At home, I've seen:
Canada Goose [Branta canadensis]
Great Horned Owl [Bubo virginianus]
Northern Flicker [Colaptes auratus]
American Crow [Corvus brachyrhynchos]
American Robin [Turdus migratorius]
European Starling [Sturnus vulgaris]
Dark-eyed Junco [Junco hyemalis], Slate-colored and Gray-headed
House Finch [Carpodacus mexicanus]
House Sparrow [Passer domesticus]
Elsewhere (all in Colorado), I'm up to 74 species for the year. The exciting ones were:
There has been a female Long-tailed Duck [Clangula hyemalis] spending the winter on (appropriately enough) "Duck Pond" in Denver's City Park.
An obviously mated and courting pair of Bald Eagle [Haliaeetus leucocephalus]. I've seen them three times in the same area. Quite obvious they're setting up household. Haven't seen the spectacular mating flight though. (Has anyone seen this scene in last fall's The Big Year?)
A pair of Great Horned Owl [Bubo virginianus] have been nesting somewhere in the wood behind my apartment building for several years. I hear them dueting regularly (though only once so far this year), but have never found their nest site. (Hint: Why is my Mudcat handle "NightWing"?)
One Snowy Owl [Bubo scandiacus] on a Christmas Bird Count before the year ended and another on a different CBC after this year started. This year's irruption of Snowy Owl is very exciting. There have been something like a dozen seen in Colorado this winter. Before this winter there had been ONE seen in Colorado for the past DECADE.
Northern Shrike [Lanius excubitor] Not terribly unusual, but for a small story. Last month I was trying very hard to break 200 species for the year. (JUUUUUUUUST made it; got my 200th species {Thayer's Gull} on 12/28.) I had figured that one of the best possibilities for those last two or three was Northern Shrike. Somehow I had not seen one all year. Couldn't find one and couldn't find one. Finally got a Shrike. It was (about) the 5th bird (not species, but individual) I saw on New Year's morning. *groan*
Walking in the hills just above Boulder, I left the trail and hiked up to the top of the ridge. Just as I reached the ridgetop, a flock of about a dozen Bushtit [Psaltriparus minimus] dropped down into a bush about a meter or so in front of me; almost within arm's reach.
Golden-crowned Sparrow [Zonotrichia atricapilla] is rare in Colorado, but two of them have wintered over at the same two spots both last winter and this. I've spotted them both, three years in a row now.
BB,
NightWing