The Great Backyard Bird Count 2013

Will you be participating this year?

It is easy to do. All it takes is 15 minutes. Count all the birds you see in one location by type, then enter the results on the website. You can spend as much time and cover as much of an area as you wish. Check back after the weekend and see the results for your area, your state, and this year around the world!

Breakfast With the Birds

I came across a photo of this painting in an old issue of Victoria Magazine and immediately felt a connection with it. I sit each morning at my dining room table next to a large window overlooking the backyard, drinking a few cups coffee, watching the birds come to the feeders and planning my day.

Gabriele Münter, Breakfast of the Birds, 1934; © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

A peak at my morning haven ...

Comings and Goings

The catbirds and wrens were gone from the garden for a few weeks, but as of the past week, they are back.  I haven't seen or heard a mourning dove in a week or two.  And robins have not been here at all this summer.  I wonder if they now migrate north for the summers and spend their winters here.

I regularly see a group of cardinals, about 5, taking turns flying to the different feeders placed throughout the gardens.  Three of them are males woh were born this spring and who had been wearing their "punk" outfits until recently. Now they are sporting their red coats, which are growing brighter every day.

I've changed the seed in the feeders to only black sunflower seeds. All of my favorite birds enjoy it, including the gold finches, and the sparrows do not. The population of house sparrows has diminished, I'm thinking because they prefer the millet in the wild bird food mix and now are not getting it.  It could be that they have moved on like the birds mentioned above. Or maybe they are living over by Kate's house, eating her bird food.  This may be the case with the mourning doves too. Maybe they don't care for the sunflower seeds.  I would see them on the raised beds in the enclosed garden most of the summer and think it was they who ate the dill, nigella and zinnia seeds I sowed.  I saw them in those beds and those plants didn't sprout. So even if they didn't like the sunflower seed, wouldn't they be in the gardens? I can't believe we are all out of weed seeds!

I saw a hummingbird yesterday.  I want to look for and record it each day.  There were a few days when I didn't see them.  As soon as I changed the sugar water in their feeders, they were back! The weather had gotten cooler at that time so I thought maybe they were on their way south.  I expect them to be gone any day now.  Or can I expect to see more hummingbirds for a while as the ones who were north of here begin to head south?  An incentive to keep up with the feeders!

Also for the past week I have heard some new bird calls, but have not seen who they belong to.  One bird may have been the catbird, though I did see what looked like a phoebe on the wire in the area the song was coming from.  I remember in the spring hearing the catbirds singing a lovely song, very unlike their usual screechy cat alert call.  I've also heard what Bob calls the "clothesline" bird. It was alternating its call with the blue jays, so maybe this is an alternate call/song of theirs. And there was a third call that I cannot describe, but was new as well. I will go through the different bird calls on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

It is to to refer to the Sally Roth book, Backyard Bird Secrets for Every Season, to see what is in store for the autumn season.  I bought the book last January and have learned a lot from it so far. Autumn is the last section in the book still to read.

Birds Seen Today as of 10 a.m
Hummingbird
Cardinals
Blue jay (hear)
downy woodpecker
catbird
mourning dove - flying
chickadee
wrens (hear)

Weather: humid, overcast, thunder and lightning in the distance.

The Great Backyard Bird Count 2012 Tallies

Saturday, February 18, 2012
Location: The Family Homestead, total of 13 acres
A mix of decidous woods, wetlands, suburban backyards, small pond and stream.

Birds observed through the course of about five hours:
Mallard - 2
Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 12
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
Black-capped Chickadee - 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
European Starling - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 9
Northern Cardinal - 3
House Finch - 4
 House Sparrow - 12

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Location: John Chanda Park, Stratford, CT
A large pond, deciduous woods, ball field and playground.

Birds observed in 15 minutes time:
Canada Goose - 53
Mallard - 3
American Robin - 1

Monday, February 20, 2012
Location 1: at the backyard feeders:

Birds observed in 15 minutes time:
Mourning Dove - 6
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
House Sparrow - 2

Location 2: Dunkin Donuts parking lot outside Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Milford, CT

Birds observed in 5 minutes:
Herring Gull - 12

Location 3: Woodmont Beach, Milford, CT
A beach along Long Island Sound

Birds observed in 30 minutes:
Herring Gull - 75
Rock Pigeon - 4
Monk Parakeet - 4

Location 4: Silver Sands State Park, Milford, CT
A beach with marshlands along Long Island Sound


Birds observed in one hour (not all species recorded):
Mallard - 2
duck sp. - 11
Herring Gull - 18

Location 5: back home in front yard:

Birds observed flying overhead:
10 Monk Parakeets

I really enjoyed participating in this count. I am a bit disappointed that my "regulars" didn't show up at the feeders or down at the pond. I so wanted to include them in the count to let the Cornell folks know about the variety of birds that frequent the Family Homestead.

This is the Weekend of the Great Backyard Bird Count

Yesterday began the annual weekend long bird count sponsored by the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. It goes on until Monday, February 20th.

This will be the first year that I participate and I hope to continue to do so each year for as long as I am able. February 20th happens to be my birthday, can't think of a better thing to do to celebrate than to spend some time with my feathered friends! Its a good excuse to get out to a nature preserve too!

I'll keep you posted on the species I was able to see and hope to get some good photos too! Going out now to fill all the bird feeders so I can count the visitors when they stop by for their dinner.