We're one week post-GBBC so I thought it's about time to summarize the results from my yard.
American Robin 2009
I counted all four days, for a total of 22 1/2 hours. In all, I saw these 17 different species:
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Cooper's Hawk
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Black capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Northern Cardinal
American Robin
European Starling
Dark-eyed Junco
American Goldfinch
Common Redpoll
Pine Siskin
I averaged just over 14 species each count day, with the low being 12 and the high being 17. For GBBC 2008, I averaged 11 species/day, with a low of 8 and a high of 12. So my species counts increased this year.
Northern Cardinal GBBC 2009 (Digiscoped image)
Here's a quick summary by species:
- Mourning Dove - Seen all 4 days. High count 6
- Blue Jay - Seen all 4 days. High count 21
- American Crow - Seen 1 day. High count 3
- Cooper's Hawk - Seen 1 day. High count 1
- Hairy Woodpecker - Seen all 4 days. High count 2
- Downy Woodpecker - Seen all 4 days. High count 2
- Black capped Chickadee - Seen all 4 days. High count 14
- Tufted Titmouse - Seen all 4 days. High count 3
- Red-breasted Nuthatch - Seen all 4 days. High count 2
- White-breasted Nuthatch - Seen 3 days. High count 1 (female)
- Northern Cardinal - Seen all 4 days. High count 2 (pair)
- American Robin - Seen all 4 days. High count 1
- European Starling - Seen 3 days. High count 4
- Dark-eyed Junco - Seen 3 days. High count 3
- American Goldfinch - Seen all 4 days. High count 21
- Common Redpoll - Seen 2 days. High count 1
- Pine Siskin- Seen all 4 days. High count 53
I saw an average of 94 individual birds a day, ranging from a low of 75 birds to a high of 111. For GBBC 2008, I averaged 114 individual birds, ranging from a low of 87 birds and a high of 140. So while I saw more SPECIES this year than last, I counted fewer INDIVIDUALS this year.
Common Redpoll 2008
Last year's high count of individuals was a result of the Common Redpoll irruption of winter 2007-08. During last year's count, I averaged 85 redpolls each day, with a high count one day of 100. This year's Pine Siskin irruption, while significant across the country, hasn't brought the sheer numbers of birds to my yard. Over the 4-day count period, I averaged 38 siskins with a high count of 53.
Pine Siskin GBBC 2009
My raptor visits in 2008 came from a Northern Goshawk - what a thrill THAT was - and also a Sharp-shinned Hawk. This year, a Cooper's Hawk was counted on day 4.
Sharp-shinned Hawk GBBC 2008
Seen this year and not last year: Pine Siskin, Cooper's Hawk, starling, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch.
Seen last year but not this year: Northern Goshawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Comparing the two years is interesting and provides just a glimpse into what the ornithologists at Cornell study from the results of citizen science projects like Great Backyard Bird Count.
If you participated and have not submitted your checklist, you have until March 1 to do so. Follow this link to enter your counts. So far, over 86,000 checklists have been submitted reporting 603 species and over 11 million birds.
If you have a story you'd like to tell about your count, we'd love to hear it!
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