Great Backyard Bird Count

We have been active birders only since 1996. I am physically "challenged" in that our (my husband and my) birding has had to be done with me in a electric scooter/wheelchair. Even with that, we have managed to get almost 500 birds on our life lists. Some are rarities. You wouldn't believe the places I have gone in my scooter--some really rough outdoor places!  I know we dumbfounded other birders at ABA conferences!

Temporarily, we have to be content to watch from our yard (bird-friendly of course) until my husband's heart condition improves some more. He's doing great!  We do love our feathered friends.

Here is a photo of us at Goldwater Lake near Prescott, Arizona. We have just arrived and are ready to hit the trails. This is my three-wheel scooter. I also had a four-wheel scooter for more adventurous trails. A memorable sighting was a Mourning Warbler in Connecticut. The terrain made it difficult to get my scooter in a location to readily see the bird, but I did! What a thrill! Another thrill: visiting High Island, Texas, during a huge migration fall-out of warblers and tanagers. We had never seen so many Scarlet Tanagers at once.

 --Allen and Gloria, Arizona  

I've been a GBBC participant for quite a few years. My husband and I recently did a big landscaping job in our back yard, removing all of the grass and non-native bushes and planting a native Texas flower garden in its place with plants, bushes and trees chosen specifically for birds, butterflies and bees. We planted almost 70 species of plants, shrubs and trees, with almost 200 total plants.  My garden isn't even mature yet and the birds are already benefiting. I can't wait to see the hummingbirds trying to decide which flowers to visit this spring and summer, there will be so many choices!
 
The wonderful compost and native shredded hardwood mulch that we used has provided an unexpected benefit--an Orange-crowned Warbler and a Yellow-rumped Warbler apparently decided during migration that they might as well stay for the winter in my back yard and eat the tiny insects that live in the mulch. 

--Lisa Meacham, Texas

As I watched birds out my back window, I could see a kestrel on the powerline pole behind the house. I saw another bird fly towards the kestrel and wondered whether it would attack and chase off the kestrel. But no, it landed on top of the bird whose tail went up and they mated very quickly. Then it sat next to the female on the pole for a bit.

Since I'm teaching my high school biology class about meiosis which is necessary to form sperm and eggs, I was able to share the very next day what I saw and we were able to have a discussion about external and internal reproduction.

--Annette Hanson, Boise, Idaho

This is our fifth year doing the GBBC. Each year is so different from the previous and just as much fun. My husband and I live in south central Pennsylvania, about five miles southwest of Harrisburg. We had a specific route mapped out for each day. Saturday brought us to various stops along the Conodiguinet Creek. As we rounded the first corner of this part of the creek we saw waterfowl and pulled slightly off the road. Two birds, about 12 feet from our car, had their necks cradled on their chests. We knew this was not something we had seen before. Barry raised his voice and said, "Hey, wake up!" They straightened out their necks and Barry said, "That's a grebe." We paged through our Ken Kauffman guide and observed the markings to make sure what we were seeing was a Western Grebe. We drove home (without speeding, though it was hard not to, LOL) and posted it on the birding network. We asked for anyone to go and verify our find as we did not have a camera. Barry called a local Audubon birder, Koury Ramsey. Koury said he just got the email and was leaving to go see and said he would call us. About an hour later he called and confirmed our find. The other bird was a Red-necked Grebe.
 
We were very excited and posted the find. Ramsey and a few others from our network did some PR work with the local home owners and guided birders to parking areas, for which we are grateful. We were quite happy that many people got to see the grebe for themselves. Some were kind enough to send us digital photos via email. Thanks to you all.
 
You just never know "what will be around the next bend."
 
--Barry & Jennifer Horton, Pennsylvania

                                                      
I set up a couple of GBBC bird walks for the Dundee Township community in Illinois.  We had 20 people come out for one day of our event and a handful more on the second day (see photo).  I also did a session at a local high school and the students were assigned the project of participating.
 
--Dave Poweleit, Carpentersville, Illinois

                                                      
My students have been participating in the GBBC for several years and we
have shared our stewardship throughout our school and community. We strive
to encourage the entire school to participate every year.

This year my students created "commercials" as a form of advertising the GBBC using our FLIP video camera. We've posted them on our classroom blog at http://fesrlc.edublogs.org

My students range from third to sixth grade and they are true stewards for our community. At our school, we monitor bluebird houses based on a bluebird trail from an Eagle Scout project and school birdfeeders.

Also, thank you for the GBBC. It has been a constant source of encouragement and sharing throughout our school lives.

--Debbie Dumais, Fultondale Elementary School, Fultondale, Alabama

I have participated in the GBBC for several years and thoroughly enjoyed counting birds at my favorite birding spots. It was especially good this year as the pair of Sandhill Cranes that frequent our lake decided to build their nest within viewing distance of my backyard. This allowed me to take a number of photographs of their activity at the nest, though I had to stand on the end of our dock while trying to hold my camera steady. A tripod might have been a good idea! One photo that I submitted showed the male getting ready to take his turn at the nest that now has two eggs. The week prior to the GBBC, there was only one egg visible. We also noted that when the female felt it was time for the male to sit on the nest she was very vocal in calling him in to do his duty!  I hope the cranes are successful this year and will have two chicks to raise.  We will then have the privilege of observing and documenting their progress.

--Louise Hunt, Minneola, Florida

Imagine our delight when a flock of 300-plus birds landed in our front yard half way through our bird count. There were starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds, grackles, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. We each took a species and started counting! It wasn't long before something spooked them and they took off. We were so disappointed! It wasn't three minutes later till they were back! We took a quick count of the remaining two species and they were off again. I know we didn't get half of them counted but what a treat we had trying.

--Deb and Gary Brackbill, Mifflintown, Pennsylvania

                                              
We have a fairly "birdy" backyard--we've had 63 species over the eight years we've lived here--and this winter we've had three life birds at the feeders! We've also had up to 13 Pine Siskins at a time, two Tree Sparrows and a Purple Finch.  At times, more than three-dozen birds are back there in this small space (with four feeders). I was looking forward to the Great Backyard Bird Count, when suddenly all "my" birds just about disappeared!!! And for the entire period of the count they remained gone! Then, the day after it ended, they came back.  I thought it was so strange I wanted to tell someone what had happened.
 
--Karen Swaine, Highland Park, New Jersey

Just had to share....we have a family of Carolina Wrens over-wintering in my horse barn. We started the winter with two pairs, then after a few months there were three. I now only see two on a regular basis...The wrens come down every morning when I feed the horses to beg for their breakfast. I try to keep meal worms available for them a few times a day, then they go out to forage for the day. Sometimes I have seen them in the barn if the weather is really foul. They return to the barn like clockwork just as the sun is getting ready to set, poke through every nook and cranny, and then retire to the hayloft for the evening. I don't have any barn cats so they are safe and I get a free bug-eating crew to keep down any crawling things in the barn. I plan on putting up a nest box for the two survivors this spring.

--Wendy Amaral