The Daily Bucket: Spring

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 08, 2022 · 6:00 AM PST

2022/03/08 · 06:00

no image description available — First Bumblebee 2022

I’m getting old, and every year I ask for just one more Spring.

One more Spring where I can watch the Hazlenut catkins elongate, and then sneeze when they throw off their pollen. One more Spring waiting for the first Osoberry blossoms to open and fill the air with their luscious cat piss and skunk fragrance. One more Spring to catch the first note, sharp and spicy, of Cottonwood sap as it rises up from the earth.

One more Spring following the Trilliums as they rise up and bloom.

One more Spring to see the first Bumblebee emerge from her winter burrow.

One more Spring to watch Hummingbird gather last year’s remaining spiderwebs for her nest.

One more Spring listening for Owl and Eagle as they make love.

One more Spring. Just one more Spring.

Backyard Science - Bird count day, and a butterfly

bwren for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 09, 2019 · 6:00 AM PDT

2019/10/09 · 06:00

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all worthy additions to the Bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, your location. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.

...

October 7, 2019. Seattle.

Today was bird count day. Every week I count birds at three locations along the southwest shoreline of Seattle’s Lake Washington. I’ve done this for close to 20 years now.

There was wind today, with Alder and Cottonwood branches falling all around me at the first stop. The birds were hiding, though I could recognize a number of them from their calls - American Robins, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Bewick’s Wren. There were no Cormorants perched on the lakeside piers, though I expect to see one or two this time of year.

Lat week there was a Western Meadowlark at my second stop, a delightful vagrant that took me by surprise, but she had moved on. Only the usual year round suspects were present today - Song Sparrow, Junco, Chickadee. The wind had picked up, enough that I chose not to walk under the leaning cottonwood tree by the path that leads down to the lake. There may have more birds along that path, but they were quiet, and if they were there they just didn’t get counted this week.

The first Crows showed up at my third stop, just two of them. There were a dozen Mallards, too, but no Gadwalls, which is a change from this year’s summer Gadwall:Mallard ratio where Gadwalls outnumbered Mallards 10:1. I have no explanation for this, nor can I explain why there were so few Mallards on any of my summer counts this year or why so many more Gadwalls nested in this place than in previous summers.

At the end of day I followed a tattered, pale orange and brown checkered butterfly as it was blown by the wind from the lakeshore into a grove of trees. It wasn’t a butterfly I recognized. It struggled against the wind, but didn’t have strength enough to avoid being pushed into a spider web. The spider acted immediately. I did too. “No!”, I said out loud, and gently tapped the now combined pair of them with my finger. The butterfly flew free.

I don’t know why I did this. I am usually neutral about how this predator/prey thing works, and am able to step aside and watch. The pair of Eagles double-teaming a raft of coots. Crows stealing Robin babies. Osprey carrying fish on their final sightseeing tour over my house. OK. Some Coots end up being the bones of Eagles. Some baby Robins grow up to be Crows. Some fish get to fly.

But not this time. I’m aware that my act may have deprived Spider of a meal she needed to finish incubating her eggs. But this butterfly, this windblown, no-name butterfly, this Butterfly was the center of my universe. I did what I had to do.

2018 Backyard Bird Race: Tally #3

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 11, 2018 · 6:00 AM PDT

2018/03/11 · 06:00

This is the the third tally of the 2018 Backyard Bird Race. The fourth tally will go up on Sunday, April 8.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species — by sight and/or by sound — from the confines of their yards.

Everyone is welcome - new birders, experienced birders, and anyone in between. We're a very supportive group and will help as much as we can. If you're not sure about an ID, just do your best to give us a good written description. Images, even mediocre ones, can be a great help, too. There are a number of categories, so that people who live in urban centers don't have to compete against others who have a lot of open space or waterfront views. For more information, check the “Details and Fine Print” section located way down at the bottom.

Here’s where the race stood after the second tally in February

Welcome, everyone who joined the race last month! Let us know if you aren’t yet a member of the Backyard Bird Racers and we’ll send out an invite.

Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. We’re still geting restarted after a year’s hiatus, so some things are a bit rusty. Just a head’s up, I’m up on an island in the Salish Sea this weekend and won’t be able to be in coversation with everyone until this evening. Carry on!

SMALL TOWN

1. besame … Sierra foothills CA … 23

URBAN ATTACHED

1. youfraitta … PA … 2

2. joanNJTN ...Tennesee … 1 (new)

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren … Seattle WA … 23

2. billybush … Omaha NE … 15

3. mahdalgal … Dallas TX … 5 (new)

SUBURBAN

1. enhydra lutris … Castro Valley CA … 28

2. rajintrajan … MO … 24 (new)

3. LI Center … … 14

4. MEL in PGH … PGH PA ?? … 12 (new)

5. Redwoodman (6412093) … Portland OR … 9

RURAL <5ACRES

1. wordwraith … Central NC … 25 (new)

2. PHScott … Tallahassee FL … 19

3. mithrandir … Windsor Co VT … 7 (new)

RURAL >5ACRES

1. Old Cootess … Central PA … 17 (new)

2. (tie) APPY … Flint Hills KA … 7 (new)

2. (tie) BonnieBlueSky … Humboldt Co CA ...7 (new)

2. (tie) OptimizerDad … Nashua NH … 7 (new)

3. North County NY … NY … 5 (new)

RURAL RV RESORT

1. pollysyllabic … Hope AZ … 30

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole … Tallahassee FL … 41

2. Milly Watt … Olympic Peninsula WA … 31

3. Dr Arcadia … Thumb of MI … 23

4. Ocean Diver … Salish Sea Island … 21

5. jazr … Lower Mid State NY … 19 (new)

6. Sharistuff … Central AL … 13 (new)

7. Political Mutt … Sandhills NC … 9

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, with new birds at the top. Any comments you have about your sightings.

A Couple of Notes About Submitting Your Data

This group couldn’t function without our Official Tally Keepers (and we could always use more volunteers). They do the hard work around here, taking turns every month to go through everone’s updated lists, noting all of the new sightings and making certain that everyone’s counts are transferred correctly onto the official tally spreadsheet.

We can make their job a bit easier. You’ll note that our lists tend to get longer as the year progresses, so one thought is for everyone to note new birds at the top of your list each month, maybe even in bold.

A second thought is to start noting your new birds in taxonomic order, since the spreadsheet is set up in that manner. There are several websites that will give you a list of North American birds in taxonomic order. As this is basically the same order as a field guide so you should pick it up quickly. The American Birding Association has downloadable excel checklists and Cornell has an online checklist. Formerly we used the USGS checklist which has a handy code (see below) but the checklist seems to have disappeared. If someone finds it see next paragraph.

If you have the USGS Birds of America checklist, it happens to be in taxonomic order. You might also note the number given to each species in the very first column of the list, which is very helpful for the tally keepers. As examples, 004.2 is the number for Common Loon, and 449.3 is the number for American Crow, so you’d order them them as new birds at the top of your list as:
004.2  Common Loon449.3  American Crow
Ask if you have questions, and let any of the tally keepers know if you’d like a copy of the official tally sheet. Thank you, and good birding to everyone!

Details and fine print.

You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2018. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Great Horned Owl that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Harpy Eagle you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders, fences, binoculars or spotting scopes.

Here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~Mobile
~Rural RV Park

Please let us know if your yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

The third tally of the 2018 Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Tally #6

bwren

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 03, 2016 · 6:01 AM PDT

2016/07/03 · 06:01

This is the the 6th tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race. We’ll take our regular two month summer break after this tally and be back with the 7th tally on Sunday, October 2.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

June-July notes:

Six months into this year’s race and two participants have already broken their personal records. Congratulations, profewalt and besame.
Lenny Flank has joined in from somewhere on the road as the sole participant in the new Mobile Category.

The 6th Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~(new) Mobile

Here’s where we stand after the May 8 tally. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. The number in parentheses after each participant’s name refers to their personal record over the past years.

MOBILE

1. Lenny Flank (new) … On the Road … 27

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 19

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. owktree (new) … Philadelphia PA … 19

2. aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 18

3. Benny Toothpick (53) ... Hamilton, NY... 17

RURAL <5ACRES

1. besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 53 (new personal record!)

2 . PHScott ... (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 36

3. birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 25

4. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 24

5. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 21

6. wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. myboo (new) … Western WA … 18

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 33

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 17

SUBURBAN

1. profewalt (25) … South NJ … 41 (new personal record!)

2 (tie). enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 36

2 (tie). hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 36

3. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 28

4. 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 13

5. OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 63

2. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 47

3 (tie). nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 45

3 (tie). OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 45

5. Dr. Arcadia (88) ... thumb of MI ... 24

Details and fine print.

You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2016. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Smew you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~ New) Mobile

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

_{Meteor Blade’s Spotlight on Green News is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. The Spotlight has been very good to Backyard Science over the years, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.}

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Tally #5

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 08, 2016 · 6:00 AM PDT

2016/05/08 · 06:00

This is the the 5th tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race. The 6th tally will go up on Sunday, June 5.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

May notes:

First off, please welcome owktree, reporting in from Philadelphia in the URBAN APARTMENTcategory. Good birding, owktree! Welcome back too, to profewalt, who is joining in again from South NJ in the SUBURBAN category.

During the April tally billybush suggested a new category for anyone who is birding while on the road. The response was positive so let's do it, with the understanding that the new category will be a thing unto itself with its own Grand Bragging Rights.

Here’s to the new category: MOBILE

As to which birds would be countable in this category, one suggestion was to hold to the backyard model - just counting the birds seen in the “backyard” of where you’re staying, whether campsite, hotel or B&B. We could also open it up to any bird seen while driving, hiking, boating, etc, just for the challenge and the fun of it. In any case, to make it easy on the tally keepers I’d suggest that we just keep a numerical count of the birds in this category rather that trying to list all of the locations and sighting dates. Feedback is welcome — I figure we can tweak this as the year progresses.

As always, here’s to fine backyard birds for everyone!

The 5th Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~(new) Mobile

Here’s where we stand after the April 3 tally. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. The number in parentheses after each participant’s name refers to their personal record over the past years.

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 19

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. Benny Toothpick (53) ... Hamilton, NY... 17

2. aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 14

3. owktree (new) … Philadelphia PA … 12

RURAL <5ACRES

1. besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 27

2 . PHScott ... (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 29

3. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 24

4. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 21

5. birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 14

6Birds. wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. myboo (new) … Western WA … 18

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 30

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 15

SUBURBAN

1. profewalt (25) … South NJ … 41

2. hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 34

3. enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 33

4. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 28

5 (tie). OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

5 (tie). 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 12

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 55

2. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 44

3. nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 43

4. OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 38

5. Dr. Arcadia (88) ... thumb of MI ... 24

Details and fine print.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
~ New) Mobile

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

_{Meteor Blade’s Spotlight on Green News is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. The Spotlight has been very good to Backyard Science over the years, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.}

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Tally #4

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 03, 2016 · 6:01 AM PDT

2016/04/03 · 06:01

This is the the 4th tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race. The 5th tally will go up on Sunday, May 1.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

April Notes:

Welcome myboo, who joined in last tally and is the only participant reporting from the Rural >5 acre category so far this year.

We ended up with a number of ties at the end of the March tally. In the RURAL <5 ACRES category besame and PHScott are tied for 1st with 27 each, and birdfeeder and wordwraith are tied for 4th with 12. The SUBURBAN category finds enhydra lutris and hilltopper tied for first with 33. There’s also a nice close race in the WATERFRONT category.

Be kind to our record keepers as we proceed. Start your list with your new birds and ID your birds as close as you can. Don’t be shy about asking for help with IDs. We’ll do our best to give you a hand.

The 4th Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Here’s where we stand after the February 7 tally. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. The number in parentheses after each participant’s name refers to their personal record over the past years.

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 19

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. Benny Toothpick (53) ... Hamilton, NY... 17

2. aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 14

RURAL <5ACRES

1 (tie). besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 27

1 (tie). PHScott ... (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 27

2. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 24

3. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 21

4 (tie). wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...12

4 (tie). birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. myboo (new) … Western WA … 18

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 25

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 8

SUBURBAN

1 (tie). enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 33

1 (tie). hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 33

2. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 21

3. OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

4. 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 11

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 49

2. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 41

3. nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 38

4. OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 35

5. Dr. Arcadia (88) ... thumb of MI ... 24

Details and fine print.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

Meteor Blade’s Spotlight on Green News is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. The Spotlight has been very good to Backyard Science over the years, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.

The Daily Bucket: Raven Visits the Forest

bwren for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 10, 2016 · 7:01 AM PST

2016/03/10 · 07:01

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all worthy additions to the Bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Do include your location, as close as is comfortable for you. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are unwinding around us.

Seattle. March 8, 2016.

I thought I heard a Common Raven’s quork! as I began my walk in the Forest today. The thing is, I've walked these gently wild urban places long enough to know that Common Ravens just don't hang out here in the city. The last time I saw one in the Forest was maybe a decade ago. I found that one by following the voices of a murder of mobbing crows. They drove it away. Ravens live in the mountains here. The city belongs to the Crows.

But the call came repeatedly as I walked and I had to turn back to find the source. 20 paces after I turned the quork! began to move along the edge of the Forest peninsula. I caught a glimpse of a black shape sliding just beyond a tree from where a Bald Eagle yelled.

Then silence. No wind. No little birds chatting in the canopy or the underbrush. No human voices or human machines.

I waited, I don't know how long.

quork!

The call came from north of me, stationary now. I turned again and walked towards it, ears perked like a dog's.

There. High up in a middle aged Douglas Fir, just a shadow behind the top branches.

quork!

quork!

Raven has a special place here in the Pacific Northwest. In the old stories he is Bringer of Light as well as Trickster, always eager to pull a stunt on anyone around him. I’ve done science most of my life and I'm really torn here, trying to find some kind of ground between stories and numbers.

I welcome Raven, thank him for his presence here today. I make a mental note to log in to eBird this evening to record his presence.

Raven flies from his hidden perch and lands in a Big-leaf Maple above my head, proceeds to pick great chunks of moss off of the highest arms of the Maple, throws them down. They fall all around me, so close that I can catch a few just by holding out my hands. I bring these fragments of a fragment of the city’s original landscape home, place them among the logs that are a part of our new native front yard. Maybe they'll settle in and spread. Maybe they won’t. Maybe Raven will have the last laugh.

This evening I reported the presence of a single Common Raven (Corvus corax) in the Forest to my local birding listserve and to eBird.

Seattle. March 8, 2016. One Common Raven was present in the Forest today.

Your turn now. Do share the latest nature gossip from your natural neighborhood.

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Tally #3

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 06, 2016 · 6:01 AM PST

2016/03/06 · 06:01

This is the the third tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race. The 4th tally will go up on Sunday, April 3.

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

March 2016 notes.

This group couldn’t function without our Official Tally Keepers, aaroninsandiego, matching mole, Milly Watt, and Ocean Diver. They do the hard work around here, taking turns every month to go through everone’s updated lists, noting all of the new sightings and making certain that everyone’s counts are transferred correctly onto the official tally spreadsheet.

We can make their job a bit easier. You’ll note that our lists tend to get longer to as the year progresses, so one thought is for everyone to note new birds at the top of your list each month, maybe even in bold.

A second thought is to start noting your new birds in taxinomic order, since the spreadsheet is set up in that manner. Daunting? Not if you have the USGS Birds of America checkist, which happens to be in exactly that order. You might also note the number given to each species in the very first column of the list, which is very helpful for the tally keepers. As examples, 004.2 is the number for Common Loon, and 449.3 is the number for American Crow, so you’d order them them as new birds at the top of your list as:
004.2  Common Loon
449.3  American Crow
Ask if you have questions, and let any of the tally keepers know if you’d like a copy of the official tally sheet. Thank you, and good birding to everyone!

The Third Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 19

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. Benny Toothpick (53) ... Hamilton, NY... 17

2. aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 13

RURAL <5ACRES

1. besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 27

2. PHScott ... (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 22

3. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 21

4. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 19

5. wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...12

6. birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 11

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 19

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 8

SUBURBAN

1. enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 28

2. hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 25

3. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 21

4. OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

5. 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 10

WATERFRONT

1. matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 41

2. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 35

3. nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 33

4. OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 30

5. Dr. Arcadia (88) ... thumb of MI ... 24

Details and fine print.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

_{Meteor Blade’s Spotlight on Green News is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. The Spotlight has been very good to Backyard Science over the years, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.}

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Tally #2

bwren

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday February 07, 2016 · 6:00 AM PST

2016/02/07 · 06:00

This is the the second tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race. The third tally will go up on Sunday, March 6.

We’re off once again, with a good number of old timers as well as a bunch of new participants. A couple of categories are empty so far, so aren’t listed in the tally. We’ll see if we can muster up some participants for them this time. One more little change: the previous years’ personal tally numbers (in parentheses after everyone’s name) were beginning to take up a lot of room, so I just used the everyone’s best tally. New participants still have “new” after their names.

With that, have fun, and good backyard birding to all in 2016!

Here's what the race is all about:

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

Tallies will go up on the first Sunday of each month, with a summer break in July and August.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Here’s where we stand after the last January tally. Do let me know if I’ve missed anyone or if anything needs correcting. Birding

SMALL TOWN

1. indubitably (new) ... Ozark footills ... 9

2. grapevines (new) … NW MN … 8

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. aaroninsandiego (22) ... San Diego CA ... 12

RURAL <5ACRES

1. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 21

2. marleycat (new) … N Baltimore City MD … 19

3 (tie). besame (45) … NW Sierras CA … 15

3 (tie). PHScott ... (48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 15

4. wordwraith (new) … Central NC ...12

5. birdfeeder (40) ... Shutesbury MA ... 10

URBAN DETACHED

1. bwren (55) ... Seattle WA ... 15

2. billybush (35) ... Omaha NE ... 2

SUBURBAN

1. hilltopper (new) … Oakland CA … 25

2. enhydra lutris (47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 23

3. LICenter (51) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 21

4. OldJackPine (new) … S WI … 12

5. 6412093 (30) ... NW Oregon ... 9

WATERFRONT

1 (tie). matching mole (80) ... Tallahassee FL ... 33

1 (tie). nom de plume (66) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 33

2. Milly Watt (75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 32

3. OceanDiver (74) ... Lopez IS WA ... 27

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, dated if you wish. Any comments you have about your sightings.

The Second Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Green Diary Rescue has been good to Backyard Science, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.

Details and fine print.

You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2016. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Penguin you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences.

Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

2016 Backyard Bird Race - Official Tally #1 and belated Grand Bragging Rights for 2015

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 17, 2016 · 6:01 AM PST

2016/01/17 · 06:01

This is the the first official tally of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race and the belated final tally of 2015! We’ll list the final tally of 2015 today, with the results of this, the first offical tally of 2016, to go up on Sunday, February 6. Welome to everyone who reported their first birds of the year on New Year’s Day, especially those who are just joining the race. Have fun, and good backyard birding to all in 2016!

Here's what the race is all about:

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

Tallies will go up on the first Sunday of each month, with a summer break in July and August.

All of the race details and fine print can be found way down at the end of this very long missive.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Here we go! Congratulations to everyone who joined in during 2015.

I’m away this weekend, so won’t be around today. Be nice, OK?

SMALL TOWN

1. not4morewars (new) ... central IA ... 7 (Category Bragging Rights and Personal Record)

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. Benny Toothpick (25) ... Hamilton, NY... 53 (Category Bragging Rights and Personal Record)

2. jforests (new) ... Berkeley CA ... 32 (Personal Record)

3. aaroninsandiego (21, 20) ... San Diego CA ... 22 (New personal record)

4. Daenerys (new) … Salt Lake City UT … 9 (Personal Record)

5. Meteor Blades (new) ... South of San Fransisco, CA ... 5 (Personal Record)

RURAL <5ACRES

1. cany (new) ... Orange County CA ... 67 (Category Bragging Rights and Personal Record))

2. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 46

3. besame (new) … NW Sierras CA … 45 (Personal Record)

4. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 44

5. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury MA ... 40 (Personal Record)

6. jerseyblue (new) ... Howell NJ ... 36 (Personal Record)

7. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. burnt out (73, 75, 78) ... mid MO ... 97 (Category Bragging Rights and New Personal Record))

2. purple cones (new) … VA … 35 (Personal Record)

3. ninety wt (25) ... central MS ... 24

URBAN DETACHED

1. Economaniac (new) … Chicago IL … 91 (Category Bragging Rights and Personal Record)

2. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 45

3. welso (new) ...Cleveland, OH … 34 (Personal Record)

3. gulfgal98 (new) ... NC ... 23 (Personal Record)

4. mission419 (new) ... Seattle WA ... 19 (Personal Record)

5. KenBee (new) ... SB CA ... 18 (Personal Record)

6. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 17

7. matching mole (new location)... Seattle WA ... 12 (Personal Record)

8. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City MO ... 7 (Personal Record)

SUBURBAN

1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 65 (Category Bragging Rights)

2. chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 54

3. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 51 (Personal Record)

5. (tie). enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 44

4 (tie). lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 45

6. profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 25

7. gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 16 (Personal Record for this category)

8. 6412093 (20, 30) ... NW Oregon ... 15

9. Peregrine Kate (new) … SE MI … 14 (Personal Record)

10. barbwires (new) ...Alexandria VA ... 6 (Personal Record)

WATERFRONT

1. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 96 (GRAND BRAGGING RIGHTS!)

2. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 88 (New Personal Record)

3. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 80 (New Personal Record)

4. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 74 (New Personal Record)

5. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 67

6. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 66 (New Personal Record)

7. Mark Sumner (69, 80) ... Hillsboro MO ... 34

8. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 22

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, dated if you wish. Any comments you have about your sightings.

The First Official Tally of the 2016 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open.

Details and fine print. You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31 of the year. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters, so you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Penguin you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences. Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

2015 Backyard Bird Race Grand Bragging Rights Tally and Start of the 2016 Race

bwren for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 01, 2016 · 6:00 AM PST

2016/01/01 · 06:00

Feb 8, 2015. Crow on the back porch, ready for food.

Welcome to the final tally of the 2015 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race and the start of the 2016 Race! This is the final tally of the 2015, with Grand Bragging Rights to be determined as sightings up to midnight Dec 31, 2015 trickle in. We’re also looking forward to hearing about everyone’s first birds of the 2016 Race.

I need to send huge thanks to our official tally keepers: aaroninsandiego, matching mole, Milly Watt, and Ocean Diver. Their careful data wrangling has been so important in keeping the race going. Thank you all!

Here's what the race is all about:

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

The Categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Here's where we stand after the last December tally. Three new racers jumped in last month. Please welcome Daenerys, welso, and Peregrine Kate! Congratulations to nom de plume, who was the only participant to score a new personal record last time! A number of other participants edged closer last month, and could meet or match their records this tally.

As always, do let me know if I've missed something or if anything needs correcting. More details and fine print can be found on the other side of the invisible splat of orange bird poop way below.

SMALL TOWN

1. not4morewars (new) ... central IA ... 7

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. jforests (new) ... Berkeley CA ... 32

2. Benny Toothpick (25) ... Hamilton, NY... 29 (New personal record)

3. aaroninsandiego (21, 20) ... San Diego CA ... 22 (New personal record)

4. Daenerys (new) … Salt Lake City UT … 9 (Welcome Daenerys)

5. Meteor Blades (new) ... South of San Fransisco, CA ... 5

RURAL <5ACRES

1. cany (new) ... Orange County CA ... 67

2. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 46

3. besame (new) … NW Sierras CA … 45

4. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 44

5. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury MA ... 40

6. jerseyblue (new) ... Howell NJ ... 36

7. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. burnt out (73, 75, 78) ... mid MO ... 97 (New personal record)

2. purple cones (new) … VA … 35

3. ninety wt (25) ... central MS ... 24

URBAN DETACHED

1. Economaniac (new) … location? … 91

2. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 45

3. welso (new) ...Cleveland, OH … 34 (Welcome welso)

3. gulfgal98 (new) ... NC ... 23

4. mission419 (new) ... Seattle WA ... 19

5. KenBee (new) ... SB CA ... 18

6. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 17

7. matching mole (new location)... Seattle WA ... 12

8. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City MO ... 7

SUBURBAN

1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 65

2. chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 54

3. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 51

4. (tie). enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 44

4 (tie). lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 44

5. profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 25

6. gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 16 (final 2015 tally in this category)

7. 6412093 (20, 30) ... NW Oregon ... 15

8. Peregrine Kate (new) … SE MI … 14 (Welcome Peregrine Kate)

9. barbwires (new) ...Alexandria VA ... 6

WATERFRONT

1. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 96

2. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 85

3. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 80 (New personal record)

4. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 74 (New personal record)

5. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 67

6. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 66 (New personal record)

7. Mark Sumner (69, 80) ... Hillsboro MO ... 34

8. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 22

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, dated if you wish. Any comments you have about your sightings.

The Final Official Tally of the 2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race and the first tally of the 2016 Race are now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!

"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Green Diary Rescue has been good to Backyard Science, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.

Details and fine print. You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31 of the year. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters. So, you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Penguin you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but domestic chickens, ducks, peafowl, guinea hens, geese etc are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences. Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race Tally #10

bwren

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 27, 2015 · 6:00 AM PST

2015/12/27 · 06:00

Welcome to the 2015 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race. This is the 10th and penultimate tally for 2015, and is the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and brag as much as you wish. Here's what the race is all about:

The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.

The Categories:

~Small Town (NEW)
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Here's where we stand after the November tally. Please welcome purple cones and Economaniac to the race, and congratulations to Ocean Diver for a new personal record!! As always, do let me know if I've missed something or if anything needs correcting. More details and fine print can be found on the other side of the invisible splat of orange bird poop way below.

The final tally for 2015 Grand Bragging Rights will go up on January 1 at 6AM PST; and we’ll be looking forward to hearing about everyone’s first birds of the 2016 Backyard Bird Race then, too.

SMALL TOWN

1. not4morewars (new) ... central IA ... 7

APARTMENT OR CONDO

1. jforests (new) ... Berkeley CA ... 32

2. Benny Toothpick (25) ... Hamilton, NY... 29 (New personal record)

3. aaroninsandiego (21, 20) ... San Diego CA ... 22 (New personal record)

4. Meteor Blades (new) ... South of San Fransisco, CA ... 5

RURAL <5ACRES

1. cany (new) ... Orange County CA ... 67

2. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 44

3. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 43

4. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury MA ... 40

5 (tie). jerseyblue (new) ... Howell NJ ... 36

5 (tie). besame (new) … eastern CA … 36

6. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 12

RURAL >5ACRES

1. burnt out (73, 75, 78) ... mid MO ... 97 (New personal record)

2. purple cones (new) … OK … 35 (Welcome purple cones!)

3. ninety wt (25) ... central MS ... 24

URBAN DETACHED

1. Economaniac (new) … location? … 92 (Welcome Economaniac!)

2. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 45

3. gulfgal98 (new) ... NC ... 23

4. mission419 (new) ... Seattle WA ... 19

5. KenBee (new) ... SB CA ... 18

6. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 16

7. matching mole (new location)... Seattle WA ... 11

8. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City MO ... 7

SUBURBAN

1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 63

2. chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 53

3. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 49

4. (tie). enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 44

4 (tie). lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 44

5. profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 25

6. gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 16 (final 2015 tally in this category)

7. 6412093 (20, 30)... NW Oregon ... 13

8. barbwires (new) ...Alexandria VA ... 6

WATERFRONT

1. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 96

2. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 85

3. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 80 (New personal record)

4. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 73 (New personal record)

5. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 67

6. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 62

7. Mark Sumner (69, 80) ... Hillsboro MO ... 34

8. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 22

Tally Updates. Here's what you need to report - Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, dated if you wish. Any comments you have about your sightings.

The 9th Official Tally of the 2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!

I’d also like feedback on how the tally reads in DK5. I tried to keep everything as simple as possible.

"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Green Diary Rescue has been good to Backyard Science, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.

Details and fine print. You'll be listing the number of bird species that you see from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2015. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. Your "yard" includes the property on which your domicile is located, and includes your living quarters. So, you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Penguin you think you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's yard to visually ID a bird that you have initially glimpsed or heard from the confines of your own yard. Pet birds, other captive birds, and birds kept for hunting don't count, but wandering peafowl and domestic chickens, ducks and geese are fair game. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's. There are also no rules about ladders and fences. Once again, here are the yard categories:

~Small Town (NEW)
~College Campus
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project

Please let us know if your back yard doesn't seem to fit in any of these categories. We'll work out a new one for you.

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