Yard Bird List?

I've never kept track of how many species I have seen, but I do keep a list of what I've had here in the yard. To be fair, I'll tell you I'm very rural, I live next to a stream, and many birds stop over on the way to or from the Klamath Basin. I've lived here just over 12 years, (November, 1998) and it was after I arrived here that I wasn't happy just knowing I'd seen a hawk or whatever, but I had to know what kind.

I counted up my yard birds yesterday, and there's 101 on that list! I had two record birds in six weeks time last fall, and had I saved the awful photos of the Great-tailed Grackle that was here two springs running, it would have been a record too.

How many yard birds have you?

eBird has a new feature that allows you to keep track of your yard birds or a favorite place. I just went over to their site to check my total and appears their site is down. Last time I looked I had 129. Been keeping a list here for about 2.5 years. I think I've seen most of the native species at this point. Might get a few more migrants as they pass through.

I love my bluebird that I feed every day. But the Painted Buntings that come through in the spring are probably my favorite.

There was once another site I thought, that did this. I remember signing up with them. But no idea what they were called. I thought maybe they were bought by eBird, but there are no lists there for me when I signed in.

Anyway, I think I have about 57 in my yard list.


Edited to say that the site was Yard Birder: http://www.yardbirder.net/index.php



This message was edited Feb 2, 2011 8:55 PM

Both you folks get birds I've never seen here in Oregon. That bunting is gorgeous.

There are about two weeks in the spring where I get migrants, so I always hope for a new bird to add to the list.

I've been keeping my yard list in yarbirder.net, but I just started doing one in eBird too. eBird is kind of a pain but I wanted to keep track of when the birds arrive and when they leave which I couldn't do in yardbirder.

I have NOT entered all my birds in eBird though just this year's birds. My real total is 89 which is driving me crazy. I'm so jealous of all of you with over 100! This year's total so far is 28 which ranks me at 13th in Texas for the year. Most of the people ahead of me seem to live on the water though. I'll probably keep dropping in rank (I started at 10th!) but it's kind of fun.

red, do you live along water? That's a huge number! Lucky you.

Mrs_ED, I'm also very anxious for the spring migrants. I likely will have very few birds this summer, as they are replacing the bridge where my place meets the hiway. I've learned from just clearing the briars that birds don't like change. And they sure don't like noise. They all take flight when a loud vehicle goes by. It's going to be a lean summer here.

Elphaba, I hesitate to keep track online while I'm still on dial-up. It's painfully slow, and I lose patience. Funny though, I can sit for a very long time hoping that one particular bird will come back.

Hello Tiger,

A great thread you started! Well, to give everyone a bit of background, we didn't start becoming interested in birding til late summer of 2007 when we saw our 1st RT Hummingbird ever (in our lifetimes...that is). We had a female try and nectar on our porch railing Petunias and we were hooked ever since. It wasn't until 2008 we started to develop our gardens in the backyard and plant a few bushes in the front yard.

By 2009 our backyard became certified by the NWF. So from Spring of 2008-now...only 1 month into 2011, not even 3 years, more like 2+, here is our list of our backyard visitors...56 so far...not too shabby :)

1) Alder/Willow Flycatcher - "Traill's
2) American Crow
3) American Tree Sparrow
4) American Goldfinch
5) American Robin
6) Baltimore Oriole
7) Blue Jay
8) Brown Headed Cowbird
9) Brown Thrasher
10) Cedar Waxwing
11) Chipping Sparrow
12) Clay Colored Sparrow
13) Common Grackle
14) Common Yellowthroat Warbler
15) Cooper's Hawk
16) Dark Eyed Junco
17) Downy Woodpecker
18) Eastern Kingbird
19) Eastern Phoebe
20) Eastern Wood Pewee
21) European Starling
22) Field Sparrow
23) First Fall Least Flycatcher
24) Gray Catbird
25) Hairy Woodpecker
26) Harris's Sparrow
27) House Finch
28) House Sparrow
29) House Wren
30) Lincoln Sparrow
31) Marsh Wren
32) Mourning Dove
33) Nashville Warbler
34) Northern Cardinal
35) Northern Goshawk
36) Northern Mockingbird
37) Orange Crowned Warbler
38) Orchard Oriole
39) Oregon Junco
40) Pine Siskin
41) Red Tailed Hawk
42) Red Winged Blackbird
43) Ruby Crowned Kinglet
44) Ruby Throated Hummingbird
45) Rufous Hummingbird
46) Sharp Shinned Hawk
47) Slate Junco
48) Song Sparrow
49) Spotted Towhee
50) Vesper Sparrow
51) White Crowned Sparrow
52) White Throated Sparrow
53) Wilson's Warbler
54) Winter Wren
55) Yellow Rumped Warbler
56) Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker


Here's 3 pics of "before" of what our backyard looked like just before we started building our gardens Spring of 2008...we even got rid of the chain link fence that was here when we moved here...



This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 12:35 PM

2nd view of 3 "before" pics...

last "before" pic...then I'll post some "after" pics taken last year...

Here are some "after" pics...
Our big "L" garden...

This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 11:35 AM

Our Honeysuckle garden...

Patio garden with new privacy fence on side and we even painted our house :)

And here's a couple of pics showing our newest garden on the right...

Last pic...

Nice backyard, Susan. I have lived at my current residence for 25 years which is in a residential neighborhood but backs up against a wooded area. I never tracked the number of birds that I have seen from my property (excluding flyovers), until now. I have a fairly good memory and have recorded photographs through the years but I can only come up with a somewhat dismal total of 40. That's why I spend more time photographing birds away from home.

Nice yard Susan...I'm sure the birds love it.

I've been keeping track since 2008 and have a total of 102 yard birds. I live on a rural farm in SW Missouri and we are surrounded by pastureland and woods. Also have a few rivers in the area as well as many farm ponds. It's a really neat place to watch birds!!

Dell,

Wow! 102 in 2-3 years...I'm sure your combo of woodlands, rivers, ponds and pastures helps with the variety you get. You definately have a birder's dream location...lucky you!!!
Our little backyard can't even begin to come close to that variety of species... :D



This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 3:35 PM

Make my yard total 131, which is the highest in OK on eBird. We are in a new addition, but have a prairie greenbelt behind us, a creek across the street and 3 ponds with 2 waterfalls. Provides lots of variety. Latest two birds were Fox Sparrow and Northern Pintail.

This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 5:49 PM

Mine's 87, that includes everything seen from the house and garden, including flyovers. Fairly small suburban garden, but close to some woodland (no open water nearby though).

Know of someone with over 180 on their garden list - but they're on the coast, so have a whole lot of seabirds seen out at sea from their front window!

Resin