Main
 | | Photo by Kenny Walters | | This great blue heron was captured by Kenny Walters at East Lake Park in Birmingham, Alabama. |
As of this morning, Feb. 26, participants had counted more than 10.5 million birds in the Great Backyard Birdcount and recorded 621 species on 75,699 checklists, far surpassing the previous record of 61,049 checklists, according to today's press release from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.
If you counted birds for the Great Backyard Birdcount during the Presidents' Day weekend and haven't turned your results in yet, the final day to post your results and photos online is Wednesday, Feb. 28.
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbc
The first report on the final results will not be up until March 10, but you can explore the maps and tables of the preliminary results at:
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/results
And don't forget to check out the photo gallery here:
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/gallery
Paul Green of the Audubon Society and Miyoko Chu of Cornel send a "big thank you for making this a memorable and record-breaking tenth anniversary year."
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | Woops! I spoke too soon. Just couldn't resist posting this little tufted titmouse [baeolophus bicolor]. Also, according to Rob Fergus, senior scientist for urban bird conservation at the National Audubon Society, Alabama birders have submitted 224 checklists so far and reported 118 species, even though there are several days left for birders to report. Birmingham has submitted the most checklists, 35, followed by Tuscaloosa with 12 and Anniston with 8. The state report is available in map format at tinyurl.com/2fos5u, and the BirdSource.Org site is still taking reports at birdsource.org/gbbc. |
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | This is, no doubt, a Carolina chickadee [poecile carolinensis] hiding seeds in the bark of a dogwood tree near the Jefferson County-Blount County line in Middle Alabama. The mercury only made it up to 55 today, but it was the nicest day of the bird count. Unfortunately, the birds were off playing in someone else's yard for the most part this afternoon. The robins were back, but they are not convinced its spring, yet. I chased one around the house trying to get a photo worth posting. No luck. Maybe the good folks at Cornell and Audubon ought to consider moving this bird count event forward a week or two. The spring migration will be in full-swing in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to see those cedar waxwings and grosbeaks again. Maybe I can get a serviceable shot of that amazing, almost purple blue grosbeak |
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | A male Northern cardinal [cardinalis cardinalis] visits a dogwood tree on day three of the Great Backyard Birdcount. The cardinals always seem to be the last birds to visit the feeders in the late afternoon. And they always issue their short, sharp warning call to alert the other birds when the hawks circle overhead, the cats come sneaking into the yard, or humans (like me) come sneaking around with a camera : ) But as time goes by, they seem to get used to me. Maybe they realize I'm the one keeping them in birdfeed and fresh water and making sure the bird baths stay clean. Some people may consider it cheating to put out food for the birds and then take their picture. But our philosophy is, humans have taken the birds' habitat, fragmented it and polluted it, so it is our duty to help them out a little - especially in the cold winter months. And let's face it. Life in the suburbs would be a dismal affair without them... |
Today may be President's Day, but it's also the last day of the Great BackYard Birdcount sponsored by the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society. It's educational and fun.
To learn how to participate, go to Cornell's Website, BirdSource.Org, and see that: It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!.
It will be a few days before the results are posted and we can do a full story about it. But the photo gallery for 2007 is already up and new pictures are being posted every day.
We submitted the mockingbird and chickadee photos posted below, but they've not been posted on the BirdSource sight as of this morning. The male cardinal on the news page (and posted above) might also be worth submitting, along with some new pictures of the tufted timouse from yesterday.
Since the temperature is projected to reach 60 degrees Farenheit today, perhaps there's a better chance of seeing some migrant species in addition to the "usual suspects."
After some java and breakfast, we are go try again to see what kind of images we can capture from our new perch in the front yard.
Good birding!
And don't forget to vote for politicians who favor policies that protect the birds and their habitat. It's critical...
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | With a cold wind blowing, still, it's amazing any birds are out at all. But the brave Carolina chickadee (poecile carolinensis) could not resist coming out to play and feed with his friends the tufted titmouse couple, always first into the dogwood tree in the morning, along with the cardinals, the finches, the doves, the white-throated sparrows - and a couple of visiting dark-eyed juncos. No sign of the Eastern towhees today. Both red-shouldered hawks flew by overhead about noon. And I heard the large flock of blackbirds, crows and robins, but they never came into the front yard today. The resident mockingbirds were there too, of course. Not much migrant action yet. Too cold, brrr... |
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | An Alabama mockingbird huddles in the cold on the second day of the Great Backyard Birdcount. This one and his or her mate make their home in the front yard in the shrubs. At night during the summer sometimes they make a heck of a racket, almost enough to keep you awake. For better or worse, this is the sharpest image we could get in the afternoon session today. Clouds moved in and blocked the sunlight. We did get photos of two unidentified birds, a pair of small gray birds and one interesting looking brown one - not sharp enough to publish. Checking the birds guides tonight... One of the red-shouldered hawks did circle overhead, once. No sign of the doves... |
by Glynn Wilson
The debate is on live on C-SPAN2 in the U.S. Senate in a rare holiday Saturday session, with the new Democratic Party majority determined to send a message to President George W. Bush that his escalation of the war in Iraq with a troop surge of 21,500 soldiers is unacceptable to Congress and to an overwhelming majority of the American people.
Republicans offered a number of amendments to the Senate version of the resolution in an attempt to reject any possibility of a reduction in funding for the troops.
Since it will take 60 votes in the 100-member body for the resolution to prevail, the Associated Press and other news sources say passage in the Senate is unlikely.
Since the mid-term elections in November, 2006, the Democrats hold 49 seats and the Republicans hold 49, but two independents lean Democratic, including Sen. Joe Leiberman, who caucuses with the Democrats. That gives them the majority they need to control all the Senate committee chairmanships - and the agenda.
The troop surge has already begun, of course, since President Bush has made it clear that he has no intention of listening to Congress - or the American people - and will continue the disastrous course of putting troops in harms way in the middle of an Iraqi civil war.
The vast majority of military and political experts, including Republicans, say the war in Iraq has already been lost and that the continuing U.S. presence there only exacerbates Islamic militant anger at the West and makes America less safe, not more so.
Bush's ill-concieved war in Iraq based on faulty intelligence has taken time and resources away from the war on terror and turned much of the world against the United States as a beacon of freedom around the globe.
We have urged the president and members of Congress to get out of this war as soon as possible and turn our resources and attention to problems that threaten the entire planet and the human species, not just the American people and multi-national corporations.
Even if somehow Bush could find a way to win the war in the Middle East, global warming and climate change threatens the entire planet, including not only humans but all the beautiful birds we are documenting this weekend in the Great Backyard Birdcount.
Please, Mr. President, won't you listen to the voices who are trying to lead you in a more productive direction?
For any birders checking in here to see our most recent photographs, we know many of you are moderates, independents, libertarians and even Republicans. Won't you consider voting on the basis of your love of birds? There are at least 15 million Americans who participate in birding activities. That constitutes a constituency large enough and powerful enough to change the course of American politics - and the world.
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | A male house finch [ carpodacus mexicanus ] braves the cold on Saturday morning, the second day of the Great Backyard Birdcount of 2007, even though it was still only about 25 degrees Fahrenheit by 10 a.m. The "usual suspects" were a bit more active this morning than yesterday, with the chickadees, the tufted titmouse couple, the cardinals and house finches joined by a couple of goldfinches, the resident white-throated sparrow couple and a couple of robins. |
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | The birds made themselves scarce on the first day of the Great Backyard Birdcount of 2007, with a projected high temperature of only 38, although the backyard thermometer only got up to about 32.5 here. A tufted titmouse couple [ baeolophus bicolor ] visited the dogwood tree in the front yard a few times in the afternoon, and shared the food with a couple of mockingbirds and a couple of cardinals. No sign of the robins, blackbirds, red-shouldered hawks or even the chickadees. Hiding in a warm spot in the bushes, I guess. It looks like it may reach a high of 50 on Saturday, with increasing clouds and a chance of rain. Sunday looks sunny and cold, still, with clouds coming back Monday for President's Day. This is the best we could do for a photograph today. Maybe in the morning... |
The 10th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up Feb. 16-19.
 | | Photo by Glynn Wilson | | A female ruby-throated hummingbird captured in a Birmingham backyard | [ Enlarge ] |
Sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the event is a chance to discover the birds in your neighborhood and count for the record.
Observers simply count the highest number of each species they see during an outing or a sitting, and enter their tally on the Great Backyard Bird Count Website.
Visitors to the Website can also compare their sightings with results from other participants, as checklists pour in from throughout the U.S. and Canada. Together, these counts offer a real-time snapshot of the numbers and kinds of birds that people are finding, from Boreal Chickadees in Alaska to Anhingas in Florida.
"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a community celebration of birds, birding, and nature," Janis Dickinson, director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, says. "We often fail to notice how rich our surroundings are, but counting birds, even for just 15 minutes, is not only educational - it can provide a lasting source of enjoyment, turning a daily walk into a treasure hunt."
Paul Green, Audubons director of Citizen Science, says by submitting counts online, "birdwatchers can quickly seehow the dots they put on the map form new patterns that tell new stories about the birds that share the world in which we live, including our own backyards and parks."
Last year, participants submitted more than 60,000 checklists - and reported 7.5 million birds overall and 623 different species. The count helped chronicle the early spring migratory routes of Sandhill Cranes, documented lingering migrants such as Orange-crowned Warblers and Tree Swallows, revealed the ongoing range expansion of introduced Eurasian Collared-Doves, and recorded declining numbers of American Crows.
Also last year, birders from Fultondale, Alabama, submitted more checklists in the Great Backyard Birdcount of 2006 than any other community in the United States or Canada, according to the official results from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.
The Locust Fork Journal was the only news organization to report that in a story:
Fultondale Alabama Wins Backyard Birdcount Top Locality
This year, we have a novel idea on how to get some great bird photos, so don't forget to come back to this page at that time. As always, we will do our best to shock and amaze you, dear diary readers.
|
|