My Yard-- A Haven for Common Birds

So the last couple of birding trips have left me pretty depressed with all the talk of Warbling Vireos and other exotic species that locals have spotted and I have not.  Somehow I can visit the same places as some of the "professional" birders, go with a guide who shows me the exact spot of the nest, and STILL not see one sign of a nest, bird or hear even one single tweet.  If there weren't actual pictures of these birds, I'd think they were EXAGGERATING, if you know what I mean.  (Is there a word for that in birding like when fishermen exaggerate the size of their catch, ie a "fish story"?)

Well, I will try to get over myself.  I have a family and a job and I can't go birding every day of the week.  I am a musician by trade and temperament, so getting up early is not my nature, and I live way out in Louisburg at least 45 minutes to an hour from most of the primo birding sites.  But in stepping up to my kitchen window every morning,  I am treated to great views of just about every common bird in North Carolina.  I literally see dozens of different birds in my yard in the course of a day.  Their names may not impress you like a Warbling Vireo (I actually saw two of them in my yard last fall very early in the migration.  One landed two feet in front of me right on the deck railing. Of course, I didn't have my camera) or a Cerulean Warbler or Yellow Crowned Night Heron, but these babies are all mine and I didn't have to put pants on to see them.

Here are the birds I spotted at my backyard feeders just this morning:

Carolina Wren

Carolina Chickadee

Goldfinch

House Finch

Chipping Sparrow

White Breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Mourning Dove

Bluebird

Tufted Titmouse

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

I have also seen Pileated, Downy, Red Bellied, Red Cockaded Woodpecker, and Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Yellow Rumped Warbler, Juncos, Cardinals, Crows, Brown Headed Nuthatch, Phoebe, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Brown Headed Cowbird, Whipporwill, Purple Finch, Fox Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, PeeWee, Brown Thrasher, Prothonotary Warbler, Red Shouldered Hawk, Black Vulture, Barred Owl, and Great Horned Owl, Mockingbird, and Blue Jay all without ever leaving Home Sweet Home.