I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this but there doesn't seem to be as many birds or variety of birds this year. I have mostly sparrows, Oregon Juncos & a couple of Jays at my feeders. One day I had 3 red winged black birds come thru but they were here only a few minutes & then gone. is anyone else finding this in your yards?

I've just checked the maps and counts for 2008 today and I am disapointed in not finding my resident ruby-throated hummingbird. I'm reporting from Wilminton, N. C.

it is unseasonably warm in grand county colorado this winter. the 200+ grey-crowned rosy finches are aplenty ! i have never had this many in 17 years. also, there are 24 amer. goldfinch. the males are not the color of peak mating season but are are getting very vibrant. it seems a bit early. the crossbill numbers are low as i usually have about 30 and have only seen 6 this year. the grosbeaks, evening and pine, have only been here once and then disappeared. juncos came early in december and left. i have feeders so i have created a scence from the "birds" with the finches but it is truly a frenzy when thay arrive ! so- is spring ariving early????

Since 2/2/09 cormorants have been congregating on the clubhouse breakwater. Yesterday, 2/09/09 at least 400 were there at 9:15a.m., it was a bright sunny day, 90% had left by noon. They left in small groups of 6 to 10 birds in a V, and flew over the water north out of sight. Today, 2/10/09 there are about 15 birds remaining. Today it began to snow about 8:00 a.m. How did they know when to go? They did the same last year, and left right before the bird count!

The U. S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are part of the U. S., but there is no way to report our findings. I do plan to participate this weekend. Do you want results? I can promise Bananaquits, Pearly eyed Thrashers and Gray Kingbirds.

Not part of the North America count, same as PR and Guam. Please list on E-Bird.

We posted our first list on our family's nature blog, Neighborhood Nature ( http://neighborhoodnature.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/first-list-for-great-backyard-bird-count/ ).

We'll put the others there as well, just so they don't get lost in the sea of data.

Eric Gyllenhaal Oak Park, Illinois

To prepare for the GBBC, we've been counting birds for weeks, but today in good bird feeder weather, we had very few birds. Fewer species and less than half the normal individual visitors. We live only ten miles from the Continental Airliner crash last night. And we wonder if the birds could be disturbed this far from the tragedy.

Birds seem not to be affected by fireworks at night and so I don't think the accident will cause much bird departures, etc., and the sunny weather may also give birds a break of "filling up." The birds may have been there first light when you did'nt notice them. Hope this helps.

Is there anyway that the GBBC could count actual number of INDIVDUAL BIRDWATCHERS entering checklists? Example - 15 checklists for a zip code could be just one person reporting or 15 people reporting; there is no way to know the actual number of observers, and 80,000 checklists could be only 3,000 observers. Thanks for considering request.

Could the GBBC list the bird species that were reported but not put on the list because they could not be verified? I thought it would be fun to see what else was out there.