February is backyard bird counting time

Every year my kids look forward to Cornell's Great Backyard Bird Count. The girls like the whole notion of being citizen scientists and knowing that the bird count reports they submit will actually be used by real scientists who study birds and migration patterns.

It's a super simple weekend project for families and even little ones can help with daily observations. And although we love being outside during the winter, I have friends that like this bird count because it's a good way to teach their kids about the outdoors without actually having to be out in the cold.

The count is this weekend - February 12-15, 2010 - and you simply set up a chair by a window in your house and watch your backyard (or front yard in our case) to see what birds stop by. Then you record the time, type and number of birds you see and submit your report at the end of each day to the GBBC website. If you're not sure you've identified the bird you've seen correctly, there are some great photos and resource of the birds you're likely to see during the count.

The girls are faithful about keeping the bird feeder filled with seeds during the winter with the hope that they will have a lot of numbers to report. Then they pull up a chair to the big glass window in our living room and make sure the camera is positioned nearby at all times to catch the birds 'in action' during the weekend. G. likes to submit her best picsfor the photo contest.

In anticipation of the count, this morning L. spotted a woodpecker near the feeder and she grabbed the camera. That woodpecker proved a bit elusive to photograph but she did catch a few birds in the yard today.

Some we'll be counting for Cornell's research....

The blue jays - aka the bullies of the bird feeder - are our most popular visitors.

The chickadees usually manage to sneak a few seeds when the blue jays aren't looking.

.... and some we will not be counting even though we see a flock of these birds every day in the yard.

We try to keep our chickens away from the feeders as a general rule but every once in a while we have a renegade that stops by the investigate, and hope a few seeds are dropped by the wild ones.