Great Backyard Bird Count 2015

Have you signed up for The Great Backyard Bird Count?  Click on the linked photo above to get started.  Basically you have the President's Day weekend to get busy birding - even if for only 15 minutes you can participate!  The 18th annual count is taking place February 13 through 16. Enter your sightings at www.BirdCount.org. The information gathered by tens of thousands of volunteers helps track changes in bird populations on a massive scale. The GBBC is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada. Give the birds a Valentine and count them this weekend!

Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

This year's Great Backyard Bird Count was a lot of fun. While camping at Hopkin's Prairie in Central Florida, Andy and I decided to keep our "yard" list at the campground. We marked out our boundary as the little penisula that we were camping on that jutted out into a prairie wetland. We counted Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday morning. Over the few days we were able to really get a sense of the bird life and what was using this habitat. Our list for the three days had some highlights for me personally including: Sandhill Cranes, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and of course the Great Horned Owl that we heard calling over the prairie at night. Here are the totals:

Number of Species: 47
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Mottled Duck - 3
Blue-winged Teal - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 6
Anhinga - 2
Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 3
Little Blue Heron - 1
White Ibis - 1
Turkey Vulture - 11
Bald Eagle - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 1
Sandhill Crane - 3
Killdeer - 6
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
Mourning Dove - 2
Great Horned Owl - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 7
Fish Crow - 5
Tree Swallow - 23
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Gray Catbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 2
Prairie Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 3
American Redstart - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 5
Song Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Common Grackle - 42
Boat-tailed Grackle - 2

If you haven't participated in a Great Backyard Bird Count I hope that you are inspired for next year. It's fun whether you're counting your backyard or a local park. Check out the GBBC website for more details!