#GoBucks #CFP

College football with the transfer portal and NIL is whimsically nonsensical. Not good for the sport probably but wild to keep up with #CFP

Number 11 is going to the Dark-eyed Junco. Dedicated to the little guy who used to spend it’s nights tucked in the corner of my porch roof. Just a little dark blob
(Photo: Jocelyn Anderson)

After a long holiday break I’m ready to get back to ranking these birds. Number 10 is the Eastern Towhee. It’s becoming apparent that I really like striking colors on my birds. The sparrows little brown hearts will be broken.
(Photo: Bob Nicks)

My 9th favorite bird is the Northern Mockingbird and is dedicated to my boisterous neighbor who would sit on the power line and yell at me every day when I got home. We had many great bird conversations but I have no idea what it was talking about
(Photo: Gus Lane)

The 8th best bird (that I have personally seen) is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. During Covid one of these guys started showing up at our house and it was like a celebrity sighting every time he stopped by our yard. I like their fancy red ascots
(Photo: Unknown)

Honestly from 7 to like 20 is going to be a bunch of ties. The ranking is going to become even more arbitrary than it already was. I’m carrying on regardless.

7 is the Pileated Woodpecker! One of the first birds I saw, knew what it was, and got excited about it.
(Photo: Melissa James)

Next up at 6 in my obsessive ornithological ordering. The Cedar Waxing. These guys look like they should be playing a troubled teen in Euphoria. The eye shadow is off the charts
(Photo: Ken Archer)

For number 5 I’ve decided to go with the Double Crested Cormorant. The most obvious evidence that birds are related to dinosaurs. Just look at this thing. Straight out of Jurassic park (Photo: Ben Knoot)

Coming in at 4 we have the Violet-green Swallow. First saw these in Colorado at Garden of the Gods and the bright green color compared to the red rocks was pretty amazing. (Photo: Brad Vissia)

Also, this entire thing is arbitrary so I arbitrarily decided to only pick from birds I have seen myself.

It was a tough call but locking in spot number 3 is the American Kestrel. They may be smaller than hawks but they know they’re better looking (Photo: David Zieg/Audubon Photography Awards)

My next favorite bird is the Steller’s Jay. I’m just going to rank all birds. That’s going to be my thing. (Also not my picture)

I took a couple hours to think it over and I’ve decided it’s not too late to pivot back to birds.

My favorite local bird is the Belted Kingfisher! #Birding