Great Backyard Bird Count 2012

Jan 24, 2012 by Tiany

We have had some lovely feathered friends at our feeders this month, mostly Goldfinch, Ruby-Throated Kinglets, House Wrens, Cardinals and one Hawk. {yes, a Red Shouldered Hawk landed on the fence in our backyard} We are looking forward to the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up in February, this is a wonderful project to do with the children along with a unit study on birds. The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds. You can learn more below.

Can you see all 7 birds?

Goldfinch in winter.

This lil guy comes daily, at the same time every day.

Goldfinch

: Ruby Throated Kinglet - A bit blurry, they move so much, always flitting about, never still! They only visit during the winter months.

House Wren, my favorite backyard bird.

This is my oldest Micah, some years ago when we first started our birding adventures.

Participating in the Great Backyar Bird count is as easy as 1, 2, 3...

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15–18, 2012. Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like—just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.
2. Count the greatest number of individuals of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down. (You can get regional bird checklists here.)

3. Enter your results through thier web page.

Feathered friends adventure Manuall

http://www.adventurer-club.org/Awards/FeatheredFriends.pdf

Here is a neat study that we use along with the GBBC.

Nature lesson birds - http://www.pathfindersonline.org/pdf/ayhonors/birds_a.pdf