Snowy Day Bird Count 3-8-2008

We are in the middle of a "Blizzard" according to the weather service, as is much of the mid-west and eastern parts of the country--so bird feeders are busy-busy!

A good day for a Snowy Day bird count for everyone!

Here's our list for the last 24 hours (a pretty good one for us!)


Visiting our yard/feeders in the last 24 hours:

Cardinals (about 30 at 7:30 a.m.)
Titmice
Nuthatch
European Starling
Red-winged blackbird
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpeckers (one came by after lunch to check out the action--rare visit this winter)
Red bellied woodpecker
Hairy woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Tree Sparrow
White-throated sparrow
Song sparrow
Fox Sparrow (2 are feeding on the deck)
House sparrow
Ruby-crowned kinglet (one has been visiting quite often lately)
House finch
Goldfinch
Carolina wren
Blue jay
Common Grackle
Eastern Towhee
Junco
Mourning Dove
Crow
Brown Creeper (has been checking out the suet but we see them on the trees often)


No hawks
No owls
No bluebirds
No Wild Turkey
yet, anyway!!

We have our feeders filled to the brim and we put out extra suet cakes and saucers of BOSS around the yard. I also sprinkled some BOSS and Millet into the evergreen shrubs to help out the ground feeders hiding from the wind and snow.

Who's visiting your feeders this weekend? And how's your weather?!!

(Not a recent photo, but you get the idea of some of our feeders. The snow is 10-12 inches deep today)

This message was edited Mar 8, 2008 2:07 PM

This message was edited Mar 8, 2008 3:51 PM

We have the same system but its all rain for us; the backyard looks like a lake. :-)

Great list! Wish we had your variety. I did see my first red wing this week which means it's spring here despite the snow cover. It is pouring out as we "speak." Potential flooding all across New England. I think the snow is going to dissolve some, I hope.

Great list! We got that same system but lucked out with only around 5" of snow. My feeders were super busy yesterday too, I had:

Red Wing Blackbirds (lots)
Common Grackels (several)
Brown Headed Cowbirds
Starlings
Doves
Red-bellied Woodpeckers
Downy WPs
Hairy WP
Pielated WP
Blue Jays
Carolina Chickadees
Tufted Titmice
White-breasted Nuthatches
Fox Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrows
American Tree Sparrows
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrows
House Finches
Purple Finches
Goldfinch
House Sparrows
Robin (1)
Northern Cardinals
Dark-eyed Juncos

And we're getting it tomorrow . . . yes, the same one, it's crossed right across the Atlantic in just a day and a half . . . no snow expected here, but they are predicting hurricane force winds, heavy rain, and coastal flooding from the storm surge on the southwest coast http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7285859.stm

Resin

Weather can be very interesting especially when a system goes this far.

Small world (weather wise, anyway)!! Resin, are your feeders busy??

And best batten down the hatches!

Sadie, I thought the worst of the storm was going through central KY--I'm surprised you got away with just five inches! Still so many birds at the feeder!

Isn't it interesting that the birds feed like crazy before the front comes in...and where did all the birds come from? Are they from points west and are trying to stay ahead of the front, or are they local birds who just come to our feeders hoping for a 'last supper'? I don't quite understand the feeding frenzy...

today the feeding has been sort of average, even though there is a lot of snow on the ground.

After I posted the other day we got up to 31 kinds of birds in the yard. A big day for us.

Tabasco ~ Central Ky wasn't too bad, N. Central (Louisville) got pounded! Last I heard, they had about a foot. We got up to 50 today and by dark, almost all of our snow was gone. Our feeders were back to about average today too, except for the Red Wing Black Birds and Grackles. The RWBB's have been around for about a week, this is the first time I've seen the Grackles since summer, don't know where they came from.

Wow Resin, I didn't realize this storm system was that strong! We had very strong winds yesterday, the good thing is that it moved on pretty quickly.

Yep, very fast-moving - normally it takes 3 to 5 days for a storm system to cross the Atlantic. Just now, it's fairly calm here, in the 'eye' of the storm with the barometer showing 968 mB. The worst of the weather has been south of the 'eye', in southwestern England.

Feeders are quiet here, it's mild, and there is plenty of natural food around to keep most birds happy.

Resin