FeederWatch Mar 14-15

Weather and Effort: March 14, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	- -

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Mallard	4
Cooper's Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	18
Downy Woodpecker	2
American Robin	2
European Starling	38
American Tree Sparrow	2
Dark-eyed Junco	13
Northern Cardinal	1
Red-winged Blackbird	8
Common Grackle	2
House Finch	5 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	1 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	10

FeederWatch Mar 7-8

Weather and Effort: March 7, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Red-tailed Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	20
Downy Woodpecker	1
American Robin	8
European Starling	4
American Tree Sparrow	5
Song Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	12
Northern Cardinal	1
Red-winged Blackbird	4
House Finch	5 (1 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	1 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	10

Project FeederWatch Feb 29 - Mar 1

Weather and Effort: February 29, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	Less than 1 hour
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2") Snow cover is patchy (less than 50% cover).

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Cooper's Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	12
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	8
American Tree Sparrow	3
Dark-eyed Junco	12
Northern Cardinal	3
House Finch	4 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	1 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	8

FeederWatch Feb 8-9

Weather and Effort: February 8, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Canada Goose	26
Mallard	1
Red-tailed Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	16
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	14
American Tree Sparrow	3
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	13
House Finch	3 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	2 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	3

FeederWatch Feb 1-2

Weather and Effort: February 1, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	Snow 1 to 3 hours
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	5 cm to 15 cm (2" to 6")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Northern Harrier	1
Cooper's Hawk	1
Red-tailed Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	12
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	7
American Tree Sparrow	3
Song Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	22
House Finch	5 (1 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	14

FeederWatch Jan 25-26

Weather and Effort: January 25, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	4+ to 8 hours
Daylight temperature:	-18 to -10° C (0 to 14° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	5 cm to 15 cm (2" to 6")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Northern Harrier	1 Confirmed
Cooper's Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	18
Great Horned Owl	1 Confirmed
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	17
American Tree Sparrow	4
White-crowned Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	18
Northern Cardinal	1
House Finch	24 (1 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	1 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	8

FeederWatch Jan 18-19

Weather and Effort: January 18, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	Under -18° C (under 0° F) low -18 to -10° C (0 to 14° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Cooper's Hawk 1 Mourning Dove 18 Downy Woodpecker 1 European Starling 20 American Tree Sparrow 2 White-crowned Sparrow 1 Dark-eyed Junco 12 Northern Cardinal 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 20 House Finch 18 (1 with eye disease) American Goldfinch 1 (0 with eye disease) House Sparrow 12

FeederWatch Jan 4-5

Weather and Effort: January 4, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Cooper's Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	8
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
European Starling	10
American Tree Sparrow	2
Song Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	2
Dark-eyed Junco	12
Northern Cardinal	3
Brown-headed Cowbird	11
House Finch	32 (1 with eye disease)
Common Redpoll	1 Confirmed
American Goldfinch	3 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	8

FeederWatch Dec 28-29

Weather and Effort: December 28, 2007
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	Snow 3 to 6 hours
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Mallard	5 Confirmed
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	12
European Starling	12
American Tree Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	12
House Finch	38 (2 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	18

FeederWatch Dec 21-22

Here's my Project FeederWatch report for Dec 21-22, 2007. I got to report my first Rare Bird - the Common Redpoll! :)

Weather and Effort: December 21, 2007
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	-9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) low 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	None - -
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	Under 5 cm (under 2") Snow cover is patchy (less than 50% cover).

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Mourning Dove	5
European Starling	2
American Tree Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	8
House Finch	39 (1 with eye disease)
Common Redpoll	3 Confirmed
House Sparrow	18

FeederWatch Dec 14-15

Here's my Project FeederWatch report for this week:

Weather and Effort: December 14, 2007
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1: morning Day 2: morning afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	4+ to 8 hours
Daylight temperature:	-18 to -10° C (0 to 14° F) low -9 to 0° C (15 to 32° F) high
Daylight precipitation:	Snow 3 to 6 hours
Total depth of ice/snow cover:	5 cm to 15 cm (2" to 6")

Checklist for FeederWatch Illinois Birds

Mallard	2
Mourning Dove	10
European Starling	17
Song Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	2
Dark-eyed Junco	9
Northern Cardinal	1
Brown-headed Cowbird	1
House Finch	24 (0 with eye disease)
American Goldfinch	1 (0 with eye disease)
House Sparrow	24

Bird books

I picked up a few new birding books this evening, thanks to a nice 40% coupon I got in my inbox from Borders:

Birding Journal by Potter Style - this is a cute little field journal for jotting down notes when out birding. It has areas for checklists and descriptions of habitat, birds, weather, etc, along with bird related quotes scattered throughout. I fell in love with this little book, and I'm sure it will become both a journal and a keepsake of my first year of birding.

The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible by Sally Roth - This one got me with the author's enthusiasm! I flipped through several books geared toward back yard birders, and most were dry and... well... factual. This one is teeming with personality! It covers gardening ideas for attracting birds, seed and feeders, and great ideas for projects like edible wreaths and pine cone bird treats. The author sounds just as excited as I feel, and that sold me on this book. I can't wait to dig into it tonight!

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley - There are a LOT of bird guides out there, and eventually I will get one specifically geared toward my region, but the thing that drew me to this book is that each bird has multiple drawings of all different variations - plumages, gender differences, juveniles vs adults, etc. Most books and web sites explain the differences, but this one has an illustration for every variation of every bird in the book. I seem to have the most trouble with the variations, so I thought this book would be most helpful for me starting out. We'll see!

I'm still waiting for my Project FeederWatch welcome kit to arrive. I'm excited to start! I've been submitting my bird observations to eBird.com, but I'm really looking forward to receiving the materials that come with the Project FeederWatch kit.

Birds birds birds! I can't get enough! :)

Project FeederWatch

While surfing around the web, procrastinating making a presentation for class today, I came across a web site for "Project FeederWatch," a back yard bird watching data collection project through Cornell University.

From their web site:

Project FeederWatch is a winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. FeederWatchers periodically count the highest numbers of each species they see at their feeders from November through early April. FeederWatch helps scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.

Project FeederWatch is operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.

I signed up! :)

Basically, you have to:

1. Put out food, water, or some other bird attractant. (Done).

2. Watch your feeders for as long as you want to on 2 consecutive days each week.

3. Report the types and numbers of birds you see during your watch days.

They send you a bird ID kit and some other stuff for a $15 participation fee.

I already watch my feeders anyway, and to do it with purpose sounds quite cool. Scientists actually use the resulting data, and you can view different trends for all of the years of the project online.

There are like 20 house sparrows in the tree in my back yard right now. I saw a few drink from the new bird bath this morning :)

I can't figure out how to remove the screens on my windows. I want to remove a few so I can take better pictures of the birds from inside this winter. The screens have two plunger-type plugs at the top, and normally I would just pull down on those plungers to dislodge the bar that is inserted into the frame of the window and that would free the screen. But pulling down on these plungers doesn't seem to do anything - or I'm not able to pull them down far enough to cause that bar to clear the window frame, one or the other. I don't see any other latches or buttons or connections or anything. Darn new house windows. (This house is 5 years old).

The birds seem REALLY happy to have black oil sunflower seed again. They're also liking the "gourmet" mixed seed I got - though the sunflower seed really is the big hit around here. It was over the summer as well.

I can't wait to start counting my birds for Project FeederWatch! :)