March 15, 2020
Welcome back Backyard BirdRacers!
Last year 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. 📒
Or you can take pictures and add them to a folder on your computer.
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There are no “rules” for the BirdRace beyond what you set for yourself. Some ideas for information that you might share here as part of the conversation, any combination of:
- a total list of birds you’ve seen
- new birds you’ve seen, after the first month
- interesting behavior you’ve seen
- any patterns or changes in patterns
- general location in the country
- type of habitat
If you move during the year, it would be very interesting to compare the backyard birds you see in the different settings!
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My general locale is coastal northwest Washington state, a mix of habitats from shrubs to woods to roadside to beach overlook.
As of the middle of March, I have 50 total backyard birds with 7 new since the last tally.
New birds:
Gadwall
Longtailed Duck
Common Merganser
Rednecked grebe
Rufous hummingbird
Pigeon Guillemot
Pelagic Cormorant
Notes:
Six of my seven new birds are aquatic and four of them are winter migrants. Only one is a summer migrant. The big spring season shift hasn’t really come yet. While I’m looking forward to my summer birds I’ll be sad to see my winter lovelies go north.
Please add your first Birdrace observations in a comment below.
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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.
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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My seventh new bird is the Rufous hummer, a reliable spring and early summer visitor here. I’d been watching for him to arrive for a week or so, and then almost like clockwork, there he was! There’s just something about seeing the first Rufous of the year, knowing he’s been flying so far and finding his way back to my tiny backyard, a backwater of the Pacific Northwest. He stopped by the Red flowering currant, the flowers that usually sustain the earliest hummers. Also like clockwork, those flowers were just beginning to open up.
However unlike a clock, the Rufous hummers have been gradually appearing here a little earlier over the past decades. According to my own personal observations, Rufouses are a week or so earlier now on average. Possibly a response to global warming?
I missed a chunk of years unfortunately, but here’s the data I have:
Year Date of first Rufous humm seen at my house
1996 3/16
1997 3/23
1998 3/13
1999 3/20
2000 3/25
2001 ?
2002 3/30
2003 3/15
2004 3/13
2005 3/02
and then did not record for 7 years
2013 3/14
2014 3/7
2015 3/8
2016 2/27
2017 3/12
2018 3/11
2019 3/11
2020 3/10
If the migration continues as it has in the past, I’ll soon be seeing this scene at the feeder: more Rufouses than Anna’s. Right now it’s the reverse. The Anna’s are bigger but the Rufouses are more aggressive.
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Cloudy today in the PNW islands. Cooler than normal by about 10-15 degrees F. The NE storm system that came in yesterday is still keeping temps low.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
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