My Kind of Bird Watching
Today we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which is sponsored by the Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada.
GBBC brings together tens of thousands of people from around the world to compile data that scientists use to evaluate the state of our feathered friends. This year it started on February 12 and will wrap up tomorrow, on the 15th.
Participation is very flexible, and you can devote as little as 15 minutes. Even better, we can do it from the comfort of our heated back porch.
Judy and I decided to start our bird counting once we saw a Cooper’s Hawk sitting on the back fence this morning. We wanted to impress the scientists at Bird Count HQ. Though most likely they were not nearly as excited as we were. We see a hawk in the back garden just once a month or so on average.
Or course, all the other birds stayed scarce until after the hawk had moved on for a while. One of the first to emerge was the Northern Cardinal. We’ve seen an unusually large number of Northern Cardinals this winter. They make echoes of Christmas color when they perch in front of a deep green Japanese Yew.
They like safflower seed, but this one needs to learn to chew with his beak shut.
There were quite a few American Goldfinches as well. I think I saw just the beginnings of their bright summer plumage coming back. They do enjoy the heated birdbath (aka the Bird Jacuzzi).
We saw many Downy Woodpeckers. Though I have a hard time distinguishing one Downy from another, and I can’t be sure that I’m not counting the same bird multiple times. I just do my best and assume that Bird Count HQ can make sense of it all.
On the other hand, the Harries and Red Bellies didn’t show even once while we were counting. Which is a shame, because they normally make a few appearances every day.
White Breasted Nuthatches are energetic and playful little critters.
I do sometimes wonder why they love peanuts so, since peanuts are legumes that grow under the ground.
I’m never positive when I try to tell a House Finch from a Purple Finch. I say House Finch above, what say you?
We saw a total of nine species during our 45 minutes of bird counting. In addition to the ones shown above, there were English Sparrows, Mourning Doves, and Juncos.
Are you taking part in the Backyard Bird Count this year? It’s not too late. For more information, check out this link.
gardeninacity 
We are taking part and saw one of these hawk’s as well. But with the snow and cold, not many visitors here.
Too bad. Birds can be somewhat unpredictable.
Wow, very impressive
Thanks!
You are welcome. 🙂
Me too!! It was a quiet day in my back yard in the morning when I watched. I also had lots of American Goldfinch, but no cool hawk. Lucky you to see that. There was a gorgeous Great Horned Owl perched in a neighbor’s elm tree this afternoon behind me, but alas, not in my watch area. There were also few birds in the back yard at that time. Wonder why???
I would love to see an owl. There are some around here. I hear them occasionally but I have never seen one.
Great photos, btw!!
Thanks!
Lots of activity in your backyard! This is the first year I’ve participated. It was fun! I think that’s probably a House Finch. I’m not a bird expert by any stretch, but it appears to have a brown crown and brown cheeks. http://bit.ly/1oCtwMO A friend who works for the DNR said most of the ones we see in the Upper Midwest now are either House Finches or hybrids. Great photos, Judy! Great writing, Jason!
Thanks, Beth. I’m pretty sure you’re right about the House Finch. They seem very common these days.
Glad you participated in the GBBC. I completely forgot but will try to do it tomorrow. We may have snow here again and if so, the birds should be lined up at the feeders.
The cold seems to make them hungry.
So many kinds of birds in 45 minutes Jason. I counted only 5 of them during a day. Love your photos (or Judy’s?) especially cardinals, we have no them here.
Thanks Nadezda. Cardinals are only in North America, I think. They’re Judy’s photos – she’s got all the photography talent.
It’s interesting to see the differences in garden birds between a typical UK garden and your birds. That Cardinal – beautiful! We don’t have anything that colour. And the nuthatch is pretty. Ours has a grey head and back with a black stripe from its eye and a orangey belly which is also pretty but different. There was the Great Garden Birdwatch here at the end of January run by the RSPB (UK equivalent of Audubon) so I guess they could be working together. Great photos.
Thanks. We don’t have a lot of really colorful birds, but the Cardinal is a standout. Fortunately, it’s pretty common – and seems unusually plentiful this year.
Very interesting to see your birds….I also love the Cardinals, that splash of red colour must be nice in the winter. Also, very impressive to see the Cooper’s Hawk. Great photos.
Thanks! Though our birds can’t compare to yours for overall color and personality!
In the UK version of the count you include the maximum number of each species seen at one time to avoid counting the same bird twice.
That’s a very sensible approach.
Very cool shot of the hawk! I am never able to get very close to photograph them. They are in and out frequently but shy. I’ve never had luck with the peanut feeder like you have. I buy hulled peanuts and they are very popular with the titmouse and nuthatches. I like your suet feeder too! Do you have a special homemade recipe?
For some reason, when the hawk lands on the fence post like that it often stays for 10 or 15 minutes. Not that it lands there that often! The photo Jason used was one of about a dozen that I took. It was difficult getting the focus right because of the branches. I was thrilled with this photo.
No, I just buy cakes of rendered suet and cram pieces into the feeder. Kind of disgusting, but it works.
Well, I know what I’ll be doing today! I expect my species will be similar to yours except the only hawks we see are high in the sky. Also, do you not have chickadees?
We do have chickadees, but for some reason they weren’t around while we were counting.
Great photos Jason and Judy, we had a Sparrow Hawk visit here last week but I’ve read its a sign of a healthy bird population and that if we did not have hawks to regulate small bird populations, there would not be enough food to support them anyway, so have decided to be relaxed about our visitor. I can imagine seeing your raptor close up was quite exciting.
It is exciting when the hawk makes an appearance. I guess I don’t mind predators being around, I just wish I could suggest to them which birds they should concentrate on.
I say House Finch. The Purple Finch has more red across his shoulders. Love the hawk photo!
Thanks. House Finch is the emerging consensus.
In the winter, my kind of bird watching, too 😉
We are of a like mind, then.
Super photos, much better than mine when we did our Birdwatch a month ago. Love your cardinal, such a wonderful colour, when a Sappowhawk showed up one birdwatch day, all the birds vanished and didn’t come back for ages.
Our birds are more nervy, I suppose. Or more reckless. They only disappear for a few minutes.
My bird count would basically be a bazillion LBJs. The blue jays like peanuts in the shell – I’ve never seen a nuthatch at the feeder, though. 😦 And I never seem to get more than one pair of cardinals. A little frustrating considering the number of feeders and the variety of foodstuff I put out there.
This year there are an unusual number of cardinals. We haven’t seen blue jays for at least a year, but woodpeckers and nuthatches like the whole peanut feeder.
We do the count too. We have also been having a Cooper’s Hawk patroling our feeders. He has had a couple of House Sparrows which we have in abundance. UGH.. They absolutely take over the area. Happy Birding.
As far as I’m concerned, the hawks can have all the House Sparrows they can eat.
That is a nice collection! Love the hawk!!!
Thanks!
Your cardinals fill me with envy. We are across the river from a bird sanctuary so we have many visitors. It always seems that the bird count happens when we have only the little brown birds to count. Later on it gets much more interesting.
I was truly tempted to cheat and count birds that MIGHT have shown because sometimes they do.
Our counts are similar (central Indiana) except I had multiple chickadees this morning as well as the cardinals, finches, doves, sparrows and the hawk. I have a hawk that has decided my feeders are a daily buffet this winter. The doves seem to be the slowest, poor things. I know hawks need to eat too but it’s discouraging to find the circle of dove feathers in the yard every single day.
I prefer that our hawk stick to the House Sparrows, or the Starlings.
Colorblindness prevents me from doing much with birds but I still like to see them. I’m surprised you saw any with that hawk in the neighborhood.
Our songbirds motto is live free or die.
I applaud you for your participation, and I thank you for sharing the beautiful photos. I do love to see Cardinals. 🙂
Me, too.
I used to do the bird count, but they now have me listed in Canada, so I just quit. Sadly, I tried to get it changed, but to no avail. Loads and loads of birds too. Probably way too many to count anyway. Feeders are filled a few times a day.
Well, if they insist on putting you in the wrong country, I would think that would impact the value of your count.
I forgot to count birds but have had loads of cardinals this year, too. I offered my birds a raspberry but they’ve turned their beaks up at it preferring to chow down on the sunflower seeds and peanuts. I suppose they didn’t like my ‘lite’ menu. 😉
Birds are all about the calories. For them, more is better.
It is a fun thing to do isn’t it? Your Cooper Hawk was a great spot to start your count.
We had to include it in the count!
Glad you are participating in the bird count! Great pictures too. I am always frustrated because I can’t watch for the entire weekend. Maybe I’ll take those days off next year… I did have Goldfinches show up, I think they got the invite.
I’m afraid I have too much ADD to watch for more than an hour.
Lovely!
Thanks.
I’m sure the Cooper’s sighting will impress someone, it did the trick for me!
I like your thinking on doing the count from the back porch. I don’t think it would be much of a stretch for me to keep an eye on the backyard feeder from the kitchen table, so maybe that’s a plan for next year!
Give it a try. Maybe your kids will help.
Wonderful post and photos – thank you (v envious! We have mainly pesky common mynas 🙄
Mynas aren’t common here, they sound rather exotic.
There were a little group of 5 perched on my balcony – glaring – I did think they were ganging up on me. Truly. 😳
I’m impressed that you got a good enough look at the hawk to tell it a Cooper’s from a Sharp Shinned! Very often I see an accipiter like that and say either a male Cooper’s or female Sharpie. lol Very occasionally I get a really excellent look and can get a(lmost) definitive ID.
Definitely a house finch in the last picture. Peterson says that purple finches look like they’ve been dipped in raspberry juice. I have seen exactly one purple finch that I knew what a purple finch. House finches have really pushed them out.
Well … I couldn’t swear on my life that it’s a Cooper’s. Just my best guess. It looked too big to be a Sharp Shinned.