Welcome to the 2014 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the third tally for 2014 and is the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and brag some if you wish. All of the fine print can be found way below under the pile of squiggly orange bird poop.
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.
There are a number of categories, so 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:
~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
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27 participants have sent in at least one tally since the start of the year, with two more joiningd up for the first time last tally: welcome ninety wt and wood gas, glad to have you aboard! All of the categories except Classroom Project are now represented.
I'm going to change things a bit this time and just list the results of each category without any commentary. Instead, I'll attempt to speak of the birds that have been reported overall. Please send kudos to Milly Watt for her work setting up a spreadsheet that will allow us to track the birds that each of us see over the course of this year's race. Matching Mole, Ocean Diver, and a couple others have also offered to enter our lists into the spreadsheet. Please kosmail me your email addy if you'd like to take a turn doing data entry.
As always, please let me know if I missed you last month, or if anything else needs correcting. Note, too, that the final counts for those who have participated in previous races are in parentheses after their names. Remember that all returning racers are competing against themselves this season, too.
Here's where we stand:
URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus (44) ... San Francisco, CA ... 20
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. Benny Toothpick (27)... Carrboro, NC ... 14
2. aaroninsandiego (21)... San Diego CA ... 12
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RURAL <5ACRES
1. most awesome nana (48)... NE PA ... 30
2. PHScott ... (32, 38) ... west of Tallahassee ... 27
3. Attack Gardener (new) ... Saratoga County NY ... 24
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73, 75)... middle MO ... 34
ninety wt (new) ... central MS ... 25
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URBAN DETACHED
1. greycat (new)... Portland, OR ... 20
2. bwren (50, 41)... Seattle WA ... 19
3. billybush (35)... Omaha NE ... 8
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SUBURBAN
1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43)... Baja, AZ ... 28
2. enhydra lutris (40, 47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 25
3. lorell (36) ... Sugarland, TX ... 22
4. DarkHawk98 (new)... Bella Vista AR ... 16
5. 6412093 (20)... NW Oregon ... 15
6. Mark Mywurtz (new)... MN 8 ... 11
7. barbwires (24) ... Alexandria VA ... 9
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WATERFRONT
1. matching mole (78, 79) ... Tallahassee FL ... 18
2. OceanDiver (71) ... Lopez IS WA ... 17
3. Polly Syllabic (100, 102) ... Gooseville WI ... 26
4. political mutt (53, 65) ... Sandhills NC ... 6
5. nom de plume (new) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 16
6. Milly Watt (67, 75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 21
7. Dr. Arcadia (78) ... thumb of MI ... 15
8. wood gas (new) ... Prince of Wales IS AK ... 17
9. Mark Sumner (69) ... Hillsboro, MO ... 15
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Remember last month's quiz/poll?
Which seemingly common bird is NOT in the top 10 seen so far this year?
Here's the vote:
0% Dark-eyed Junco
0% American Crow
33% Hairy Woodpecker
0% House Finch
33% Anna's Hummingbird
16% European Starling
0% Black-capped Chickadee
8% Northern Cardinal
0% Blue Jay
8% Mourning Dove
And the answer? Mea culpa. None of the above.
This inadvertently ended up being a trick question because there were a bunch of ties for a number of places, and I just looked at the top ten on the list when I set up the poll. In that case,
European Starling would have been the odd bird out, but here's how the "top ten" look when the ties are taken into consideration:
1. American Crow (18)
2. Dark-eyed Junco (13)
3.Mourning Dove (11), Hairy Woodpecker (11), Black-capped Chickadee (11), Northern Cardinal (11), House Finch (11)
4. Downy Woodpecker (10)
5. Blue Jay (9)
6. Anna's Hummingbird (8), Tufted Titmouse (8), American Robin (8), Song Sparrow (8),
American Goldfinch, (8)
7. Red-bellied Woodpecker (7), White-breasted Nuthatch (7)
8. Starling (6), House Sparrow (6)
9. Great Blue Heron (5), Northern Flicker (5), Red-breasted Nuthatch (5), Spotted Towee (5), Purple Finch (5)
10. Pileated Woodpecker (4), Winter Wren (4), Golden-crowned Sparrow (4)
Still, Starlings did come in towards the bottom, along with the House Sparrows. I'm not surprised that American Crows were the top bird, but was interested to see that Dark-eyed Juncos were so well represented on lists from all over the country.
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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 third tally of the 2014 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! You all know what to do. I'll be in until late-afternoon PDT (aargh!), then back on Monday to finish up.
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"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday 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-Kos groups.
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, 2014. 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, 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.
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