ElizabethB Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 The Great Backyard Bird Count is 15 - 18 February. We're planning on participating. We've never participated before, although I've always though it sounded like a fun project. So, anyone who has actually participated is invited to have some thoughts!! You can have a free account with GBBC or buy eBird for $1 and use your eBird account--eBird can apparently be used year round. I purchased eBird but have not yet set up my account. Here is their how-to paperwork for those that are interested in counting birds: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/howto.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to put this on my calendar this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 Shoot. We'll be on the road. You can count from your car or from different locations each day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 We did this a couple years ago as part of our life science studies -- it was fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 Counting down to bird count... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 We did this last year. Our feeder has lots of birds and this is the time the Robins start to show up. However, the day and time we picked to sit and watch the feeder resulted in just 3 birds all sparrows. We will do it again but this time I am spiking the feeder with extra treats and a fresh suit cake. We have also been watching a Bald Eagle fly around and hope he will be there when we do the count. We are going to do the ebird too. In July we will be starting Apologia's Flying Creatures books and this will make a great addition (but will start right away) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 We did this last year. Our feeder has lots of birds and this is the time the Robins start to show up. However, the day and time we picked to sit and watch the feeder resulted in just 3 birds all sparrows. We will do it again but this time I am spiking the feeder with extra treats and a fresh suit cake. We have also been watching a Bald Eagle fly around and hope he will be there when we do the count. We are going to do the ebird too. In July we will be starting Apologia's Flying Creatures books and this will make a great addition (but will start right away) Sounds fun! We are looking forward to counting tomorrow. (OK, well, everyone but my son. He doesn't really like anything even semi-school related. He is a 7 year old boy through and through. He's cute, though, and does what he is told to do, he just doesn't like it. He does like mythbusters and lego technic, but that is the closest to school that he likes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a27mom Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Is this usually in February? If so I need to put it on my calendar for next year. And I guess we should get a bird feeder so we have something to count :). February isn't our busiest time of yr for birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeline05 Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 You know, I've wanted to do this for awhile now. My niece is an Environmental Science major at a nearby community college and she's just a fanatic about it all now haha, so she was talking about doing this a few months ago. I forgot about it until just now seeing this. I definitely think I'm going to participate. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 We did this a few years back but we did not see any birds this past month :( Maybe I need to get the correct bird feed for this time of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 I think all of our birds are still vacationing in the south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 We did this a few years back but we did not see any birds this past month :( Maybe I need to get the correct bird feed for this time of the year. They must be somewhere--you could count at a park or somewhere where they are more likely to hang out. I think all of our birds are still vacationing in the south. We have some that came from Canada and consider it warm here, but it is in the 30s right now which I do not consider warm. I would think your bird count might be a bit boring right now. If you get eBird, you can count year round! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 They must be somewhere--you could count at a park or somewhere where they are more likely to hang out. We will probably go to the shoreline parks to count ducks and pelicans :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Thanks for the reminder. We are in! Our first day was kinda boring, but a good lesson to my (wannabe) scientists that science isn't always flashy and exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 We will probably go to the shoreline parks to count ducks and pelicans :) Fun! Thanks for the reminder. We are in! Our first day was kinda boring, but a good lesson to my (wannabe) scientists that science isn't always flashy and exciting. We count in 18 minutes, it is generally only active in the morning this time of year, but we will see. We might be getting the real science version, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Bumping to remind people to count this weekend! So far, we have seen a fair number of birds, my 10 year old is in charge and has the lists, I will report later. We are using the birds in a neighbor's backyard. They have 3 bird feeders right by their fence and have a nice tree near their house that the birds like. We have noticed that the birds seem to like to hop from the fence to the feeder. Our feeders are not by the fence yet, we're working on it. They are hanging closer to our house and the birds either aren't interested or haven't found them yet, we just put them up a week ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We had better luck today than we did yesterday. Yesterday we sat and watched the feeder, but we decided to walk around our land today. My 9yo is in charge of the lists, too. She has to be because she knows birds far better than I do, LOL! She currently thinks she wants to be an ornithologist so this is right up her alley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acorn Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Ours was awesome, granted we traveled to a wildlife refuge known for wintering hawks and owls. We couldn't find any owls, but had a great time with Northern harriers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Ours was awesome, granted we traveled to a wildlife refuge known for wintering hawks and owls. We couldn't find any owls, but had a great time with Northern harriers. Wow, that sounds like a great trip, how fun! We had better luck today than we did yesterday. Yesterday we sat and watched the feeder, but we decided to walk around our land today. Great! We saw less numbers today, but more different types of birds. There was a small flock yesterday. My 9yo is in charge of the lists, too. She has to be because she knows birds far better than I do, LOL! She currently thinks she wants to be an ornithologist so this is right up her alley. Yes, it is right up my daughter's alley, tool She loves all types of animals and knows the birds better than I do, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We've done it before and we're doing it this year. My 10 year old loves animals and likes bird watching. We just count birds at our feeder. We've had cardinals, mourning doves, sparrows, nuthatches, bluejays, purple finches, and even a woodpecker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 We've done it before and we're doing it this year. My 10 year old loves animals and likes bird watching. We just count birds at our feeder. We've had cardinals, mourning doves, sparrows, nuthatches, bluejays, purple finches, and even a woodpecker. According to my bird expert (I did confirm a few that I saw, but she counted a few on her own and is better at bird ID than me) we have a similar list. We do see cardinals, bluejays sparrows and woodpeckers from time to time but not in the last few days, here's what we have seen and reported so far: Mourning doves, red-wing blackbirds, brewer's blackbird, and a bunch of house sparrows. We saw a flock of around 30 house sparrows yesterday and about 5 today. I have not seen a purple finch but supposedly they are in our area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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