Lets Do The Great Backyard Bird Count !!!

This takes place between February 18 thru February 21. It can take as little as 15 minutes a day in your backyard or any other spot you like to watch birds. You submit your checklist to the
Great Backyard Bird Count website.

You can submit a checklist for each day or even more than 1 per day if you count birds in different locations. Your reporting the highest number of each species that you see, so if the most Northern Cardinal you see is 10 than that will be the final number on your checklist.

This can be a lot of fun and getting your children involved is a great idea. It is free!

Here is some more information about this event. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/whycount.html

More info on how to participate: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/howto.html

The deadline for data submissions is March 1st.

After all the checklist have been submitted and tallied you can go back to see the bird numbers in your area and anywhere else in North America. You can also submit photos to the site.

**Even though this is a North American program we would love to hear from our bird friends around the world as to what birds your observing.**

If anyone needs help in identifying birds please don't hesitate to as for help at our Bird Identification Forum. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/birdid/all/ or right here on the Bird Watching forum.

I hope everyone is able to participate in this and we look forward to hearing your sightings!

Pelle,

Thanks for the reminder. We'll be participating, that's for sure!

Today has been pretty odd...it's a warm 67 degrees right now and since this morning I've only seen a single Downy Woodpecker and 2 DE Juncos all day :(

So DH is going to go for a ride with me to pic up some bird food supplies and trek over to one of our local parks and hope to see some feathered friends there. I need to get some fresh air and sunshine too!

one… two… three…

I am ready to count!!

Yep I'm looking forward to it. It will be interesting to compare last years numbers.

Oh yes… thanks Resin, I was stumped for a bit.

Hmmm . . . maybe best wait for confirmation from others!

Actually, it might be 5 next, and then 8 and 13 and 21, that's what someone called Fibonacci says

hhh, lets not let this spiral out of control .

Good one!

We had our "Big Garden Birdwatch" a couple of weeks ago (29-30 Jan).

Resin

is that similar to what we're going to do here? Did you participate?

Similar, but not exactly the same - you count the maximum at any one time of every species that you see in your garden (or local public park, if you prefer) for one hour. Yep, did it.

Resin

Friday is the first day!!! Hope everyone is ready!

I always look forward to doing this count. Wishing everyone a wonderful day with lots of birds!

For us, this time of year we hardly have any birds here. Is that the same for anyone else?

Susan, I may try to participate in the counting this year--I'm new. Like you, I too have noticed less number at the feeders as the weather became nice. Perhaps they were out searching for insects in nature, and not relying on us feeding them as much.

I have a lot of Grackles coming around lately. Haven't seen a Dark-eyed Junco in almost a week.

First sighting in the yard this morning was a flock of at least 53 Common Grackles. Lots of Starlings and a good number of Red-winged Blackbirds.

First sighting in the backyard; few goldfinches--1 male and 5 females. 1 Brownheaded nuthatch, two Juncos. 3 Song Sparrows, 1 Titmouse, 2 black birds (small -- perhaps brewster blackbirds?). Pelle, perhaps you Juncos are visiting me this morning. hah....
Oh One Carolina chickadee just arrived, and 2 Housefinches. And one Redheaded Woodpecker. (what late risers!) grins*

At this hour, 8:20am I saw a male Eastern Bluebird, one Pine Warbler and a Whitebreasted Nuthatch. :)

Editted to reorganize my count;

goldfinches 6
Brownheaded Nuthatch 1
Darkeye Juncos 2
Song Sparrows 3
Titmice 3
Blackbirds 2
Carolina Chickadees 2
Carolina Wrens 2
Whitebreasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Thrashers 2
Pine Warblers 2
Housefinches 6
House Sparrows ***none. :)
Cardinal 1

This message was edited Feb 18, 2011 4:34 PM

Yup...3 Grackles this morning & a Brown-headed Cowbird.....eeeek!

Hello Folks,

I'm almost embarrassed to turn in a list due to our miniscule # of visitors today :(
It's balmy, sunny and rare to see a bird within our block, nevermind our backyard. I don't know why the national birdcount is during this time period. Why not in January when there are are more birds to count?

Yep, we are all set to do this over coffee on Saturday morning. Now off to fill the bird feeders!

Cooper's Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
American Crow - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
European Starling - 40
Northern Cardinal - 4
House Finch - 13
American Goldfinch - 13
House Sparrow - 12

Finally had a decent period (4-5pm) of birds late this afternoon. I was shocked to find out that it's a "rare sighting" to see a DE Junco now...according to the submission form. Funny, we usually have them here til late March or the 1st week of April. This is what I submitted...

Northern Cardinal - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 5
House Sparrow - 18
DE Junco - 1
American Robin - 3
European Starling - 15
Mourning Dove - 4
House Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 6
Blue Jay - 1
Sharp Shinned Hawk - 1



This message was edited Feb 18, 2011 5:42 PM

Ooops, I forgot I had Juncos. rats. I'll have to have that corrected.

So here's the answer to why they hold the count in Feb. …


"It gives us a snapshot of how birds are surviving the winter and where they are located just before spring migrations begin in March. Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and elsewhere can combine this information with data from surveys conducted at different times of the year."

Here is mine for today.

Common Grackle- 207
Red-winged Blackbird - 18
European Starling - 46
Brown-headed Cowbird - 5
House Finch - 12
Mourning Dove - 6
Northern Cardinal - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 5
Carolina Chickadee- 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
American Goldfinch - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Carolina Wren - 1

With all these birds around I was surprised I didn't see any hawks.

I did 3 locations.... the yard, the neighborhood and down at the lake.

This is what I had for the Yard Count

Gold Finch - 3
Cardinal - 5
House Sparrow - 4
Common Grackle - 3
European Starling - 3
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Brown Creeper - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 4
House Finch - 6
Blue Jay - 4
American Crow - 2
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Mourning Dove - 3
Turkey Vulture - 1
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1

Here is mine for today...mostly just the yard. Numbers have sure declined since last week and Blackbirds are few. Haven't seen a Grackle in ages and had a few show today. I waited and waited for the Bewicks Wren but he and the Carolina were no shows.

Canada Geese - 12
Northern Flicker - 1
Downy- 3
Hairy WP -1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Common Grackle - 2
Eastern Meadowlark - 2
American Crow - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 7
Purple Finch - 18
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Tufted-titmouse - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
American Goldfinch - 89
White-crowned Sparrow - 38
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
House Sparrow - 19
European Starling - 3
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Northern Cardinal - 17
American Robin - 2
Northern Mockingbird -1

How should I ?quest-imate? the number on a big flock of probably Ringbilled Gulls flew overhead? Several hundreds of them.

My count for today:
Tufted Titmouse 1
N. Cardinal 7
Mockingbird 1
Chipping Sparrow 6
Mourning Dove 1
Am. Goldfinch 3
Carolina Chickadee 2
Y.R. (Myrtle) Warbler 1
Eastern Bluebirds 2
Red Bellied WP 1
Pine Warbler 1
House Finch 2
Blue Jay 1
Carolina Wren 1
I noticed that my Chipping Sparrow and Am. Goldfinch numbers are down from several weeks ago.

Yike! Where are all my feathered friends in the backyard? I only see one or two here and there, my list is going to be very very slim!

Nothing going on here today. Winds are crazy high.

DH says that he heard the 'Peter,Peter' of the titmice last week. wonder if they will came back to the feeder if it gets cold again.

Thanks for the info Mrs_Ed :)

Here's the list I submitted today...more birds than yesterday, especially DE Juncos!

Mourning Dove - 10
Downy Woodpecker - 4
Blue Jay - 3
America Crow - 2
American Robin - 22
European Starling - 14
Dark eyed Junco - 23
House Finch - 1
American Goldfinch - 4
House Sparrow - 16
Northern Cardinal - 2



This message was edited Feb 19, 2011 9:38 PM

OMG! just went through all the top 10 lists at the GBBC site. Lincoln Nebraska is #3 in the top 10 localities reporting the most birds...WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel so proud...LOL
Here's the link...
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/top10

Go Nebraska!!! Wooohoooo!!! Congrats Susan. :)

Well yesterday was the least number accounted in my back yard. A few usual Housfinches, goldfinches, a pair of Wrens and Chickadee, my permanent resident Redheaded wp, and the visiting Redbellied wp, and some downies, maybe Harried wp. My family decided to go and visit our local Bald Eagle Nest, there we saw one sitting in the nest -- probably incubating??? and a flock of hundreds of Redwinged Blackbirds nearby in the field.

Here's my list from yesterday-
California Quail - 13
American White Pelican - 2
Great Egret - 1
Turkey Vulture - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
California Gull - 5
Mourning Dove - 5
Anna's Hummingbird - 4
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) - 3
Black Phoebe - 1
Western Scrub-Jay - 8
American Crow - 4
Oak Titmouse - 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
American Robin - 400
Northern Mockingbird - 2
California Thrasher - 2
European Starling - 3
Cedar Waxwing - 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - 4
Spotted Towhee - 1
California Towhee - 5
White-crowned Sparrow - 22
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 13
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) - 17
Brewer's Blackbird - 25
Brown-headed Cowbird - 3
House Finch - 25
Pine Siskin - 2
Lesser Goldfinch - 3

My list for yesterday was pretty close to the same minus some but with the additon of these

Sandhill Cranes - 35
Red-tailed Hawks - 2
Horned Larks - 3
Red-winged Blackbirds - 3

I had 30 species on Friday and 22 for Saturday.

Hello Lily,

Thanks :)
I still can't believe it...out of all the places in the country, Lincoln is in 3rd place...amazing!

I hope you get oodles of visitors today! So far today for us it is looking to be the best day so far. We still have yet to see a Grackle or a RWBB. The 2 years I have documented their arrivals in the Spring are on 2/24/09 and 3/18/10...nealy a month spread...no consistancy like the Robins 2/16/10 and 2/13/11, as an example.

So far, not a fraction of an "oodles" number from the back yard. Susan, but I'm so thrilled having various birds checking out some of the birdhouses that I put out. Awwww, speaking of number, can anyone beat Duc's 400 Robins.....Whoa!!! That is an oddles of Robins Duc. Congrats.