Hocking Hills Christmas Bird Count

Snow-flocked Hemlocks in the Hocking Hills

January 2nd turned out to be a cold, brisk, wintry day, perhaps not the best of days to be out birding.  The roads went from dry to snow-covered in a matter of hours, and we found ourselves in near white-out conditions at a few points in the day.  As a result, the birds stayed hunkered down for the most part, except for a few pockets of activity here and there.  I had hoped for at least 40 species for the day, and we ended the day with 44 species; however, only 35 of those were in our count territory - the other 9 were "borrowed" from Lake Logan, which was the territory of another count group.
I'm glad we stopped at the lake first thing, though, because there was much waterfowl to be seen.  Due to the mild weather that we've had thus far, the water was completely open (i.e. not frozen), so there were many more waterbirds than one would find if the lake had been even partially frozen.  We saw several good-sized rafts of American Coots and Hooded Mergansers (with females greatly outnumbering males), a couple of Pied-billed Grebes, a Double-crested Cormorant, and a Horned Grebe.  Please let it be noted that, with the exception of the Coots (and maybe the Mergs), I probably wouldn't have been able to ID the other waterfowl due to utter lack of experience (especially since they're all in basic, or non-breeding, plumage right now!).  Thanks to our fearless leader, Jim McCormac, for pointing out all these great birds!

As strange as it may sound to some, I find an odd type of enjoyment in driving around and stopping and looking and listening for birds.  Of course, this is all done on rural roads, so traffic is not too much of an issue, but you do have to be mindful of private property.  We stopped and "staked out" a couple of yards with feeders, and if the homeowners would have happened to look out while this car full of people with binoculars was checking out their house, they might have been a little alarmed!  One of these feeders got us our only House Finch of the day, though.

My bird count partners, Olivia and Jim.

Some species came easily, and were spotted or heard at almost every stop, with the American Crow probably taking the prize there.  Dark-eyed Juncos were also observed in great numbers (101 for the day for our group, I believe).  Other species like Carolina Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse were observed in surprisingly low numbers, especially given the number of forested habitats we encountered.  We got all 5 woodpecker species that we expected (Downy, Hairy, Red-belied, Northern Flicker, and Pileated), but we had to work really hard for the Hairy, and all the Pileateds were silent fly-bys.  That's one woodpecker you tend to hear more than you see it, but not on this day.  We had 4 Belted Kingfishers for the day, which I thought was a high number, but very few Starlings or House Sparrows, both of which I would have expected to see in decent numbers simply due to their commonness.

Surprises for the day came both in the form of what we saw and didn't see.  The aforementioned Horned Grebe was a nice find, as were several hearty-souled Savannah Sparrows cavorting with a large flock of Juncos, a Bald Eagle soaring over Lake Logan, and a few Killdeer holding out on the mudflats at the lake.  We had several misses, too, that were disappointing: no Turkey Vultures (did see a number of Black Vultures, though), no Red-tailed Hawk, and no American Kestrel.  Regarding the latter two, I suspect our chances would have been better if the weather weren't so dreadful.  Who wants to be teed up in a tree or perched on autility line when the wind is blowing the snow sideways?  We had also hoped and tried for Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren and maybe an overwintering Eastern Phoebe, but no luck.  And so it goes.

The day wrapped up at Crane Hollow Nature Preserve, where we had a group gathering and pot luck.  It was nice to sit in this warm, cozy house with some yummy snacks and in the company of friends, new and old, while we compiled the day's findings.  It was a wonderful way to start the new year!

Here's the full list of species that our group saw and/or heard, if anyone cares to know:

• Hooded Merganser
• Double-crested Cormorant (new for the Hocking Hills count!)
• American Coot
• Canada Goose
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Horned Grebe
• Mute Swan
• Mallard
• Killdeer
• Belted Kingfisher
• Bald Eagle
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Northern Harrier
• American Crow
• Norther Cardinal
• Blue Jay
• Carolina Chickadee
• Tufted Titmouse
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• Song Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Savannah Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• American Tree Sparrow
• Eastern Towhee
• Hermit Thrush
• Eastern Bluebird
• American Robin
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Red-breasted Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Mourning Dove
• American Goldfinch
• House Finch
• Carolina Wren
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Black Vulture
• Northern Mockingbird
• House Sparrow
• European Starling

May the counting begin!

Project FeederWatch got underway this past weekend. This will be my 7th season counting for this citizen science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and I can't wait to see what kind of new and interesting things I'll see at my feeders this winter, whether it be a new species, a record-breaking flock of Grackles, or a never before seen behavior or interaction among the birds.

Already I have some interesting data to look at from my first counting session. Looks like things are getting off to a start that is practically identical to last season. The exact same species showed up, with only the tiniest variation in the numbers of each. How about that?

species	wknd of 11.13.10	wknd of 11.12.11
Mourning Dove	13	13
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1	1
Downy Woodpecker	2	2
Hairy Woodpecker	1	2
Carolina Chickadee	4	5
Tufted Titmouse	3	2
White-breasted Nuthatch	3	4
Northern Cardinal	2	2
American Goldfinch	9	10
Total individuals	38	41

Looking back on past seasons' data, I should expect to see some Juncos next weekend. I have seen a few in town already, but none yet in our own yard.

I can tell that my fascination with goldfinches and their striking plumage is going to continue.

Here we got a nice look at their white patches above the tail, not feathers you see terribly often
And the nuthatches will continue with their bold antics, running each other off from the feeders. I hope to catch some good shots of them with their various displays of aggression, but they are fast and hard to keep up with the camera. Unless they're eating, that is.

One new bird that I hope to draw in this year is the Brown Creeper. They are definitely in our woods, but they're not exactly a bird that takes to traditional bird feeders. I'm going to try some homemade "bark butter" to see if that will bring them in.

And, it will be time to start making homemade bird dough soon, once the temps actually decide to get cold (as I write this at 8:30 in the evening, it's still 69 degrees outside... I'm not complaining, but it is a bit odd for mid-November!). Will my Pileated Woodpecker come back again this year for a sample of that tasty treat? I surely hope so!

Serious birding business

Coming into this year, I already knew that 2011 would be a big birding year for me. It started off with a bang when I participated in my first-ever Christmas Bird Count up in the Hocking Hills on January 2nd. Then I had a number of speaking engagements where I talked about birds and birding. Then, of course, there was the New River Birding and Nature Festival in West Virginia during the first week of May. That event, in and of itself, served to catapult my birding knowledge and confidence into a dimension previously unknown to me.

The confidence I gained led me to finally offer my time and effort to a cause that is in need of my help (and yours, too, if you're an Ohio birder!). A little over a week ago I signed up to take part in Ohio's 2nd Breeding Bird Atlas. The first atlas was completed 20+ years ago, and it is strictly a volunteer effort. It's citizen science at its finest, in my opinion, and every bit of input helps. Here is a brief synopsis of the atlas, as stated on the OBBA II website:

The second breeding bird atlas for Ohio is generating extensive information that will be essential for the effective conservation and management of birds. By engaging Ohio's citizens in this cooperative effort OBBA II will foster interaction among bird enthusiasts of all experience levels and will heighten public awareness of birds in Ohio.

The atlas works somewhat like a Christmas Bird Count in that volunteers are counting birds within a pre-defined area (a "block" that is approximately 10 miles square), but information is tallied from the entire state over a period of 5-6 years. Also, it's not simply a matter of counting birds, but looking for specific cues that breeding is occurring or has occurred. With a little over 4,400 blocks to be surveyed across the entire state, even just a few hours of surveying can help out with this monumental undertaking. Unfortunately (and understandably), there are still a number of blocks throughout the state that have not been surveyed, and have no data. The two blocks that I recently claimed ownership of had some small numbers up until now, but I am working to quickly change that.

By claiming ownership of a block, I have committed myself to spending 25 hours (per block) of time out in the field looking for breeding evidence, as well as documenting 75% of the expected total species for each block (and confirming breeding for as many of those species as possible). Sounds like a lot of work, and I will admit that it's a bit daunting, but I've been very encouraged by each trip afield so far. I feel like I still have a good bit of ground to cover, but each time I've gone out I've either added a handful (or two!) of new species to the block, or upgraded previous observations from a "possible" or "probable" status to "confirmed." Granted, the more time I spend out there, the less new data I will have to report, but for now I'm riding high on all the wonderful new things I'm seeing.

Even if you've never done any surveying for breeding birds like this before, there's still time if you're interested. June and July is prime time, and there's lots of activity out there right now. Any of my Ohio readers, if you're not already involved but would like to be, please go to the OBBA II website by clicking HERE. You'll find all the information you need to get started. Not an Ohio resident? Other neighboring states are doing breeding bird atlases as well, and West Virginia is in the middle of their 2nd atlas project. Click HERE for links to BBA projects in other states (and Canada).

In my next post I'll detail some of the wonderful things I have had the opportunity to observe just within the last 10 days as a result of being part of this effort.

FeederWatch record smashed

Ahhhh, yet another great weekend of feeder watching has come and gone. There's lots of snow on the ground, and there were lots of birds at the feeders. I was very excited to finally hit a new record for total number of species observed during the 2-day count period. Up until now, 18 species has been the number to beat, but 2 surprise birds on Sunday took it up to 19, and then 20. I've watched the species diversity at our feeders climb slowly year by year, with 15 being the high number during the '05-'06 season, and that figure was reached only once at that. The extra 2 species of woodpeckers this year has certainly contributed to this rise in diversity, and also semi-regular appearances of Common Grackles. I've recorded over 15 species 4 times already this season, and there are still a number of harsh weeks of winter weather yet to go. March usually proves to be a record-setting time, due to a combination of the beginning of spring migration and one last bout of horrible weather conditions. Given that knowledge, I will continue to watch with interest over the next few months as to what may show up.


Species #19, Pine Siskin - I've been waiting for this one to show up for months. I only saw 1 individual, and time will tell if more of them will come visit over the next few days and weeks.

Species #20, Brown-headed Cowbird - a most unusual visitor at our feeders this time of year. They are more common in our yard during spring and summer.
Interestingly, the Cowbird was mixed into a large flock of other blackbirds. Yes, the Common Grackles showed up again. I'm not sure what's going on with these birds this year, but they have been frequenting my feeders, and also my neighbor's feeders about a mile down the road. Whatever the reason may be, I'll take it - they are such stunning birds!

Common Grackle sampling one of my freshly-made suet cakes. Have you figured out yet that I like making food for my birds?

Their dark coloring shows up nicely against the backdrop of beech bark.

Ha! I caught this one mid-scratch.

I was fortunate to get some good shots of both Downy (on the left) and Hairy (on the right) Woodpeckers to use as comparisons between the two. I'll be using these images in my upcoming "Backyard Birding" presentation next week.

How could I pass up sharing a photo of this blazing red beauty? That flaming 'do is like a fiery beacon.

Oh look, another birdie tongue shot! I love it when a shot like this happens.
While we're on the subject of woodpeckers, dare I tell you that there were TWO Pileated Woodpeckers around our feeders this morning? A female and a male. I could hardly contain my excitement. Could this mean that baby Pileateds are in the offing for us? I can only dream...

Ringing in the New Year with birds

As cliché as it may sound, I can't believe the first week of 2011 is over. It got off to a great start on January 2nd as I participated in my first-ever Christmas Bird Count. Probably the oldest citizen science project out there, Christmas Bird Counts have been taking place since the year 1900. Isn't that amazing? I keep hearing that birding as a hobby has been gaining in popularity in recent years, but it's obviously been of interest to a lot of people for a long time for such a project to be entering its 111th year.

Counts happen all over the Americas during a period from mid-December to early January. I participated in the Hocking Hills count, where I met up with friends Jim McCormac and Nina Harfmann, and two new birding acquaintances, Peter and Gabe. We had so much fun during the 6-1/2 hours or so that we scoured the hollers of the Hocking Hills.

Nina, Peter, Gabe and Jim. Trust me, there really are 4 people in this picture.
The day just flew by, too. Overall, we tallied 54 species seen and heard for the day. Unfortunately, I missed the 2 Bald Eagles that flew over the parking lot where we all met (I was the last to arrive), but I made up for that today when I saw one fly across the highway.

We were there mainly for the birds, but it's not too hard for me to get distracted by other things, especially when the scenery is so lovely.

I could have taken pictures of frozen puddles forever, but there were birds to be counted!

The sun shines down upon us on this quiet country road. Some spots were very birdy, others were remarkably quiet.

Dilapidated old barns abound, begging to be appreciated for their beauty. Maybe Barn Swallows live here in the summer.
No birding trip with Jim would be complete without a little bit of botany on the side. Myself, Nina and Peter were all in for a special treat when Jim shared with us the endangered Appalachian Filmy Fern, one of only two known colonies of said fern in the state of Ohio. Given its fragile status, we were all sworn to secrecy as to its location. My photos don't do justice to the delicate nature of this fern, which Jim says is merely 1 cell thick. I would be interested in trying to get photos that capture their translucent quality, but I don't want to disturb the site more than necessary.

"Baby" fronds of Appalachian Filmy Fern

It puts me a little in the mind of parsley, this special fern. For more information about the Appalachian Filmy Fern, check out Jim's blog.

Happy Birdy (and ferny) New Year to you!

Cold weather + snow = good birding!

This weekend was a great birding weekend right in my own back yard, and it made me jump for joy, as this Blue Jay looks like it's doing here.
The cold weather coupled with several inches of snow on the ground brought lots of feathered friends into the feeders. This weekend I counted 128 individual birds, and 18 different species. I was sure 128 must be a record, but it turns out I counted 129 individuals during a freak snow storm in March 2008 (luckily, all my FeederWatch data is stored from year to year). At any rate, I've never had numbers this high in December. Normally, I don't expect to see counts like this until January or February, when we're really into the heart of winter. At this rate, some records could be broken this FeederWatch season. I'm waiting to tip past the 18 species mark, and I think it could happen pretty easily.

The Blue Jays finally made their way back to the feeders for the first time this season. I was so glad to see them. I find them to be beautiful and intriguing. They can be aggressive at the feeders, both toward each other and toward other species, but this weekend they were mild mannered. I think everyone was too busy trying to consume as many calories as they could to worry about wasting them on scuffles.

It took them a little while to get used to the peanut feeder again, but soon the Jays made fast friends with the peanuts.

Oh, and they were big fans of the homemade suet dough I put out. I'll tell you all about that in my next post (the dough, that is)!
An uncommon guest in our yard this weekend was a large flock of Common Grackles. I heard them flying over while I was out this morning, and wondered how they could not be attracted to all the bird activity that was going on here. As it turns out, they were very interested in what was going on.

Two female Grackles, part of a flock of 30+.
I'm used to the typical song birds at my feeders, so having bigger birds like the Blue Jays and Grackles, in addition to a small flock of Eastern Towhees, a Pileated Woodpecker, and a Northern Flicker led me to call this the "Big Bird" weekend.

Other items of note about the weekend:
-A record number of 34 Mourning Doves were counted
-Lots of woodpeckers, with a record of 5 species total for the weekend, and 10 individuals
-Until this weekend, the last time we had a Pileated Woodpecker at the feeders was February 2006 (no photographs, though - sorry!)
-Song Sparrows showed up for the first time this season, and they have arrived at about the same time for the last few years

Like I said, lots of woodpeckers this weekend. Here, we have a female Downy on the left and a female Hairy on the right

Who knows what next weekend will bring? Just like this Blue Jay, I'll be keeping an eye out.

The season of counting has begun!

When I was a young'un, one of my favorite things to do this time of year was leaf through the Service Merchandise catalog (and maybe the JCPenny catalog, too) and look at all the toys that I could ask Santa to bring me for Christmas. I could easily spend hours looking at the same pages over and over, memorizing all the Barbie cars and houses, and cataloging all of the Star Wars action figures that I hadn't collected yet.

Once Christmas was over, though, that was it. I had some new toys to play with, but winter would drag on without much new to look at, and those toy catalogs were gone from my mind by December 26th.

Now, as a grown-up kid, I have a hobby that takes the place of poring over those pages and pages of toys. And it lasts way beyond the holiday season - in fact, it lasts almost until spring! I'm talking about Project FeederWatch, the Cornell Lab or Ornithology citizen science project that got me hooked on birding. This winter marks my 6th season of watching and counting birds and reporting my findings to the Lab. It's so much fun, and it really gives me something to look forward to in the winter. I'm quite prone to the winter "blahs," so having this incentive to look out the window and interact with the natural world is really a wonderful thing.


FeederWatching can be addictive, and may cause you to spend hours watching your feeders. If you're not careful, you might burn a dinner or two because you're otherwise occupied watching the fighting going on between the Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches on the thistle feeder. (Not that I would know anything about birds distracting me from cooking!)


A rare moment when Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches are eating quietly side by side. How many of each bird can you find in this picture?
FeederWatching is easy. Just pick 2 consecutive days out of the week that are convenient for you, and count for as long as you are able. Wait at least 5 days, and then count again for 2 more consecutive days. Lather, rinse and repeat from now until April 8, 2011, reporting your observations to Cornell along the way. My counting schedule is always a 1-2 punch of Saturday and Sunday, simply because those are the 2 days per week when I can spend the greatest number of daylight hours watching my feeders.


This winter I expect to see old friends for sure, and hopefully a few new ones, too. All of our 3 common woodpecker species (Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied) were accounted for this past weekend, and the two common "flocking" species at our feeders (Mourning Dove and American Goldfinch) came out with relatively strong numbers.

The Winter Finch Forecast by Ron Pittaway (hosted on eBird) has given me some idea of specific finch species to look for. One species I could expect to see this winter that I haven't seen before is the Common Redpoll. This would not only be a new feeder bird, but a life bird, as well. According to Pittaway's article, Common Redpolls could "irrupt" (defined as: to increase rapidly and irregularly in number) into the northern U.S. this year for 2 reasons: their food source in northern Canada is scarce this year, and it was an exceptionally good breeding year for the species, with double- and triple-broods reported in parts of Canada, so competition for food will be even greater than usual. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for this species! BULLETIN: I was just alerted to a map on RareBird.org that is tracking the movements of certain species, such as the Common Redpoll, into Ohio for the 2010-2011 winter season, and they have already been spotted in some of the northern-most counties. (Thanks for the tip, Jim!)

Another finch species of interest is the Purple Finch, which is also expected to be plentiful in the northern U.S. this winter, again because their major food source up north is not in great supply. I don't usually see them until late December or January, if they show up at my feeders at all, but I spotted a male Purple Finch dining on sunflower seeds at my feeder a little over a week ago, which is super early for me. I hope he comes back soon so I can count him for FeederWatch.



I am now confident that I will be seeing Pine Siskins at the feeders this winter.  My first encounter with this species was during the 2008-2009 FeederWatch season, but they were not present during last season's count. Even though Pittaway's article doesn't predict them coming down into the northern U.S. (food sources up north are excellent), I have heard "chatter" suggesting that they are already working their way into Ohio for the season. The above-mentioned map on RareBird.org shows that they are already farther south by this point in November than they were for the entire season in 2009-2010. Apparently they have been spotted in Athens county already.  So riddle me this:  If their food source is abundant up in Canada, what could possibly make them want to come down this way for the winter?  Hmmmmm...


"Hey, Heather says she's got plenty of thistle and black-oil sunflower seeds at her place! Maybe we should go see her!"


"What's that, you say? Party at Heather's? Well, I'll get my sassy little self right on over there!"

So if you are looking for something cool and fun to do this winter, something that will engage you with life right outside your door, consider counting birds and contributing valuable data as a citizen scientist.


This Tufted Titmouse says, "We will stand and be counted!"

Join Project FeederWatch today!

Feederwatch, week 7

Wow, I can't believe it's the 7th week of Feederwatch already! Unfortunately there are no photos to accompany this week's installment. I didn't spend as much time feeder watching as I normally do, but I did observe a few interesting things when I was paying attention.

There's still that perky Golden-crowned Kinglet hanging around our property. One of those birds that is heard more often than seen, it was good to lock onto it with the binoculars. Unfortunately, though, I am unable to include it in my Feederwatch count because it doesn't come to the feeders. I wonder, though, if they would come in if I put out waxworms? I need to start putting those out again. I never actually saw any birds partake of the waxworms last year, so I kind of forgot about them.

Another item of interest was watching a male Red-bellied Woodpecker cache peanuts. Whenever a bird, whether it be titmouse, nuthatch, or woodpecker, flies away with a whole peanut in its beak, I usually lose track of it after a few seconds. I was able to stay with the Red-bellied, though, as he flew to a distant snag. I watched him plunk the peaut into a crevice in the dead tree and smash at it with his dagger-like beak, and then he consumed a few pieces of the nut meat within. The remaining pieces of nut meat were distributed to other trees in the immediate vicinity of the snag. He very carefully, but forcefully, stashed the nut meat into these trees. The angle at which he was perched did not allow me to see if the nuts were going into an existing hole, or if he was somehow tucking them into crevices in the bark. I even wondered if he was perhaps making new holes for the nuts? Later in the day I even watched him move a piece of nut meat from one tree to the other. Very interesting, indeed.

Finally a comment on the count trend for White-breasted Nuthatches. I counted 4 this weekend. That doesn't happen very often. In fact, it's only happened once each season since I started counting for Feederwatch, and it didn't happen at all last season. The numbers were pretty low for WBNUs last season, never going above 2 per count, while they were much more variable in other seasons (ranging from 1 to 3, and sometimes 4). I have steadily observed 2 WBNUs every weekend so far this season, until I spotted 4 this weekend. What does this mean, if anything? I don't know. I do know we lost 1 WBNU to a window collision just before the count season started, so I'm actually glad to know that there are at least 4 of these squawky, horn-honk-sounding birds still in our woods.


Feeder round-up for December 26-27, 2009

Mourning Dove	15
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
Downy Woodpecker	2
Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee	4
Tufted Titmouse	4
White-breasted Nuthatch	4
Carolina Wren	1
Dark-eyed Junco	1
Northern Cardinal	3
American Goldfinch	7

Happy birding!

FeederWatch, week 3

This past weekend we had another blast of ridiculously, unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures in the mid-60's on Sunday, floated in on a stream of warm breezes coming out of the south. But oh what a difference a day makes! Today we had a stiff breeze cold enough to make my nose run, and I write this next to the first blaze of the month in the ol' wood stove.

But enough about the weather. What about the birds? Well, surely the two things go hand in hand. For example, the Eastern Towhees and Song Sparrows have been absent from our feeders so far this season, and I'm guessing that is in large part due to the mild weather. Mild weather has meant that lots of bugs are still out and about, thus extending the amount of time these birds can still rely on good "natural" food sources instead of resorting to the seed that we put out for them. These two species (Towhee and Song Sparrow) have made themselves known at our feeders in the past when daytime temps stayed well below 50 degrees, and even more so when snow fell - two conditions that have not been met so far on my FeederWatch days this year.

Other trend notes: Visiting Tufted Titmice are up from last year by a bird or two, and I'm consistently seeing 2 White-breasted Nuthatches each weekend (although I heard as many as 3 at once on several occasions), which has been a rarity in past years. Carolina Wren continues to show up weekly, always brightening my day with its spunky spirit and noisy chittering, chattering, and scolding.

One bird that was absent from the roll call last week was the Red-bellied Woodpecker. I searched high and low both days, and heard some calls far off in the woods, but it never showed up. This week, however, it was very active at the feeders, visiting both the peanut feeder and the suet feeder on numerous occasions. The Red-bellied has become quite adept at plucking whole peanuts from the feeder.



Sizing things up...


Looks like he picked a winner!


A closer view of this feeder beauty.


Tufted Titmice are by far the most frequent visitors to the peanut feeder. They use the little "tails" that are on a lot of the peanuts as a handle. Look at how it's using its toes in the right photo, getting a grip on the nut!


Success!



Here's a close-up of using a peanut "tail" as a handle. This little Tufty is in a precarious position, though. I've seen them hanging upside down like this with a nut in their beak, only to lose their grip and drop it. The comical thing about it is that they dive-bomb right down after the nut they just dropped!

Here's the tally of birds counted this past weekend (11/28-11/29):

Mourning Dove	15
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
Downy Woodpecker	2
Hairy Woodpecker	1
Carolina/Black-capped Chickadee	4
Tufted Titmouse	5
White-breasted Nuthatch	2
Carolina Wren	1
White-throated Sparrow	3
Dark-eyed Junco	1
Northern Cardinal	5
American Goldfinch	10

Happy birding!

Citizen science plug: Project FeederWatch

In a few weeks you'll likely be seeing more bird photos on my blog. Why? Because November 14th marks the start of the 2009-2010 season of Cornell University's Project FeederWatch, and it's pretty rare for me to do my counts without my camera sitting nearby, ready to capture odd, interesting or just plain cute bird moments.


White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-bellied Woodpecker enjoying tasty treats during past FeederWatch seasons.

This will be my fifth year of participating in Project FeederWatch (PFW, for short), and I feel an obligation to my fellow birders to tell them about this cool citizen science program. Here's a description of FeederWatch from Cornell's site:

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.

Folks talk about their "spark bird," which is something I can't say I really have, but I do consider PFW my "spark" activity. Counting birds for PFW is what really got me into birds, and I haven't looked back since my first count 5 years ago when I could barely tell a Downy Woodpecker from a Hairy Woodpecker.


How did I figure out how to keep Downy and Hairy straight in my mind? "D"owny is "d"ainty and "H"airy is "h"uge!
There are lots of great reasons to participate in Project FeederWatch. For one thing, it gives you an "excuse" to spend lots of time watching your feathered backyard friends. If anyone in your household accuses you of spending too much time looking at the backyard birds, tell them, "It's for science!"

It's also a very good way to learn and get a better understanding of bird behavior and "mannerisms." Some birds are more aggresive than others, some may be more tolerant of you during feeder filling, etc.






Tempers can subside as quickly as they flare.

Don't know for sure which birds are ground feeders or who prefers which feeder? You'll learn this very quickly by participating in PFW.


Male Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored race), a predominantly ground-feeding species.
Another benefit of participating over time is watching trends develop. Every year the folks at Cornell put together summaries of the data they received from all over the country, but you can also observe the trends right in your own yard. Once you have entered data for a count session, you will be able to look at it whenever you like. The Lab keeps all of your count data available online from every year that you participate, and you can sort by species, by average group size, or by group size on a specific date.

After 4 seasons of counting I can now make observations about the population trends of the birds that visit our feeders.

For example, last year was a terribly light year for Carolina Wrens at our feeders. I only counted 1 Carolina Wren for the entire 21 weeks of the season. I have high hopes for a rebound in their numbers this year. I have noticed a much stronger presence of them so far this fall, and I have seen them around regularly for quite a few weeks now. We shall see.

Also, we are about due for a visit from the Red-breasted Nuthatches. They have been present every other year, and they weren't here last year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the pattern will continue and that they will show up this year. Haven't seen any yet, but there's still time!

Also worth mentioning: the American Goldfinch was the most populous bird at our feeders the first year I counted, with an average group size of 15.2. Those numbers have fluctuated and dropped since then, though. Average group size in season 2 was 9.0 (ranked 1st); in season 3 it was 10.1 (ranked 2nd after Mourning Dove); in season 4 it dropped to 8.3 (ranked 3rd behind Mourning Dove and Pine Siskin). What will this season bring for our American Goldfinches? (In case anyone is wondering, I've only ever observed one goldfinch with House Finch eye disease (conjunctivitis), so I don't think there is necessarily any disease that has decreased their numbers.)


Mourning Dove with icy tail feathers. MODO's have ranked in the top 3 for average group size at our feeders every count year so far.
If you need any more convincing to get involved with this project, let me tell you that it's a great cure for the winter blahs. Having something specific to focus on, and knowing that this is pretty much a "winter-only" thing, really gives me something to look forward to on the weekends during those cold, dreary months. One of my favorite things to do in winter, actually, is to get bundled up and go hang out on the deck after dinner and count the birds as I "listen in" on their own dinner conversations.

I also encourage anyone who does participate in PFW to submit any cool or interesting photos you might take during the season to the Cornell Lab. They do a pretty good job of showcasing these photos, and they use them on a lot of the promotional materials concerning the program.

So, are you on board? For more information, go to Project FeederWatch (link will open in new window). You can also click on the PFW badge over in the sidebar. You can sign up now if you haven't already, or you can sign up any time during the season, up until the very end of February. I would love to include a list of fellow FeederWatchers over in my sidebar, so if you're interested in having your blog included in that list, just let me know in the comments, or drop me an email, and I'll add you!

Happy birding!