GBBC Bird Counts for Sunday Feb. 14 ❤

How did "we" do today?

Morning count here at home. I was very excited to see a pine siskin show up for the count. Haven't seen one in MONTHS.

Might go out and do some water birds at the river. But there are at least 100 mallards there…


Mourning Dove - 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 4
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) - 1
Northern Cardinal - 6
House Finch - 8
Pine Siskin - 1
American Goldfinch - 6
House Sparrow - 9

Well, I got off to a very late start, so I saw a smaller variety and amount of birds...

Checklist:
Ring-billed Gull - 5
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 2
Mourning Dove - 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 5
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
American Robin - 7
Cedar Waxwing - 8
Chipping Sparrow - 3
Fox Sparrow - 4
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 10
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 4
Northern Cardinal - 11
House Finch - 6
American Goldfinch - 14
House Sparrow - 6

Seen in the next town when I had to go to the Bird Store .

Mallard 2
Canada Geese 28
Turkey Vulture 2
Carolina Chickadee 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Northern Cardinal 5
White-throated Sparrow 3
House Sparrow 4

Marna, did you take that cute little picture today?

No, I took that a while ago, but that one has been coming here for a few weeks and was here today. I was glad that it stuck around to be counted, as they are rare in the area. (Oregon Dark-eyed Junco).

I counted for 4 hours today. A much smaller number of birds today...except for the Starlings which were very abundant today! 17 species for today.

Mourning Dove 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 2
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
European Starling 40
Drak-eyed Junco 4
Northern Cardinal 5
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 4
Cananda Goose 9
Turkey Vultures 2


This message was edited Feb 14, 2010 5:13 PM

Whoohoo! Decent weather. Went to Sheldon Lake and saw 2 Bald Eagles!!! I've never seen one in this part of the country, and saw my first pair of Ring-necked Ducks. Didn't get a decent pic of either. The picture that I'm really sorry I missed was an Anhinga with its head above the water looking like it was trying to swallow something while a huge alligator was swimming behind it. Really, the only good picture that I got was of a pheobe that was missing its tail.

I have to put some stuff on the ID forum before I can do a count. It's much harder to do in wild areas.

Hey Nanny, I think that's 17 species? I do have a bad headache. Maybe I can't count when my head hurts.

You are right Elpaba I fixed that. I just heard 2 Barred Owls...Darn it! I already turned mine in for today.

Here is the count for the backyard today

Northern Mockingbird 1
American Crow 1
Common Grackles 20
Carolina Wren 2
Carolina Chickadee 3
House Finch 5
Blue Jay 6
Northern Cardinal 9
Mourning Dove 4
White-throated Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 8
Tufted Titmouse 3
European Starlings 13

Oh Burd you reminded me:

Herring Gull 1

This message was edited Feb 14, 2010 6:02 PM

Today's list a tad different than yesterday's. I put in about 4 hours today, and took a lot of picture's, will be going through those later, to bad the sun didn't break through until about 3pm.

American Robin- 1
Blue Jay- 1
Northern Cardinal- 2
Starling-15
Common Grackle- 23
Canada Goose- 21
Ring-billed Gull- 4
Herring Gull- 1
Cooper's Hawk- 1
Downy Woodpecker- 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker- 1
White-breasted Nuthatch- 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 1
House Sparrow- 18
Dark-eyed Junco- 9
Brown Creeper- 2
Red-winged Blackbird- 1 (was with the Grackle's)
Brown-headed Cowbird- 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 1 (today's surprise visitor)
Common Crow- 5
That wrap's up my counting until next year.

Edited to add Common Crow

This message was edited Feb 14, 2010 5:37 PM

Nanny, that's why I don't turn mine in until way after dark although I've never seen an owl during the count. I read your post and then the timer went off. I was in the kitchen looking out the window and got three more varieties of birds! -- two Cedar Waxwings showed up, a Yellow Warbler, and a chickadee. I haven't seen a chickadee in weeks and I haven't seen the other two since last year!

Burd, aren't you going to count tomorrow? Tomorrow's the last day right? No time?

Nope :( ... I will try though.

I did two afternoon counts today at two different locations.

Location 1: Rock River
Mallard: 120
Domestic White Duck: 1
Canada Geese: 35
American Crow: 5


Location 2: Spring Slough
Mallard: 11
Canada Geese: 7
Great Blue Heron: 1
American Kestrel: 1
American Tree Sparrow: 2
Horned Lark: 2

Well, now I'm worried about my backyard count for yesterday b/c I included the yellow warbler which isn't supposed to be here this time of year. I wish I'd pointed my camera at it instead of the binoculars. Appeared to me to be bright yellow, all yellow, no dintinguishing marks. Couldn't find anything else it could be. Made a note in the comments section that I did not get a picture to confirm. I saw it flying around before it landed and wondered 'what is that yellow bird?' It was very, very yellow. I guess worrying about it isn't going to do any good.

Can't believe your Mallard count Marna. That must have been really cool.

Actually, those mallards are there year round and are kind of tame because people are always feeding them. Here's a shot from a couple of years ago.

Great job everyone.
Nanny, I'd gladly take a few of your starlings. Our two stick with the Brewers Blackbirds.
Birding wasn't very good because of the two hawks hanging around.

This was my list for the 14th

California Quail - 6
American White Pelican - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Turkey Vulture - 2
Bald Eagle - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
California Gull - 6
Anna's Hummingbird - 2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) - 1
Western Scrub-Jay (Coastal) - 5
American Crow - 8
Tree Swallow - 11
Oak Titmouse - 10
Bewick's Wren - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
California Thrasher - 1
European Starling - 1
Spotted Towhee - 1
California Towhee - 7
White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's) - 10
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 6
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) - 12
Brewer's Blackbird - 22
House Finch - 5
House Sparrow - 3

Great photo Marna! That's a lot of ducks. Our county supervisors put a stop to feeding the ducks in our parks because of all the messes.

Well we have snow today so have a few visitors today. I am still counting/ watching. We have about 3'' of new snow right now and it is still coming down. Had a White-throated Sparrow and the Carolina Wren came in!

There will be no cruising looking for the Horned Lark today. :(

I admire all of you that have counted for more than one day!! I only counted on Saturday and will post my list when I find the right thread.
Well done everyone!