrote to tell us that he has a family of woodpeckers living behind his Houston home, and our good friend Dakota (who always, always does the homework he is assigned!) in Maryland says he saw 2 of Shakespeare’s favorite bird, the starling (Sturnus vulgaris), a cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), and a bunch of birds in V-pattern. He didn’t say which way they were flying, but I’m guessing they were Canada Geese on their way home. Maybe they’ll buzz Maine later this week?

Down the road from us, Dave—our naturalist guru—observed 32 evening grosbeaks (Hesperiphona vespertina). We’re green with envy.

But the real color of the day for us was definitely red. Some of our sightings:

Two pine grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator)

A male and female cardinal

Seven warring redpolls (Carduelis flammea)

Four hairy woodpeckers, complete with red tuft (Picoides villosus).

And one very determined redbreasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

Lovely! Now all we need is a partridge (Dendrortyx barbatus) in a pear tree (Pyrus communis).
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Don’t forget: there’s still time to send us your tallies. The bird count continues through Monday, and we have a prize for the blogger with the most tallies sent. You can email us your sightings (kmiles@unity.edu) or include them in the comment link. Good luck--and happy canaturaling!