We're off and racing!
Welcome to the 2012 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is our first tally diary, where you can post your sightings, compare notes, and brag a bit if you wish.
For those who are just joining the Yardbird Race, here's what you need to know:
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 yard.
How it works:
Participants list all of the bird species that they see or hear from the confines of their yard between 12:01am January 1 and 11:59pm December 31, 2012 (your time). There are categories of yards, since an apartment balcony doesn't quite compare with 40+ acres of lakefront woodland. Whoever comes up with the largest number of species in each category gets applause, bragging rights and the satisfaction of a job well done. Regular Yardbird Race diaries will be posted during the course of the competition where participants can post their cumulative lists and perhaps brag or whine a bit.
Head over the orange squiggle for the fine print, the yard categories and the tally protocol.
Some fine print.
You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. A "yard" includes your living quarters. So, you can list the Killdeer that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Herring Gull 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 visually ID a bird that you have 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 "parrot". Pet birds, other captive birds and birds kept for hunting don't count.
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.
Here are the yard categories.
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
You're on the honor system here, though I suspect we'll figure it out if you list Common Loons and Canvasbacks while claiming to live in an urban apartment somewhere in Kansas.
Tallying.
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.
List of birds seen, dated if you wish.
Any comments you have about your sightings.
For example, a first list might(!) look like this:
Kansas
Urban apartment or condo
5
jan 1. Mountain Chickadee
jan 1. Cardinal
jan 1. Mew Gull
jan 1. Common Loon
jan 1. Lucifer Hummingbird
The usual suspects...
Who'll be first? Ready? Go!