Blog stats

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Summing up this year's GBBC

So the big weekend of counting birds is over. My final species total for my yard was thirty-two, not the best year that I've had but not bad, particularly considering that the weather was not that cooperative. These are the birds that showed up for the count:
  1. Black Vulture
  2. Turkey Vulture
  3. Red-tailed Hawk
  4. Red-shouldered Hawk
  5. Killdeer
  6. Eurasian Collared-dove
  7. White-winged Dove
  8. Mourning Dove
  9. Rufous Hummingbird
  10. Red-bellied Woodpecker
  11. Downy Woodpecker
  12. Eastern Phoebe
  13. Blue Jay
  14. American Crow
  15. Carolina Chickadee
  16. Tufted Titmouse
  17. Carolina Wren
  18. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
  19. Eastern Bluebird
  20. American Robin
  21. European Starling
  22. Cedar Waxwing
  23. Pine Warbler
  24. Yellow-rumped Warbler
  25. Chipping Sparrow
  26. White-throated Sparrow
  27. Northern Cardinal
  28. Red-winged Blackbird
  29. Brown-headed Cowbird
  30. House Finch
  31. American Goldfinch
  32. House Sparrow 
My most surprising visitor of the weekend was the White-throated Sparrow. I really hadn't expected that. 

White-throated Sparrow, February 20, 2012.

Of the ten or so species that I know are here but that didn't turn up for the count, perhaps the most disappointing was the Northern Mockingbird. Four whole days of intensive birding and not one single mockingbird showed up in my yard!

Late this afternoon I walked out to my backyard to put my gardening tools away. When I opened the back door, the first thing I heard was a mockingbird singing. I walked outside and there he was at my back fence, singing his heart out, mocking me! He might have been saying, "Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! Can't count me!"

Darned mockingbird! 

4 comments:

  1. Go figure! I haven't seen any Mockingbirds around my yard in a while. There are plenty of American Goldfinches around thanks to my feeders full of thistle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For some reason, mockingbirds have been scarce in my yard in recent months, Steph. I really don't understand it. And nearly all of my goldfinches are gone - just a few stragglers left. On the other hand, I still have my two Rufous Hummingbirds!

      Delete
  2. I've had a couple of mockingbirds in my garden, but overall, you have way more variety than I do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do have a lot of variety, Jayne. Much of it has to do with the fact that I'm close to the creek and the woods around the creek and there are some large pastures nearby that attract birds that are comfortable in a meadow. So I get all kinds of birds passing through and over my yard and a lot of them drop in.

      Delete