GBBC 2012

Sent in my count for the yesterday. I spent the entire morning on the deck and looking out the windows to come up with my list. It's not terribly large but this has not been a winter for either manyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif species or many individual birds.

Just 14 species on my list.

Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 15
Downy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 1
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 9
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 35
Northern Cardinal 1
American Goldfinch 18

I didn't actually "see" the Raven or the Crow, but they were calling from somewhere nearby. The voices of the two are pretty distinct.

I first heard the Pileated Woodpecker calling from across the street where there's a tree that has obviously gotten its attention. Then it flew through the yard heading for another excavated tree up on the hill that I saw the other day.

The Red-tailed Hawk flew out of one of the white pines on the hill above the Aerie and circled once before disappearing over the ridge.

I spotted the nearly invisible Brown Creeper working its way up a locust trunk on the other side of the yard. Once it got to the second level of branches it swooped down to another tree deeper into the woods and I lost sight of it.

The rest were visitors to the several feeders I've got on the deck and in the side yard. They are here nearly every single morning--right after I scare the fattening squirrels away.

The rest

GBBC this weekend!

The Great Backyard Bird Count is happening this weekend. If you've any interest in birds and birding here's an opportunity to be part of a citizen-scientist event sponsored by the Cornell Lab for Ornithology.

Participation is easy. All you need do is count the birds you see in your immediate surroundings for at least 15 minutes and send the results to the folks at Cornell. You can count for a longer period of time and you can do your counting on any of the four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday). You can limit your count to your backyard or visit other likely birding spots nearby. Just be sure you send only one checklist for each location and for each day you count. (You have until March 1 to submit your lists.)

A full listing of the rules and links to send your bird checklist are found here.

If you;re a photography buff, there's also a GBBC Photo Contest.

And here's a GBBC link to associated activities for kids.