Welcome to the 2013 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is our fourth tally diary of the year; please post your sightings, compare notes, and do brag a bit if you wish. As always, please let me know in the comments if I missed you last time or need to make any corrections.
It's never too late to join in. Here's what you need to know:
The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards.
We've set up categories so racers living in urban centers aren't competing against the lucky ones who have a waterfront view.
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
Classroom Project is a new category this year, and is for K-12 teachers and their students who wish to compete as a group. These racers can list the birds that they see or hear from any place on their school grounds. I hope we'll be hearing from the first classroom group today.
As always, the details and some fine print (always the fine print) can be found under the squiggly orange bird droppings way below.
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17 participants reported in last month. Welcome, political mutt, who jumped in for the first time!
The spring migration is on, at least in parts of the country. Up in the north of the mid-country there's still snow coming down from time to time, but here in the Pacific Northwest we're seeing the first salmonberry and red currant blossoms, a sign that Rufus Hummingbirds may be arriving soon. Swallows have been sighted down in the lower parts of the country. How will spring announce itself in this month's tallies?
Here we go:
(Note that last year's racers' final 2012 counts are in parentheses after their names. They're competing against themselves this year, too.)
RURAL <5ACRES
1. oceandiver ... Lopez IS WA ... 24
2. most awesome nana ... NE PA ... 23
3 (tie). homeschoolingmom ... WV ... 18
3 (tie). PHScott (32) ... west of Tallahassee FL ... 18
3 (tie). marleycat ... MD.... 18
4. cany ... Orange County CA ... 12
5. Robert Helmuth ... OK ... 11
The counts here were pretty spread out last month, so take a wonder at the way they've tightened up. Oceandiver and most awesome nana are next and neck at the top, and there's a three way tie for third among homeschooling mom, PHScott and marleycat - and marleycat didn't even chime in last month.
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WATERFRONT
1. matching mole (78) ... Tallahassee FL ... 43
2. milly watt (67) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 36
3. polly syllabic (100) ... Gooseville WI ... 35
4. political mutt ... Sandhills NC ... 23
Things were almost all tied up as last month's WATERFRONT tally began. This month the numbers are a bit more spread out, with matching mole taking a commanding lead down in the southern tip of the country. Things are still close for second, with milly watt leading polly syllabic by a nosehair. Political mutt has a ways to catch up, but didn't start counting until last month. There's definitely room for some changes in this race.
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URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50)... Seattle WA ... 25
2. duckhunter ... location? ... 19
3. billybush ... Omaha NE ... 15
How embarrassing - I'm still in the lead here, but duckhunter's 19 is from back in January and I suspect that billybush is going to be a contender now that the birds have discovered his feeders. Dark-eyes juncos are common to all of our lists.
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Now to the smaller categories. They're listed alphabetically this time.
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. aaroninsandiego ... San Diego CA ... 8
2. youffraita ... PA... 1
aaroninsandiego has pulled into the lead here with 8 species, including a Cassin's Kingbird. youffraita didn't post a list last month - come back please!
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73)... middle MO ... 26
2. janislav ... IA ... 16
26 to 16 here but some interesting birds. Some are common to both lists: Red-bellied Woodpecker, for instance. Others have visited only one yard: Red-shouldered Hawk to one, Red-tailed Hawk to the other; Fox Sparrow to one, Eurasian Tree Sparrow to the other.
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SUBURBAN
2 (tie). enhydra lutris (40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 23
2 (tie). chantedor ... Paradise, CA ... 23
Another tie in the Suburban category! enhydra lutris and chantedor are both reporting from relatively close but very different locations in northern California. Crows, Ravens and Scrub Jays have appeared on both lists so far.
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URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus ... San Francisco CA ... 29
2. Kay Observer2 ... Washington DC ... 10
lineatus took a month off, then jumped back in to take the lead here, but kayobserver didn't check in last time. These two may well hopscotch their way to the finish line.
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Tally Updates
Be kind to your record keeper. For ease of keeping track of everyone's lists, please post your tallies in the following manner.
Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing.
Your yard category.
Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any.
List of birds seen, dated if you wish.
Any comments you have about your sightings.
The fourth tally of the 2013 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! You know what to do.
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I'll be in and out all day.
The next tally will be on April 6.
Details and the fine print.
You'll be listing the number of bird species that you find from the confines of your yard between January 1 and December 31, 2013. You can list a bird if you see or hear it while you are somewhere in your yard. If you live in an apartment or condo building your "yard" includes the property on which the building is located. Note that a "yard" includes your living quarters. So, you can list the owl that wakes you at 2am, but you can't list the Flamingo you see in your neighbor's side yard while driving home if you cannot see it from any place in your yard after you get out of your car. You can, however, walk around to your neighbor's side yard to ID a bird that you have initially seen or heard from the confines of your own yard.
You may list domestic chickens, but only as the generic "domestic chicken". Feral parrots and budgies may also be listed, but only as the generic "feral parrot". Pet birds, other captive birds and birds kept for hunting don't count.
There are no rules about ladders and fences. With the exception of utilizing recorded bird calls, which is strongly discouraged, there are also no rules about making your yard more bird-attractive than the competition's.
Here are the yard categories:
~Urban apartment or condo
~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse)
~Urban detached
~Suburban
~Rural <5 acres
~Rural >5 acres
~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...)
~Classroom Project
You're on the honor system here. We'll probably need photo documentation of the Blackburnian Warbler that shows up in New Mexico.