Welcome to the 2015 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the second tally for 2015 is the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and brag some if 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.
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.
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. Please let us know if you'd like to participate but find yourself not fitting into an established category - we'll work out one for you!
All of the details and the fine print can be found on the other side of the clump of orange bird poop way below.
The Categories:
~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
###
Our official tally keepers this year are Milly Watt, Ocean Diver, Matching Mole, and, jumping in for the first time, aaroninsandiego. Their job is to maintain the Official Spreadsheet, which we'll send to you if you want to play around with all of the info we've collected since the beginning of 2014. Just ask.
Here are the numbers from the January 18th tally. Returning participants have their totals from previous years in parentheses after their names.
###
URBAN ATTACHED
No one's signed up yet for this category. Any takers?
###
APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. aaroninsandiego (21, 20)... San Diego CA ... 12
aaroninsandiego appears to be racing against himself so far this season, and is doing a fine job - note that he's already more than half way to breaking his personal record!
###
RURAL <5ACRES
1. jerseyblue (new) ... Howell, NJ ... 21
2. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 18
3. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 16
4. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury, MA ... 13
5. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 2
jerseyblue has made a strong first appearance in the race, taking an early lead with 21 species. Welcome! Attack Gardener and PHScott are in for second and third so far, with another newcomer, birdfeeder, close behind. Welcome, birdfeeder! Last year's category winner, most awesome nana, is trailing right now, be we hear that she's been hobbled so far with just a little bit of snow.
###
RURAL >5ACRES
Hmm, another so far empty category. Perhaps we can do some noodging?
###
URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 22
2. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City, MO ... 7
3. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 3
Welcome to another new racer, DemBeans, reporting in from the middle of the country! I'm a bit embarrased to be out in front again, but really hope to have a strong challenge from both DemBeans and billybush this year. Sending wishes for many good birds to the both of you!
###
SUBURBAN
1. enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 29
2. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 28
3. lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 20
4. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk City, LI ... 19
5. chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 18
6. 6412093 (20, 30)... NW Oregon ... 7
7 (tie). gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 1
7 (tie). profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 1
Competition looks strong in this category so far - enhydra lutris and AZ Sphinxmoth are neck and neck for the lead, with lorell, LICenter (Welcome LICenter!) and chantedor in bunch just behind them. 6412093, gulfgal98 (Welcome gulfgal98!), and profewalt are lagging right now, but I suspect that this is but a passing phase. Do note that enhydra lutris has reached beyond the halfway mark to his personal record, already...
###
WATERFRONT
1. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 39
2. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 35
3. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 31
4. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 30
5. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 28
6. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 19
7. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 12
We've got a bunch of veterans running in this category, and things can change drastically from month to month. Watch this space, and please, don't be afraid to jump in if your back yard has a water view!
###
The Second Official Tally of the 2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. May 2015 bring many good birds and better birding ID skills to everyone!
Tally Updates
Be kind to your record keeper. For ease of keeping track of everyone's lists, please post your tallies in the following manner:
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.
###
"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 the fine print.
You'll be listing the number of bird species that you note 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 owl that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Flamingo 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 side yard to ID a bird that you have initially seen or heard from the confines of your own yard.
You may list domestic chickens, but only as the generic "domestic chicken". Feral parrots and budgies may also be listed, but only as the generic "feral parrot". Pet birds, other captive birds and birds kept for hunting don't count, but wandering peafowl are fair game.
There are no rules about ladders and fences. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are also no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's.
Once again, here are the yard categories:
~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
And 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.