February 12, 2012
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It’s time to count your backyard birds
Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 11 February 2010 11:32
Tens of thousands of people — many of them casual birdwatchers — will be counting birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges throughout North America in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, Feb. 12, through Monday, Feb.15.
Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.
Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, last year’s count data highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops farther north caused the siskins to move south to find their favorite food — and quickly empty our thistle feeders.
Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as few as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.
“Taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to get outside with family and friends, have fun, and help birds — all at the same time,” said Audubon Education Vice President Judy Braus. “Even if you can identify a few species you can provide important information that enables scientists to learn more about how the environment is changing and how that affects our conservation priorities.”
Janis Dickinson, director of citizen science at the Cornell Lab, said, “The GBBC is a perfect first step toward the sort of intensive monitoring needed to discover how birds are responding to environmental change. Winter is such a vulnerable period for birds, so winter bird distributions are likely to be very sensitive to change.
“There is only one way — citizen science — to gather data on private lands where people live and the GBBC has been doing this across the continent for many years. GBBC has enormous potential both as an early warning system and in capturing and engaging people in more intensive sampling of birds across the landscape.”
On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter a photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery.
All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other birding products.
Harbinger of spring?
“This one really puzzled me at my birdfeeder this morning,” writes Diana Gray of Bald Hill Road in Wilton. “It looked like a starling without the speckles. I couldn’t really see the pale yellow eyes until I got my lens on it. It was quite dark, not really the medium brown winter color shown in Peterson’s, but exactly what he says ‘suggests a short-tailed grackle’ for size and shape. “
The visitor was a Rusty Blackbird. “When the sun shone fully on it, the head and shoulders were a flat black, and the rest of the body quite dark brown. Guess it’s changing over to breeding plumage. I’ve rarely had Rustys in my yard — another harbinger of spring!”
Rustys are showing up — a flock of 70 was spotted in Edgewood Park, New Haven, on Feb. 3, and others were seen in Hamden and Norfolk.
Knock knock
Lois Kuperschmid of Wilton recently had an usual visitor. One evening in January, she heard what sounded like hail hitting the slider. It turned out to be “a bird, flailing against the glass, as if in a panic and wanting to get in.”
The bird was about eight inches long, with scissor-like tail and a light tan breast. She suspects it might have been either a Barn or a Cliff Swallow.
Coming up
Great Backyard Bird Count, see above, Feb. 12 to 15, www. birdcount.org.
Great Backyard Bird Count training session, with Ted Gilman, including walk, Saturday, Feb. 13, 1 to 2:30, Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, 203- 869-5272 x230, Greenwich.audubon.org.
Winter Owl Prowl, various locations in Westchester and NYC metro area, Saturday, February 13, 9 a.m., Saw Mill River Audubon, meet at the Millwood A&P parking lot, 914-666-6503 or e-mail office@sawmillriveraudubon.
2010 Connecticut State of the Birds, with Connecticut Audubon biologist Twan Leenders, Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., free, Western Connecticut Bird Club, at Kensington Green, 655 Main Street, Southbury, klfischer2 @ sbcglobal.net.
Eagles In Alaska, photography by Dan Burns, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2 p.m., $4/$2, Audubon Greenwich, 613 Riversville Road, 203- 869-5272 x230, Greenwich.audubon.org.
Saturday Morning Bird Walks with Luke Tiller, Feb. 13, Westport Hotspots; Feb. 20, Stamford/Greenwich Hotspots; Feb. 27,Stratford/Milford Tour; to register, sunrisebirding.com/walks.htm; 203- 453-6724, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
First Sundays, birding at Greenwich Point with Meredith Sampson of Wild Wings, and other guides, 203-637-9822.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Jack Sanders. Send sightings or comments to: jackfsanders [at sign] yahoo.com, or to Bird Notes, Box 1019, Ridgefield, CT 06877; or call 203-438-1183, extension BIRD (2473), and leave a message with your report, spelling your first and last names and telling us your town. If you need help identifying a bird, try your local nature center. If you find an injured bird, call wildlife rehabilitator Darlene Wimbrow of Redding, 203-438-0618, Wildlife in Crisis of Weston, 203-544-9913, or Wild Wings of Greenwich, 203-637-9822. The columnist’s website is www. sandersbooks. com.
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