Happy New Year!

Many birders start a new list each year of the birds they see.  I don’t, but I still like to note the first bird on January 1.

I would have to be deaf and blind to have missed the first bird this morning.  Even before dawn a flock of crows swirled over my house like a vortex.  Today it’s windy and the crows looked like black rags flapping in the wind.  Some of them used the wind to dive and climb.

In an unusual move, about 100 of them perched in a tree across the ballfield instead of continuing on their way.  It looked like my drawing – a bunch of black dots clustered at the top of the tree.

As more waves of crows passed overhead, the perched birds shouted at the new arrivals to join them.  What a noisy, boisterous greeting to the new year!