The Great Backyard Bird Count

We've got several bird feeders placed right outside our family room windows so we can watch the birds eat there.  It's fun to see them any time of the year, but none more than in winter.  Personally, I think it's a minor miracle that any of them can survive out there in the frigid temperatures and raging snowstorms we've been known to have.

Some of the more common birds we see here in winter are various kinds of sparrows, goldfinches, house finches, mourning doves, cardinals, blue jays and starlings.  This winter, the starlings have been mostly absent and I can't say that I miss them a whole lot. They're feeder hogs and the other birds don't like to share perches with them.

Other species that we see on a fairly regular basis are several woodpeckers, dark-eyed juncos, white-breasted nuthatches, and black-capped chickadees.  Occasionally, a robin will show up.  My mom and dad, who live just 13 miles from us, have robins in great numbers each winter.

For the next four days (February 12-15), we'll be participating for the first time in a yearly event called The Great Backyard Bird Count.  Simply put, we'll be counting the number of each species of bird that we see during a selected period of time each day.  How long we want to keep track is up to us, with a minimum time of 15 minutes each day.

For more information, visit the official website, where you'll find everything you need to know about participating in this fun winter activity.  You may be surprised by which birds you'll see and you'll be contributing to research that helps identify bird migration patterns, irruptions, and the effect weather has on birds during a given year.  The more people that participate in the count, the more accurate the data.

*Join in the fun and count your birds! If you do participate in The Great Backyard Bird Count, I invite you to blog about it and send me a link to your post.  I'll do a follow-up post on it when the count is over and list the link to your blog here!