Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13-16

It is that time of year again!!!!

This is a great oppurtunity to help make a difference and contribute to the study of our feathered friends. It is so is easy and only takes a few minutes of your time. Please join in!!

Checkout the information here on how to participate http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

I've been practicing counting! I know that sounds silly, but honestly… I've had so many house finches and house sparrows that I'm not sure how i'm going to count them for 15 minutes each day!

I have too !!! LOL

Thanks for the info!!

Such a small thing to do and it really helps!! You are only required to do one day...15 minutes is all it takes to make a difference and contribute to science!

You can win som great prizes too!!!!!




***Bumping Up***

Thanks, nanny. I'm going to give it a shot. Sis and I tried to count the Goldfinches at the feeders today and it wasn't an easy thing to do... Pine Siskins, Chipping Sparrows, a few Pine Warblers and the odd House Finch or two were playing musical feeders with them!

I think I might have to take a picture when I think there are the most there and then count them in the pix!

Let's try to keep this thread at the top of the list to attract as many new counters as we can and remind repeat counters that it's again time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. This will be only our fourth year, but it is really interesting to look back at our personal data, and to regional data reported by others, and compare one year to another.

In addition to GBBC, DH and I have participated in Project Feeder Watch for four years also. This is our second year at our new home. We've had 13 species in a day visit our feeders versus the 9 we noted last year and twice the number of birds over last year. We started our garden in 2008, and believe this has helped increase the bird activity, as we added a few bird-friendly plants and flowers. We're adding a few trees and shrubs this year as well as enlarging our garden area. Our species observed is somewhat limited by our open pasture landscape, and none of our sightings are unusual, but the birds appear to be arriving earlier and in larger numbers than last year. Very exciting. I think maintaining bird baths throughout the year is the best thing we did. We put out feeders within days of moving in and it took a while for a few birds to come. It was a little disappointing. The day we added water was the changing day in both the species and numbers of birds visiting.

Please mention GBBC to your friends who appeciate wildlife and the environment. It's terrific fun and it's FREE.

Oh Pam, 13 species, that's just great!

Stocked up on goodies to ay to get a good crowd..I hope! The weather here is supposed to be back down in the 30's for the weekend so that will help. We have not very many visitors the last few days due to the warm weather.

This message was edited Feb 9, 2009 4:24 PM

The last 2 days large numbers of Common Grackles have been joining the flocks of European Starlings in my yard. The noise from all these birds is unbelievable.

me too, nothing but a bunch of mangy squirrels, a few house finches and a few sparrows!

Well I'm going to stop serving the peanuts in the shell now. I found them all over the yard when I came home. That should help.

They aren't pretty, but the way they arrive in the hundreds or even thousands, and the sound is astounding, isn't it? And then, they're gone and all is silent again. Remember the old Hitchcock movie, The Birds? Scary to a little kid.

I had a lot of Grackles over the weekend too. None that I remember noticing and then there they were. My kids were so silly complaining that they couldn't talk over them. :-0

My squirrels are so fat and happy. They are always sunning themselves on top of the kids tree house and hanging by their feet and leisurely stretching their front arms while they yawn. I don't even fight it anymore. And I really fought it for a while. Don't misunderstand my tone, it's not like I welcome them or anything like that. I'm just now trying to pick and choose my battles and look for the bright side of battles I simply can't win. I even hope they can maybe be an early cat warning for the birds.

I've passed this Bird Count info. to all the teachers and homeschoolers I know.

This message was edited Feb 10, 2009 10:20 AM

Squirrels....funny but evil little demons. They've dismantled bird houses, chewed through screens, and even peed on me from overhead. Evillllll!