May 5, 2019
Welcome back Backyard BirdRacers!
The Daily Kos Backyard BirdRace 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 their yards.
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It’s breeding season, or nearly, for birds in my neighborhood. What about yours?
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In January, we introduced the new and revised version of the Backyard BirdRace.
This time around, we each watch for birds in our yard — however you want to define that — and keep a list of them to share here each month in the BirdRace diary. We’ll each be keeping track of our own bird lists this time. eBird is a very easy way to do that. Or you can write them down in a notebook.
We hope to generate some conversation amongst us comparing and contrasting who we see, and perhaps find some insights into the world of birds as they intersect with our lives.
The “race” aspect is a form of gentle humorous encouragement to keep watching throughout the year…. perhaps you will see more birds than you thought, or than you saw last year or a decade ago, or your fellow regional kossacks, or other birdracers who live in the same kind of setting as yourself. It’s all a discovery, and meant to be fun.
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So if you’d like to participate, please list the birds you’ve seen, naming your general locale and type of setting. Pointing out who are the new birds since last month will be useful information too.
As an example, here’s my information this month:
- My general locale is coastal northwest Washington state, a mix of habitats from shrubs to woods to roadside to beach overlook.
- As of early May I’ve seen 52 kinds of birds, 5 new ones since last month.
- What I’m noticing is (1) far fewer ducks, who are off north to breed. A few stragglers are lingering. I’m already missing the ducks :( and (2) a few more summer birds are newly arrived, like Rough-winged swallows, Brewers blackbirds, White crowned sparrows and one early Blackheaded grosbeak. All these birds are here to breed, and will depart at some point in summer when they complete their nesting.
- My cumulative list, assembled using eBird’s summary of the checklists I’ve submitted this year in taxonomic order, with new birds marked in green:
A pair of Rough-winged swallows have returned to nest in the clay bank behind the beach (I’ve seen a few Violet-green swallows and Barn swallows newly arrived this spring elsewhere on the island but not in my backyard (yet I hope)). Swallows are really hard to photo except perched, as they have been on Otter Rock occasionally this past week. I did catch them darting off, absolutely simultaneously. How do they know to lift off at the exact same millisecond??
Rough-winged swallows:
Please add your latest Birdrace update a comment below about who you’re seeing and any interesting behavior as we move into breeding season.
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And of course as always, we welcome your notes about any aspect of nature in your area. This diary is also The Daily Bucket for today.
Birdfeeders are busy these days at my place: Rufous hummers at one, Flickers and kin at the suet, finches, sparrows, nuthatches, blackbirds at the seed feeder. Siskins are fun to watch as always. Goldfinches have arrived in numbers, and the males are bright yellow, fully ripe.
At some nearby bushes I saw a pair of Goldfinches apparently mating:
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The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Sunny with temps about 50° at night, 60s in the daytime at my place in the Pacific Northwest islands. Soil is starting to warm up, I’m thinking seriously about planting corn and beans now. Tomato starts are already in. The long term forecast for the PNW is a warmer than usual summer.
What’s up in nature in your area?
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