Welcome to the 2013 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is our fifth tally diary of the year, the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and politely brag as much as you wish. Please let me know in the comments if I missed you last time or need to make any corrections. Alas, I got overwhelmed with keeping track of who's seen what, so there won't be any of those notes this month. Perhaps next time.
It's never too late to join in. 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 yards.
We've set up categories so racers living in urban centers aren't competing against the lucky ones who have a waterfront view.
~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
Classroom Project is a new category this year, and is for K-12 teachers and their students who wish to compete as a group. These racers can list the birds that they see or hear from any place on their school grounds. I hope we'll be hearing from the first classroom group today.
As always, the details and some fine print (always the fine print) can be found under the squiggly orange bird poop way below.
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We're up to 21 participants, with three who joined the fray last time. Welcome, barbwires, AZ Sphinxmoth, and john difool! Looking forward to hearing more from you this tally. Almost all of the categories continue to be competitive, though we could use another voice or two in the Apartment or Condo category.
Many of us up north are still anticipating the arrival of the spring migrants, birds that may well have passed through the southern regions of the country since the last tally. Some of our winter residents are moving on to their summer nesting grounds even farther north, too. We'll see how the patterns are emerging this month.
And on to the March summary:
(Note that last year's racers' final 2012 counts are in parentheses after their names. They're competing against themselves this year, too.)
RURAL <5ACRES
1. most awesome nana ... NE PA ... 25
2. homeschoolingmom ... WV ... 24
3. PHScott (32) ... west of Tallahassee FL ... 21
4. marleycat ... MD.... 18
5. cany ... Orange County CA ... 12
6. Robert Helmuth ... OK ... 11
There was some shuffling in the RURAL <5ACRES counts last month. ocean diver had the clear lead at the beginning of the tally, but graciously decided to change categories since her proximity to water seemed to better place her in the Waterfront category. That put most awesome nana in the lead. February's tie for second among homeschooling mom, PHScott and marleycat has been broken, though their numbers are still tight. homeschooling mom is a close second now, with PHScott lagging behind just a bit in third. We've not heard from the other three competitors for a bit and hope to hear from them this time.
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WATERFRONT
1. matching mole (78) ... Tallahassee FL ... 48
2. political mutt ... Sandhills NC ... 47
3. milly watt (67) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 41
4. polly syllabic (100) ... Gooseville WI ... 37
5. john difool ...Jacksonville, FL ... 36
6. oceandiver ... Lopez IS WA ... 34
We welcomed political mutt into the race last month and they have become a formidable presence in the WATERFRONT category. matching mole is still hanging on to his lead, but only by a hair. For the rest, it's location, location, location. Three of the four are located in the northern reaches of the competition: milly watt, polly syllabic and ocean diver. We might expect to see some competition here as the migrants begin to arrive in the north. Too, john difool just joined the race last month and has now had a month to catch up. Anything is possible on the waterfront.
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URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50)... Seattle WA ... 27
2. duckhunter ... St Louis MO ... 26
3. billybush ... Omaha NE ... 15
It's tightening in the URBAN DETACHED category, with duckhunter giving me a real challenge. billybush lags some, but who knows, with luck and those feeders he could definitely be back in contention this time around.
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On to the smaller categories, which are again listed alphabetically.
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. aaroninsandiego ... San Diego CA ... 10
2. youffraita ... PA... 1
aaroninsandiego added two more birds to his list last month and has the lead here. We've not heard from youffraita for a while, but hope she returns. Are any of you apartment/condo lurkers ready to join in? There are real possibilities here!
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73)... middle MO ... 37
2. janislav ... IA ... 22
burnt out and janislav continue to maintain their places as we go into this tally. They're sharing their Cardinals, but only janislav has seen a Bald Eagle so far. What goes this time, you two?
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SUBURBAN
1. chantedor ... Paradise, CA ... 29
2. enhydra lutris (40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 24
3. barbwires ... Alexandria VA ... 12
4. AZ Sphinxmoth ... Baja, AZ ... 7
More shuffling in suburbia, with two new racers joining in last month. This category was tied between enhydra lutris and chantedor when we began the March tally. chantedor pulled ahead with 29 to enhydra lutris' 24. Newcomers barbwires and AZ Sphinxmoth are trailing, but both arrived just last month. Another month has gone by since then and a lot can change in a month.
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URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus ... San Francisco CA ... 35
2. Kay Observer2 ... Washington DC ... 19
Latitudes 38.90 vs 37.77. Longitudes -77.03 vs. -122.42. lineatus on the west coast maintains her lead over east coaster Kay Observer2, but they're so close in latitude. What new birds will the east and west migration routes bring for this month's tally?
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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.
The fifth tally of the 2013 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! You all know what to do. New racers are welcome - show your stuff!
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I'll be in and out all day.
The next tally will be on May 5.
Help! I'll be out of town the first week of July. Does anyone want to take on the July 6 tally? Let me know in the comments or via kosmail. I'll even send you the Official dKos Backyard Bird Race Tally Sheet™.
Details and the fine print.
You'll be listing the number of bird species that you find from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2013. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. If you live in an apartment or condo building your "yard" includes the property on which the building is located. Note that a "yard" 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.
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...)
~Classroom Project
You're on the honor system here. Think twice before reporting Geococcyx californianus from anywhere above latitude 42.00.