Great Backyard Bird Count 2007!

[zlatushka]

It started today and goes through Sunday. Just takes a few minutes and it's alot of fun.

The website for more info is http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc

[butterfly1061]

I read about this somewhere. Neat and fun thing to do :D

[Janie]

I've done it several times....I'm a birdwatching junkie! :D Not sure if I can count more than a couple of times this year but in my back yard alone, I break records! Today I had a flock of around 50 cedar waxwings, and WOW, they are so beautiful and exotic looking and they love a bird bath! I have four! :lol I've had as many as 100 to 200 at a time and the tree branches actually drooped form all those waxwings. If you've never seen one, take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing

I see a lot of wonderful wild birds every day but the waxwings are the ones that are the most exotic looking to me. :)

Thanks for the heads up, Rachel! :)

[Eliza]

Boo... I don't have a backyard, only a parking lot!

I get to see lots of pigeons and seagulls, believe it or not -- one woke me up by tapping its beak on my window. On a few occasions I've seen red-tailed hawks, which is a rare treat indeed.

I'll have to forward this link to my 'rents. They live in a 55+ community nestled in the Pine Barrens and get all sorts of local fauna in their backyard :)

-e-

[butterfly1061]

Today I had a flock of around 50 cedar waxwings, and WOW, they are so beautiful and exotic looking and they love a bird bath! I have four! :lol I've had as many as 100 to 200 at a time and the tree branches actually drooped form all those waxwings. If you've never seen one, take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing

I see a lot of wonderful wild birds every day but the waxwings are the ones that are the most exotic looking to me. :)I am sooooooo jealous!! They are just beautiful. That's it - I'm getting a birdbath this year :clap:

[Susan27]

I looked up the list for my area....but it's Winter and COLD here, I don't think I will be seeing many (any) birds out in my back yard.

I am not a birdwatcher, well actually I just don't know many. In the spring we get a big puddle out in the field in front of my house, for the last couple of years ducks have been making it their home, had babies there and everything. One of the men who live in my row of townhouses, goes out and makes sure there is no garbage in the water....

We also have woodpeckers (I didn't even know we had those around my area). One of my neighbors hates them and wants to 'get rid' of them....MEANIE....I don't think she will do anything, she just likes to complain. (I will just poison her dog if she hurts the birds...KIDDING)

Oh, and Janie, those are DARLING birds...you are so lucky.

[wilkiecoco]

i just looked at the list for my area, montreal quebec, and if most or any of those birds landed on my front porch, knocked on the door, i would not be able to recognize them. Wow!!! i didn't know i could see that many in my area.

thanks for bringing this to our attention rachel !!!!! it's fascinating!!!

[Z28Taxman]

I've done it several times....I'm a birdwatching junkie! :D Not sure if I can count more than a couple of times this year but in my back yard alone, I break records! Today I had a flock of around 50 cedar waxwings, and WOW, they are so beautiful and exotic looking and they love a bird bath! I have four! :lol I've had as many as 100 to 200 at a time and the tree branches actually drooped form all those waxwings. If you've never seen one, take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing

I see a lot of wonderful wild birds every day but the waxwings are the ones that are the most exotic looking to me. :)

Thanks for the heads up, Rachel! :)

How about a maple tree with so many crows in it that it appears to have black (and very noisy) leaves? When they all take off at once it could make noon look like midnight! :omg:


It's too cold and icy for birdwatching here. I think I saw a pigeon with ice cicles hanging from it's wings. :rotfl:

[zlatushka]

Boo... I don't have a backyard, only a parking lot!

I get to see lots of pigeons and seagulls, believe it or not -- one woke me up by tapping its beak on my window. On a few occasions I've seen red-tailed hawks, which is a rare treat indeed.


You can still count 'em :) Every little bit helps.

As for the birds tapping your windows... I used to have tame "wild" birds in Russia that would taptaptap when they wanted me to open up and give them some food, or if they just wanted to come in for a bit. Lotsa fun. :)

[Janie]

You can still count 'em :) Every little bit helps.

As for the birds tapping your windows... I used to have tame "wild" birds in Russia that would taptaptap when they wanted me to open up and give them some food, or if they just wanted to come in for a bit. Lotsa fun. :)

Typically, tapping is because of the reflection they see in a window. They are territorial and are protecting their territory. :)

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I recently put a bird bath and bird feeder in the back yard. We go through about 2 cups of seed a day and sometimes we have dozens of birds back there. I was all set to start counting birdies! So pulled up the site and got the checklist for my zip code. The occasional red ones are "cardinals" - I got that. And I know mockingbirds because they're mean. But the rest of them, I resort to their "alternate" names: "medium grayish brown one with the long tail" and "smallish grayish brown ones with the short tail." I don't know which is which.

I might do my mom's zip code instead because there were probably 50 house sparrows at her ALF today. The residents have a couple of dozen bird feeders on the property. Those, Mom identified for me. Figures, she can't always remember my name but she knows that a sparrow is a sparrow ....

[Janie]

Jennifer, w/o a field guide (I have 5! :D) I would never have figured out which bird was which. I did the count yesterday and had 19 species in my back yard but I have been feeding for 10 years and the word really spreads in the bird world. I started with 3 or 4 species and within a year, it was a zoo out there. :lol Fortunately (Dave knows what I mean) I have never, knock wood, laid eyes on a House Sparrow in my yard. Devil birds, non-native and very destructive to the population of our native song birds. If they showed up in my yard and I couldn't get rid of them, I'd take down all feeders and nest boxes.

[Z28Taxman]

Jennifer, w/o a field guide (I have 5! :D) I would never have figured out which bird was which. I did the count yesterday and had 19 species in my back yard but I have been feeding for 10 years and the word really spreads in the bird world. I started with 3 or 4 species and within a year, it was a zoo out there. :lol Fortunately (Dave knows what I mean) I have never, knock wood, laid eyes on a House Sparrow in my yard. Devil birds, non-native and very destructive to the population of our native song birds. If they showed up in my yard and I couldn't get rid of them, I'd take down all feeders and nest boxes.

I've got house sparrows everywhere! Can't do nothin' with 'em. But if they invade my brothers nestboxes, they get evicted. Those are reserved for bluebirds, house wrens and tree swallows!

Aound here though the house wrens and finches mix in with the sparrows and have a big 'ol party with the ditto scraps.

The blue jays however don't like to share peanuts with the squirrles! They'll fight beak and nail!:rofl:

[Kathryn]

Thank for the site. I posted for the first time.

We have had feeders every year since we moved out here so there are 8 feeding stations as well as seed tossed on the ground.
Thank goodness the checklist has info and pictures that you can pull up to double check the species.

Hubby and I watch thru the den window most of the time, but today we took the quadrunner out and checked around the ponds and pasture areas for new calves. We got to see several birds that don't come to the feeders.

We were able to identify 29 species for the survey. We were both surprised. We do have some house sparrows but they are outnumbered by the indiginous species so I'll leave my stations up.

We also get Purple Martins each spring/summer. They should be arriving in early March....I better finish getting the gourds ready!!