Oh deer! First day of the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count

Today is the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count.  I plan on counting on each of the three days, but I can't be sure.  Today, I went out to Heise Park and counted.  I also counted a little bit in the Santa Ysabel area.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get very many good photos because these little birds don't stand still very much.

First, I stopped by this little farm pond just outside Ramona.  I've been passing by there for years and sometimes see all kinds of things.  At first, I thought these were cackling geese, but they're just regular Canada geese.

There are a bunch of wigeons and cormorants on this side:

At Heise Park, my first bird heard was a scrub jay, but he only let me look at him for 2 seconds.  I saw or heard two of them there.

However, I saw several of these guys almost following me around.  He's an acorn woodpecker.

I also heard at least three turkeys, too.  And, lots and lots of spotted towhees.  One came really close because I was listening to different bird sounds to confirm my sightings and he was interested in all of them, not just the towhee ones.  So, I had avoid playing any recordings while he was around so as not to put him in any danger.  I thought I saw a Cooper's hawk nearby.  He seemed really comfortable with me and scratched around for food, but as soon as I pointed a camera at him, he ran into the brush.

I had a little surprise and they almost got away.  I found at least three deer near where I heard the turkeys.

In Santa Ysabel, I saw my first oak titmouse.  But, when I went to get the camera, it was gone.  This nearby scrub-jay was more co-operative:

All fluffed up.