Great Backyard Bird Count
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Bird Watchers are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), Friday 
February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010. Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers of all levels of birding experience to count birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges.
Taking part in the GBBC is a great way to get outside with family and friends, have fun and help count birds – all at the same time. Anyone who can identify even a few species can provide important information.
Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sighting on at www.birdcount.org.
Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2009 GBBC date highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to a the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops father north caused the Siskins to move south to find their favorite food.
On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can get more information and explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special material for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CD’s, and many other great birding projects.
Why Count Birds?
Blackburnian Warbler
Scientist and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time.
The Great Backyard Bird Count needs your help. Make sure that birds from your area are well represented in the count. It doesn’t matter whether you report the 5 species coming to your backyard feeder or the 75 species you see during a day’s outing to as wildlife refuge. Your counts can help to answer many questions.
Photos from a Blog Reader
These are photos sent to me by Donna Breedlove taken in your backyard. Hope you all enjoy them.
How To Make A Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Here is a great idea for some family fun. Find some pine cones and make some pine cone bird feeders. You and your kids will have a great time making them together.
How To Adjust Your Binoculars
Binoculars are a very important tool for bird watching. This video shows you how to adjust them for your eyes.
A unique idea to keep bird water from freezing
This video shows a very unique way of keeping water for your birds from freezing over night.
Bird’s Yearly Track Averages 44,000 Miles!
I just read a MSNBC posting about the yearly migration of the Arctic Tern. This bird flies from the North Pole to the South Pole as the season change at each pole. When it is winter at the North Pole the Arctic Tern files to the South Pole and when winter is returning to the South Pole it flies back to the North Pole. Just amazing!
The shortest journey was 36,900 miles and the longest was 50,700 miles. The study confirmed what researchers suspected for decades, the Arctic Tern has the longest annual migration of any animal in the world. Over its life time the Arctic Tern files the equivalent of three trips from the Earth to the Moon and back.
The birds do not just fly south. They spend about a month in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. They spend this time feeding to “fuel up” before they continue to fly into the waters of the South Atlantic which have less food sources for them.
After this pause, the birds continued their long journey south down the coast of northwest Africa. However, around the Cape Verde Islands — islands off the west coast of Africa, close to Senegal — the birds’ behavior surprised the research team again. About half of the birds continued down the coast of Africa, while the other half crossed the Atlantic Ocean to follow a parallel route south down the east coast of South America. All of the birds went to the Antarctic waters, none of them stayed at any location along the their route.
After spending the summer at the South Pole on their return trip to the North Pole they did not follow the most direct route back to their breeding grounds in Iceland. Instead they flew a gigantic “S” pattern through the Atlantic Ocean. This route added several thousand miles to the birds flight back to their breeding grounds. This indirect route allowed the birds to take advantage of the global wind system and to reduce the amount of energy they need to use on their return journey.
Trees That Attract Birds, Bees, Butterflies Post 8
This tree completes my current research project. Get maximum benefit from your yard by having a variety of plants with fragrant blooms which will produce fruits and bring wild life to enjoy.
AMERICAN YELLOWWOOD (Cladrastis kentukea)
Glorious drooping panicles of fragrant white flowers put on a great show in early summer. The flowers are luxurious 6 to 10 inch clusters are fragrant and it is a bee magnet. It is prized for its smooth, silvery bark, “second-best to beech” . The yellowwood doesn’t bloom until trees are over 12 feet tall, and then the blooms are best every second or even third year. Fall foliage is a soft yellow, thus its common name Yellowwood. It grows 30 to 50 feet tall with a wider spread. Prune it from an early age to encourage a graceful mature form. Yellowwood is native to the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. They are now very rare in the wild. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
American Yellowwood in Bloom
A Group of Yellowwood's In Fall Colors
Trees That Attract Birds Bees Butterflies Post 7
This one is a fragrant white bloomer in February and March in Zones 4 to 7, and December to May in Zones 8 to 9. Sounds rather mysterious to me.
FRINGE TREE (Chionanthus virgirginicus)
It is impossible to resist caressing the wispy, tassle-like flowers of fringe trees which hang 
among the bare branches. You’ll be able to reach them: Fringe trees are typically only 10 to 20 feet tall. Their common name is Wintersweet. They have an outsanding spicy fragrance. They are graceful planted in groves, which increases the chances of having both male and female trees: Males are said to flower more robustly; females produce small fruits attractive to birds. Fringe trees are old fashioned trees that deserve to be planted more often. Give them a chance! Maybe you will attract some new bird varieties. Need some winter cold. Grow in sun or part shade. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Trees That Attract Birds Bees Butterflies Post 6
So far, I have given you two white flowering trees and two yellow ones. Since there is a wider color choice with this one, I suggest red. This one is great to bring bees to your yard!
There are more than 700 named varieties of crabapples-all prodigious bloomers that cover themselves in white, pink, or red flowers in spring. When they bloom, bees and other pollinators make the trees fairly buzz with life. They are excellent wildlife trees. The best crabapples for birds, are small-fruited cultivars that hold their fruit into winter such as ‘Bob White’, ‘Donald Wyman’ or ‘Red Jade’. They are beautiful small trees and most grow
between 15 and 25 feet. They do best in sunny gardens, and they are hardy and reliable. Crabapples have stately, even dramatic structure. They do benefit from occasional pruning. Look for cultivars that resist blight and apple scab. Hardy in Zones 4 to 7.
