Great Backyard Bird Count 2006

This morning Katie and I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count which required us to watch the birds in our backyard for 45 minutes and try to identify all of the species that were visiting us. You count how many of each species that you can see at one time (so you don't count the same bird over and over again). This is our second year participating and we were much better at the identification this year! We identified 12 separate species, and only had one which we couldn't figure out. The most common was the American Goldfinch (14 at once!)

It was hard to photo the feeders because the birds are moving a lot and the weather was rainy, but here are some decent shots of two of our feeders...


In the first shot, we have the goldfinches gathering at their favorite feeder, filled with thistle.


Here we have a finch and a brown-headed nuthatch (the top bird), which is our smallest visitor...very cute!


Some of the other species we have include cardinals, jays, doves, titmice, wrens, chickadees, juncos, house finches, crows, and Fran's pride of the morning: the newly identified yellow-rumped warbler!