Welcome to the 2015 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the fourth tally for 2015, and 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. 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.
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
The rest of the details and fine print can be found on the other side of the splat of orange bird poop way below.
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Here's where we stood after the March 15th tally. Not much in commentary this month, but you all know what to do!
We've added a new category this time SMALL TOWN for people who live in, well, small towns. Please welcome our first SMALL TOWN participant not4morewars.
SMALL TOWN
1. not4morewars (new) ... central IA ... 7
Looks like not4morwars needs a bit of competition. Let us know if you might find this category a better fit than the one you're in. We'll switch you over.
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. jforests (new) ... Berkeley CA ... 32
2. Benny Toothpick (25) ... Hamilton, NY... 14
3. aaroninsandiego (21, 20) ... San Diego CA ... 13
jforests showed up last month and immediately took the lead here. Hmm, neither aaroninsandiego nor Benny Toothpick checked in last month so remain locked, one bird apart in second and third.
RURAL <5ACRES
1. jerseyblue (new) ... Howell, NJ ... 31
2. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 27
3. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 24
4. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury, MA ... 18
5. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 5
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. ninety wt (25) ... central MS ... 24
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URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 28
2. mission419 (new) ... Seattle WA ... 19
3. KenBee (new) ... SB CA ... 14
4. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City MO ... 7
5. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 9
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SUBURBAN
1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 40
2. enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 32
3 (tie). chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 31
3 (tie). lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 31
4. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk City, LI ... 29
5. profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 1 25
6. gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 16
7. 6412093 (20, 30)... NW Oregon ... 9
All I can say is that SUBURBAN is very competitive this year!
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WATERFRONT
1. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 59
2. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 43
3. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 42
4. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 40
5. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 38
6. Mark Sumner (69, 80) ... Hillsboro MO ... 34
7. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 31
8. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 22
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The fourth Official Tally of the 2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!
Tally Updates
Thanks to aaroninsandiego for taking care of the tally last month!
Matching Mole will be the tallykeeper this time. Be good to him - 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.
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"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 Emu 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:
~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
Again, 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.