Great Backyard Bird Count 2012 - Complete!

What a great weekend of bird watching we had as we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count! We have finished our counting and I thought I would post our results.

1. Western Scrub Jay 2
2. Oak Titmouse 2
3. White-breasted Nuthatch 2
4. Spotted Towhee 2
5. White-crowned Sparrow 10
6. Dark Eyed Junco 11
7. House Finch 10
8. House Sparrow 14
9. California Towhee 1
10. American Robin 42
11. American Crow 3
12. Anna's Hummingbird 3
13. Nuttall's Woodpecker 1
14. Mourning Dove 5
15. Northern Flicker 1
16. Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
17. Western Bluebirds 4
18. Lesser Goldfinches 4

You can see more images of our backyard birds in this post: December Bird List with Two New Birds .




We compared our numbers to the last three year's numbers and there is virtually no change. The only significant bird missing from our list is the Cedar Waxwing. We usually have a flock come through during the GBBC weekend and this year we did not. We were talking about why that may be and the only piece of information that may be significant is that every other year we have had at least one day of snow on the GBBC weekend. We have not seen the flocks of Cedar Waxwings that we usually see this time of year come through yet. What does that mean? Maybe nothing but it is worthy of noting.

Our family really enjoys the bird count each year and now that we are participating in Project Feederwatch we have become very good at recognizing our feeder birds. Learning to identify your backyard birds is easy and you can take it one bird at a time. Don't get overwhelmed and make it fun for the family.

Bird Outdoor Hour Challenges
There is a series of bird nature study challenges here on my blog. Each challenge helps your family get to your own backyard birds. I invite you to use these free challenges as a way to develop a love of birds in your family.


There is a wealth of birding information on the internet but I have not found a more homeschool-friendly site than the ones sponsored by Cornell University. I would love to encourage you all to subscribe to their homeschool blog (click the logo above to pop over there now).

• You can also follow them on Facebook .
• You can download their FREE Homeschool Guide to Project Feederwatch.  
• Of course, my favorite resource is their AllAboutBirds website which is a great tool for identifying and learning more about birds in your own neighborhood.

Reminder: Great Backyard Bird Count!

Junco, Norther Flicker, and Nuttall's Woodpecker

Here is your great big reminder that the Great Backyard Bird Count starts this Friday, February 17, 2012! I am anxious to count birds with my family and to compare our results with last year. I am wondering if our unusual winter weather will effect our numbers and species.

YouTubeVideo Explanation

Here are some links:
What is the GBBC?
How to Participate.

I encourage you to participate this year!

Feeder friends...

You may want to complete the Winter Bird Challenge as part of the GBBC.
Some extra goodies for you: Spell Outloud's Bird Writing Center Ideas

GBBC and Birdzilla and Our Enthusiasm

Our "squirrel-proof" birdfeeder is very popular with the finches and sparrows.

The excitement for the Great Backyard Bird Count mounted last week all over the blogging world, especially among homeschoolers. I could feel it here at the Handbook of Nature Study as so many families prepared to participate. Birdzilla was the talk of the bird blogs....check it out for your state.

Black oil sunflower seeds are the seed of choice at our feeders. You can read some more tips HERE.

Our family has been a long time fan of the GBBC but the enthusiasm I felt became a little contagious as the boys helped me count birds most of Friday afternoon from our windows, watching our feeders and trees. Much to our surprise, the day before it had snowed so Friday was cold and there were patches of snow on the ground. The birds didn't seem to mind.

Friday's Count:
American robins - 5
Mourning doves - 2
Acorn woodpeckers - 2 (tapping on the side of our house!)
Nuttall's woodpecker - 1
Norther flicker - 1 (he has become a regular visitor to our back grass)
Oak titmouse - 1
White-breasted nuthatch - 1
Spotted towhee - 5
California towhee - 2
White-crowned sparrow - 14
Dark-eyed junco - 15
House finch - 5
House sparrow - 5
Cedar waxwing - 57

Cedar Waxwings

Yes, we saw fifty-seven cedar waxwings and it was the spot of the day. Here is the story. We were about to finish up our counting and I said to one of my boys that I was disappointed that we didn't see any cedar waxwings. We changed windows for a last look and honestly....a flock flew into the tree in our neighbor's yard at that very moment. It was amazing. I truly would have been satisfied to have seen the flicker again but the cedar waxwings made the whole thing perfect.

We woke to snow on the ground again on Saturday and I was up early looking out the windows. The bird spotting of the day was to see the robins sitting in the snow-filled tree outside our window.There were a dozen of them sitting in the frozen morning world, quiet and still.

California Towhee

The snow melted quickly and we had another bird filled day. We counted at our feeders again but when we went on our afternoon walk we heard and then spotted a red-tailed hawk flying high over our heads. I felt like he appeared just for us. Thanks Mr. Red-Tail.

The only other bird we added to our list for Saturday was the Western Scrub Jay. He can be a very aggressive bird but isn't he pretty in the morning sunshine? The Western Scrub Jay's brilliant color almost makes up for not having any cardinals in our part of the world. Almost. The rest of the numbers were higher for most of our regular visitors on Saturday since the weather was actually quite nice by the afternoon hours.

It is not too late to join in the fun and you can spend as little as fifteen minutes looking for birds if that is all you can spare. Read more about the Great Backyard Bird Count and share your list with the Outdoor Hour Challenge too!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #7 and Winter Wednesday #8 Winter Birds

Finches in Our Feeder 2 16 11

I thought we would line up these two challenges this week as many of us prepare to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. I realize that the Winter Wednesday challenge is out of order but it just seems to make sense.We will do winter insects next week.

Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #7 Winter Birds (including bird migration)
Winter Wednesday #8 Winter Birds (How do birds survive the winter?)


I look forward to seeing everyone's list of birds or if you just observe one bird and learn a little about it that is fine too! Please do as much or as little as your family can manage. Remember that you can share your list of birds at the end of the month on Heather's Tweet and See!

Bird Nature Journal Ideas and the Great Backyard Bird Count Reminder

I am getting ready to count birds now that the seasons are changing. We have so many birds at our feeders these days that it is going to be interesting to see the comparisons between last year and this year.

Here is the official video announcing and explaining the Great Backyard Bird Count!



I also found this link very helpful in learning more about feeding our backyard birds.

You may wish to make a record of the birds your family observes in your nature journal. Our family likes to look back over the years and see how our lists compare.

Here are some ideas for recordkeeping:

A simple list is a great place to start. Record the date, the bird species, the location. You could keep a list for each day of the GBBC and then insert it into your nature journal or add to your life list. (There is a link to this particular bird log at the bottom of this page.)

I also keep a running list of birds on one of the free notebook pages from my friend Tina that she made for the Outdoor Hour Challenges.

A few years ago, our family made cards for each bird we observed. The pdf for the captions can be found on Scribd. You can see what they looked like HERE. 

NotebookingPages.com has a nice set of bird pages you can use if you want something premade.(Note: If you are a Treasury Member of her site, you have access to all the bird pages included in your membership.) See links at the bottom of this post to the set I use in our journals.

We also use the coloring pages from Cornell's Backyard Feeder Coloring Book as a way to record birds we see in our backyard. I print out the table of contents and keep it for reference and as a reminder of what birds are available in the coloring book.

Both of my bird field guides have places for you to record the birds we have observed. It is a handy place to keep your record since you will normally have your field guide on hand.

In the Peterson guide there is a checklist in the back of the book. It looks like the newest edition of this book(which I don't have) has a life list in the back of the book.

In the Audubon guide there is an index with circles to check off as you observe a bird.

I am eager to count birds this weekend and will probably be able to participate on two of the days with my family. This week's Outdoor Hour Challenge will feature winter birds so next week you can share your family's list as part of Mr. Linky if you would like to participate in this challenge.

Great Backyard Bird Count: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, February 13th-We were only able to observe in our own backyard about 30 minutes.
5 White-crowned sparrows
4 House sparrows
1 Anna's hummingbird (Spotted in our flowering broccoli!)
1 Western scrub jay
1 California towhee
2 Spotted towhees
8 Juncos
1 House finch
1 American robin
1 Oak titmouse
1 American crow (heard but not seen)
1 Nuttall's woodpecker



Sunday, February 14th-Two different times observing for a total of 45 minutes.
8 Juncos
1 Western scrub jay
1 Nuttall's woodpecker
11 House finches
2 Spotted towhees (There are two shown in the photo above.)
2 California towhees
1 Anna's hummingbird (in the feeder this time)
1 Oak titmouse
2 Red-tailed hawks (soaring over our house and screeching loudly)
2 Canadian geese (flying over noisily)
1 White-breasted nuthatch
5 White-crowned sparrows
2 American crows (loud caws and then they flew overhead, one had something in its mouth)


I think we did a good job at counting this year and for once we knew every bird in the feeder. This is our fourth year participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count and we have come a long way from that first year where we only knew the most basic of birds.

Bird Week: Start of the Great Backyard Bird Count

This is our entry for the Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter Series #7 Winter Birds.


Our official count for Friday, February 12th:
3 Western scrub jays
12 Juncos
2 Spotted towhees
4 White-crowned sparrows
1 Titmouse
6 House finches
1 California towhee (unusual since we always see them in pairs except for today)
5 House sparrows
1 Anna's hummingbird
1 American robin
1 White-breasted nuthatch


The white-breasted nuthatch is my favorite little bird right now. He is so acrobatic and he creeps up and down the trunks of trees. If you follow the link to All About Birds for the nuthatch, listen to the Pacific song and that is exactly what this bird sings to me just about every time I head outdoors.

We really enjoyed our counting of birds today since the sun was out and the air was warm. We have new binoculars for this year's count and we all took a turn at scoping out the backyard feeders from the window. We were surprised to see the hummingbird, but it has not been totally unusual to see one or two at the feeder off and on all winter.

For the most part, all of these birds are permanent residents. The robin was singing so perhaps this is his home territory. We did not see our Nuttall's woodpecker that comes to our feeder just about every day which is disappointing that we can't count him in our tally. We will be counting again tomorrow so perhaps he will make an appearance then.

When were out for our walk today, Mr. A saw a red-tailed hawk. I saw two Canadian geese. They both are year round residents in our neighborhood.

Here is a short video that has our resident titmouse singing us a song from the top of a tree. He has so much sound for such a little guy. We call any titmouse "Speedy" because they are such fast little creatures.


This was a good bird day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Series #7 Winter Birds

Okay, so now you know I am human. I got the dates for the Great Backyard Bird Count confused in my new Winter Nature Study ebook.

In the book you will find on the schedule that I planned the Winter Bird Challenge (#7) for February 19th. It needs to be this Friday, February 12th, so you can count birds and send in your results.

This means that we will be skipping the Winter Series Challenge #6 (Salt) and completing Winter Series Challenge #7 (Winter Birds) this week instead. Please adjust your calendar in your records.

I apologize for the mix-up. Today is the big day to start your bird counting. We are eager to get started and I will keep you posted with our lists of birds.

Now for this week's challenge.

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #7
Winter Bird Study

For this challenge, instead of picking a particular bird from the Handbook of Nature Study, we will focus on learning about bird migration and then spend some time outdoors looking for birds in our own neighborhoods. In addition, I am encouraging you to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count that takes place from February 12th to the 15th. You can participate in the bird count even if you just spend 15 minutes observing birds in your own yard or neighborhood. See their website for more information: GBBC.

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 35-37. This will help explain why you have some birds in your area only during certain seasons. If you are interested in more information, you might want to check the Peterson Field Guides (see links below) for additional information about particular birds that you have in your feeders or near-by parks. There will be maps in the field guide that show where birds winter, migrate, and spend their summers. I encourage you to pick one common bird you have in your area and see if it migrates. (If you do not have a field guide, use the links in the Follow-Up Activity to research your bird.)



Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15-20 minutes outdoors this week looking for local birds. Choose one of the birds to learn more about and to record in your nature journal. If you are participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, plan on spending your outdoor time to tally birds you see in your yard. If the weather is too cold, you can always sit at a window where you can see your birdfeeder and take a tally from there.

Follow-Up Activity:
Give an opportunity for a nature journal after you talk about any birds you observed. Help your child identify any birds they saw if you can. Remember to check the table of contents in the Handbook of Nature Study to see if your bird subject is covered in a lesson. You can use those suggestions to learn more about your backyard birds. If you have a field guide, use the information there to discuss if the bird is a winter resident or a year-round resident. Our family uses this online bird site to help us identify birds: WhatBird? And this website for additional information as well: AllAboutBirds.

Also make sure to log into the Great Backyard Bird Count and record your results from your neighborhood.

Additional bird migration websites:
Bird Migration (Backyard Nature)
Bird Migration (Wild Birds Unlimited)



If you would like all the Winter Series Challenges in one book, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. The ebook also contains art and music appreciation plans for the winter months as well. Please see this entry for more details:
Winter Nature Study Ebook Now for Sale. You can also purchase just a set of custom notebook page for the Winter Series Challenges by following the link above.

Make sure to come back and enter your blog entry for this challenge in Mr. Linky.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom








I love this picture book for younger children if you can find it used or at your library.


I also think this field guide for younger children is very well done and I use it in all my bird challenges listed on my right sidebar.

Quick Correction to the Winter Series Ebook Schedule!!! Please Read!!!

I got the dates for the Great Backyard Bird Count confused in my new Winter Nature Study ebook.

The correct dates are February 12-15th, 2010.

In the book you will find on the schedule that I planned the Winter Bird Challenge (#7) for February 19th. It needs to be this Friday, February 12th, so you can count birds and send in your results.

This means that we will be skipping the Winter Series Challenge #6 (Salt) this week and completing Winter Series Challenge #7 (Winter Birds) instead. Please adjust your calendar in your records.

I apologize for the mix-up.

The Beginnings of a Robin Study

"Most of us think we know the robin well, but very few of us know definitely the habits of this, our commonest bird. The object of this lesson is to form in the pupils a habit of careful observation, and to enable them to read for themselves the interesting story of this little life which is lived every year before their eyes. Moreover, a robin notebook, if well kept, is a treasure for any child; and the close observation necessary for this lesson trains the pupils to note in a comprehending way the habits of other birds. It is the very best preparation for bird study of the right sort."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 57

What started off as a hike after the rain had stopped, quickly turned into an exciting weekend of robin watching. Heading down our regular hiking trail, we immediately saw a sight that made us stop in our tracks. Up over our heads in huge groups were groups of birds flying, some stopping to perch in the tall pines above us. Some of the birds were just flying very fast all in one direction. I did not have my binoculars on this afternoon so we had to use the camera to see at first what kind of birds they were. Robins! Flocks and flocks of robins!


We were amazed at the numbers of robins and I tried to capture a few photos, but I had my little camera that does not have an adequate zoom. The photo above is the only photo that you see the robins.

None of us had experienced this large of a flock of robins before. We realized exactly what is in the quote above from the Handbook of Nature Study. How could we have never noticed the robins migrating/flocking before? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? We had so many questions in our minds as we finished our hike.

This experience was repeated several times over the course of our weekend. We even had them flocking and flying overhead yesterday morning at our house. The neighborhood was alive with robins.

This is how our robin study started this weekend. We are going to use the suggestions for progressive robin study in the Handbook of Nature Study and spend some time this spring learning about this common neighborhood bird. You can read the lessons starting on page 61.

"For third or higher grades th epupils may have individual notebooks in which each one may write his own answers to the questions of the successive series......The cover or first page should show the picture of the robin colored by the pupil, and may contain other illustrative drawins, and any poems or other literature pertinent to the subject."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 61

The Handbook of Nature Study contains lessons that follow the spring habits of the robin and it will take us a few months to finish our study.

We found the following links helpful:
Winter Robins
What Happens to All the Robins?
Making Sense of Robin Migration This article has some interesting information stating that the robins only start singing when they have reached their territory. Many of the robins we observed over the weekend were singing...so I guess they are home. More info HERE.
Robin Migration Journal Pages I can't believe what you can find on the internet with very little effort. I was reading this website and realized they have a journal you can print out and use to keep track of the robin migration for this year. Awesome! They also have more generic notebook pages to go with any study HERE.

I will keep you posted on the progess of our robin study. Don't forget that this coming weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. Even if you can only devote 15-20 minutes of bird watching in your neighborhood this coming weekend, you can participate in this important birding event. You do not need to be an expert in bird identification either. Report the birds you do know!

I will share our bird tallies as we make our observations.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Great Backyard Bird Count Starts Today!

Don't forget to check out the Great Backyard Bird Count because it starts today!

So far we have:
37 Dark-eyed juncos
4 White-crowned sparrows
4 House sparrows
3 House finches

This is a pretty unusual day for us since we woke up to two inches of snow and it is still coming down. The birds are all hunkered down somewhere out of the snow I am sure.

We have officially called it a "snow day" from school so we can do some fun stuff.....like watch birds and paint some wintery trees.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

"Brightness to the Garden"

"The daffodil, jonquil, and narcissus are very closely related, and quite similar. They all come from bulbs which should be planted in September; but after the first planting, they will flower on year after year, bringing much brightness to the gardens in the early spring."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 551

I don't know if it is "early spring" but my narcissus/paper whites are all pushing up out of the ground among my violets. I know it won't be long now until I have some fragrant beauties to enjoy.


Our birdfeeders are busy every day as many, many different waves of birds come through to feast. These finches are all sharing so nicely. I noticed that there have been quite a few birds in the birdbath as well.

We are getting ready to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count from February 13-16, 2009.

I encourage you all to look into this family activity as well. Here is the link to find out all about it:
Great Backyard Bird Count

Here is a link to grab a button for your blog:
Great Backyard Bird Count Buttons

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Watching Sparrows and Learning Their Habits

"....the identification of birds is simply the alphabet to the real study, the alphabet by means of which we may spell out the life habits of the bird. To know these habits is the ambition of the true ornithologist, and should likewise be the ambition of the beginner, even though the beginner be a young child."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 27

White-crowned sparrow

Although this particular kind of sparrow is not covered in the Handbook of Nature Study, there are three other kinds of sparrows that are discussed. I think we can apply the study suggestions to our particular sparrows.


More sparrows to observe...

These birds come to the feeders every morning and usually there is a line of birds on the branch waiting to get their turn at the feeder. I have even seen some of these birds do a little hovering to try to get someone to move off the perch.


This is one of my favorite birds that frequents the feeders. It is a spotted towhee and it's red belly and black and white spots are hard to miss as it usually rustles around in the leaves under the feeder looking for stray seed. This time of year there is no shortage of seed on the ground because the finches and sparrows are very messy eaters.

Katie sent me this link today to a great project you can involve your family in during the long days of winter. Check out this link:
Celebrate Urban Birds
You can read about the challenge and the free kit that you can order about birds. I downloaded mine from the website and we will be participating soon.

I cannot emphasize enough how enjoyable watching birds in a birdfeeder is for all members of the family. The more time you spend watching the birds and their habits, the more enjoyable and satisfying it is as a pastime. We do not always identify every bird but we know many, many of them by now.

Some of our favorite websites for bird identification:
whatbird.com
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Project FeederWatch
Great Backyard Bird Count-Coming February 13-16, 2009

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Counting Birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count

We have been counting birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count. It started on Friday and will continue through today. We have had all the usual customers at the feeders and a few surprises too!

The white-crowned sparrow usually feeds in our front yard in the forsythia bush which has a blackberry vine tangled in it with some of last summers berries all dried up and ready for eating.
(you can click the photos to make them larger)


The dark-eyed juncos are a frequent visitor to our feeders and they enjoy both the platform feeder and eating from the ground beneath it.

The hanging feeders were filled with sparrows, finches, and the occasional nuthatch.

Here is our official bird count for Friday:

• 5 Western scrub jays
• 2 titmouses
• 1 red-breasted nuthatch
• 1 spotted towhee
• 2 California towhees
• 6 white-crowned sparrows
• 12 dark-eyed juncos
• 1 house finch....probably more we just didn't catch them when we were counting
• 7 house sparrows

Those were in the feeders but we also saw in our yard:
1 American crow
2 American robins

In our travels yesterday, we saw:
3 turkey vultures
40+ Canadian geese
6 wild turkeys

This is a great family project that we have participated in for the past three years. If you miss it this year, mark your calendars for next February so you won't forget!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom