The Great Backyard Bird Count

Well, it that time of year again. Yep, the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up! It's a very fun and easy way to participate in citizen science and to have your observations truly contribute to the scientific studies of birds. Plus, it's something that you enjoy doing anyway....watching birds!

The first thing you can do, is set aside some time between Feb. 12th-15th to count birds. You can spend as little as 15 minutes counting on just 1 day, or as much as 10 hours each of the four days. It's completely up to you! For more info, just visit the GBBC website and have a look around.

(Townsend's Warbler)

Now, when the count actually starts (on Feb. 12th) the only thing you need to do is count the greatest number of each species that you see together at any one time. So, for example, if you see 5 Juncos together in the morning, and then you see 10 Juncos together in the evening, you would just mark down that you saw 10 Juncos. For more info on how it works, see this page.

(Yellow-Rumped Warbler)

If you're not sure what species you may have in your area, you can download and/or print a regional checklist directly from the GBBC website here!

(Evening Grosbeaks)

Then, after you are done with your count for the day, you can go here to the input page (the actual form will be available the first day of the count). This is a very easy form to fill out and only takes a few minutes. You just never know what you might find in your backyard!

(Bald Eagle)

So don't lounge around all day! Just pick up your binoculars and a piece of paper and keep track of what you see. If you want to, grab your camera and take some photos of the birds you see during the count. You can submit your pics on the site and have a chance to win some great prizes...take a look!

(Canada Goose Gosling)

NePo Suet Company

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Take care and good birding!

Pink-Sided Junco!

Here are some photos that we have taken over the last 2 days. This is a Pink-Sided Oregon Junco. This subspecies is usually found in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. It typically winters in areas such as Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and western Texas.

There has never been a verified occurrence of this subspecies in Oregon. We have sent a reporting form and photos to the Oregon Rare Bird Committee and we are waiting to hear from them to see if they will recognize this subspecies (usually they just accept new species, rather than subspecies), but we're hoping! We have spoken to one of the members of the board and he feels that it is a good and verifiable Pink-Sided Junco! Very exciting!!

The photos aren't great, but they are still clear enough. Here's a link to a much better photo (not taken by us) of a Pink-Sided Junco: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christian_nunes/3054400855/sizes/l/ and if you compare, it's pretty easy to see that the photos below are, indeed, a Pink-Sided Junco!

Compare this photo with the link above. It's the best example.


The Pink-Sided have a bluish/gray hood (head), extensive pinkish flanks (sides), dark lores (the eyes), and a light colored throat.


It was dark and very cloudy, so the photos aren't very good.


I can't tell you how excited we were to find this female!

Kind of blurry, but you can still tell the difference.

Sauvie Island 1/9/10

Michelle and I went on an Audubon birding trip to Sauvie Island on Sunday. The trip was led by Mike Houck, who is always a blast to bird with. If you haven't done so, check out the Audubon sponsored trips here. Here are some of the many photos we took. It was overcast most of the time, so lighting wasn't that good. Enjoy!

p.s. at the bottom of this post is our entire list of birds seen on the trip.


Here is a flock of Sandhill Cranes in the distance. We were fortunate enough to see hundreds of Sandhills all over the island.


A couple of Sandhill Cranes getting a little closer to our group.


Another flock of Sandhill Cranes.


Not a great photo, but in the distance is a Bald Eagle swooping in on a Green-Winged Teal. He swooped on it many times, but it would dive under the water when he got close. The Eagle eventually was successful, though.

One of the dozens of Bald Eagles we saw on the trip. This was the greatest number of Bald Eagles that we have ever seen in such a short amount of time. We saw somewhere between 25-30 Eagles in 3 hours.

Here is the Eagle that was chasing the Teal. He flew to a tree about 50 feet away from our group and proceeded to eat his meal.

He was very mindful of all the other Eagles in the area.

We saw one lone Great Egret on the trip.

One of the many flocks of Northern Pintails we saw.

An American Kestrel on their usual perch. We only saw a hand full of Kestrels on Sunday. Usually, they are more plentiful. I guess the Bald Eagles took their place.

A mixed flock of thousands of Snow and Canada Goose. It was an amazing sight to see. This flock brought a collective gasp from the group.

Another raptor that was seen in good numbers was the Red-Tailed Hawk.

A Scrub-Jay checking out our group to make sure no one had any peanuts. We didn't.

A small flock of Snow Goose flying above us.

A few Tundra Swan. We saw quite a few of them on the trip.

Bird identified on Sunday; 37 species:

Snow Goose

Cackling Goose

Canada Goose

Tundra Swan

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Green-Winged Teal

Ring-Necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Bufflehead

Pied-Billed Grebe

Double-Crested Cormorant

Blue Heron

Great Egret

Bald Eagle

Harrier

Red-Tailed hawk

Kestrel

Coot

Sandhill Crane

Mourning Dove

Downy Woodpecker

Flicker

Scrub-Jay

Crow

Black-Capped Chickadee

Bewick's Wren

Robin

Starling

Spotted Towhee

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Junco

Red-Winged Blackbird

Western Meadowlark

House Finch

A few photos

Here are a few photos from around the yard over the last few days. As always, we hope you enjoy them!

One of the 9 Band-Tailed Pigeons that are still coming in the yard everyday. Very unusual for this time of year.


The local Bewick's Wren grabbing a bite of suet.


One of the many Yellow-Rumped Warblers we get in the yard. This guy came in when we had our unexpected snow storm a couple of weeks ago.


Robins snacking on one of our Pyracantha shrubs. They really enjoyed the berries.

They picked this bush clean in just a couple of days. Notice the center Robin is just about to swallow a berry?

Another Yellow-Rumped Warbler, same feeder.

We noticed this Song Sparrow on our fence the other morning. What really caught our eye was the spider web stuck to his head.

Band-Tailed Pigeons

We just had a flock of 9 Band-tailed Pigeons fly into the yard. We haven't seen them for quite sometime. Usually they are gone by now and return in late February.

One of the nine in the tree.


I could get 4 in this photo. They were all over the tree, though.


I believe there are 6 pigeons in this photo. It was a great treat to see them so late (early?).

A few pics from the yard

Here are a few pics in the yard from the last couple of days. The yard has been getting busier and busier over the last couple of weeks. Lots of Juncos, American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches, Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-Rumped and Townsend's Warblers, Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, a Red-Breasted Sapsucker, Scrub and Steller's Jays, Bewick's Wrens, Song, White- and Golden-Crowned Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, Bushtits, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Cedar Waxwings, and Anna's Hummingbirds are all common visitors right now. We have heard the Varied Thrush a couple of times, but we haven't spotted him yet.

Wishing everyone a great birding winter season!


We have tried in vain to ID this gull. We think we ID the gull and then we notice a marking that rejects our theory. Any ideas?


A Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Both the Sharpie and the Cooper's hawks are starting to visit the yard more and more.

A Bewick's Wren searching for some good bugs behind the house. Such a great looking bird.