First FeederWatching Weekend

Happy Monday to all! Well, the first weekend of Project FeederWatch was fairly good. The weather wasn't that great but the birds still came in to see us! We had quite a few visitors and went through a ton a of seed.

It's been great to hear about all the people who have signed up for Project FeederWatch for the first time! We can never have enough birders!

So, here are a few photos from the yard. Hope you enjoy and remember, it's never too late to sign up for Project FeederWatch!




The Northern Flicker is one of our most reliable visitors!


A Bewick's Wren. They don't come into the yard on a regular basis but they are always a welcome sight! He was hanging around with a Spotted Towhee. It's the first time we have seen the Towhee this season!


Ummmm...Excuse me, sir...but you seem to have something on your lip. Juncos are always entertaining.


The House Finches came in flocks this weekend! Not nearly as big of flocks as the Pine Siskins but still quite numerous!

Project FeederWatch!!

It's almost time for another season of Project FeederWatch! November 8, 2008 is the start of the winter-long survey. Being a Citizen Scientist is a lot easier and more rewarding than you might think. This is a joint venture of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Studies Canada, the National Audubon Society and the Canadian Nature Federation and it's a great way to contribute to the birds that you love and enjoy so much!

All that you have to do is sign up here:https://secure.birds.cornell.edu/eCommerce/FeederWatch/Start.do, wait for the packet to come to you in the mail and then start counting and reporting! There is a $15 dollar participation fee, but you not only get membership into the program but you also get a Research Kit, which contains instructions, a bird identification poster, a wall calendar, a resource guide to bird feeding, and data forms! Not only do you get these items but you are TRULY helping with the conservation and protection efforts that go on year round! You just need to sit back, relax and count some of your backyard friends.

It really is a great program and I would love to see a bunch of new participants this year! Here is a good page to start on: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/Overview/over_index.html It will answer a lot of the questions you have, but the entire site is full of other information and a ton of photos.


Here's a neat link. You can explore all sorts of data that has been collected over the years.
http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/PFW/ExploreData?cmd=stateReport


With this link you can look at all the Rare Bird reports (and accompanying photos) from over the project's lifetime. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/DataRetrieval/rare_index.html


This link will show you the Top 25 Feeder Birds (with ranking number) from over the years. You can see how some birds have become much more popular while others have declined over time. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/DataRetrieval/top25_index.html


This link will take you to all of the photos from birders around the Continent!
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/Members/FeaturedPhotos/FeaturedPhotoIndex.htm


And here is the link to their Home Page
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/index.html