Wrapping up our bird counting weekend

The kids kept busy with the Great Backyard Bird Count while I spent the weekend under-the-weather (this was a well-timed, much appreciated diversion for the kids as they spent the whole weekend at home, an unusual scenario for us).

Each morning they sat in the comfy chair stationed in front of the living room window watching the trees in our yard and the well-stocked bird feeder (thanks to their diligence in filling it every night).

As of tonight, these are the Backyard Bird Count numbers reported nationwide (the final deadline for submissions is March 1):

Total Checklists Submitted: 70,263
Total Species Observed: 589
Total Individual Birds Counted: 8,136,950
That's a whole lot of people committed to counting a whole lot of birds!

We saw a few critters trying to eat from our feeder but the blue jays, which we saw in abundance during the count, seemed to scare everyone else off most days (I've always thought they were bullies, which Mama Bird confirmed for me recently).

But we had an enterprising hen who gave the blue jays a run for their money one morning.

 
I didn't realize initially that this was a chicken and G. was much amused by my confusion. The final results of the Almeida kids' bird watching included only three species -- blue jay, black-capped chickadee and northern cardinal over their 4 days of counting. They considered this OK but vowed to keep watching regularly for new ones as the weather warms and keep track of what they find.

Although G. spent time outside trying to catch the birds with her camera, they proved a bit elusive. But she managed a few to add to her growing birding scrapbook.

And just to confirm that not only were the two girls bird watching, the cats seemed to enjoy it too (and were not subjected to dress-up more than once this weekend).