Welcome to the 2014 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the 4th tally for 2014 and is the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and brag some if you wish. All of the fine print can be found way below under the pile of squiggly orange bird poop.
Here's what the race is all about:
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.
There are a number of categories, so people who live in urban centers don't have to compete against others who have a lot of open space or waterfront views.
The 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
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29 participants have sent in at least one tally since the start of the year, and once again two more racers jumped in last tally, Lenny Flank and chantedor. Lenny is a first timer, and chantedor is a returning racer from 2013. Welcome,Lenny and welcome back, chantedor!
Ocean Diver and Milly Watt did the hard work of going through everyone's tally sheets and posting first sighting dates into the new Yardbird Birdlist spreadsheet. They also vetted my numbers, which did need a couple of corrections. I believe that matching mole has signed up to enter this tally's data. Let me know via kosmail if you'd like to join the recording effort.
As always, please let me know if I missed you last month, or if anything else needs correcting. Note, too, that the final counts for those who have participated in previous races are in parentheses after their names. Remember that all returning racers are competing against themselves this season, too.
Here's where we stand:
URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus (44) ... San Francisco, CA ... 20
Lineatus didn't check in last tally - here's hoping to see her today. Maybe someone living in an urban area will show up with a challenge to her 20 species. She reported Turkey Vultures in San Francisco on Feb 1. We'll see how far up the west coast they've traveled since then.
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. Benny Toothpick (27)... Carrboro, NC ... 21
2. aaroninsandiego (21)... San Diego CA ... 13
3. Lenny Flank (new) ... St Pete, FL ... 1
Benny Toothpick widened his lead last tally with 7 new sightings, for a total of 21. Benny is located in South Carolina, and aaroninsandiego, his closest competitor, is on the other side of the country. They have only three birds in common so far: Mourning Dove, American Crow, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. It could be that Benny has had a location advantage so far. We'll see if the spring migration shakes up this race. Lenny Flank gets the Best Exotic So Far Prize for his single entry, a Nanday Parakeet.
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RURAL <5ACRES
1. PHScott ... (32, 38) ... west of Tallahassee ... 33
2. most awesome nana (48)... NE PA ... 30 (0 club)
3. Attack Gardener (new) ... Saratoga County NY ... 26
We've got a group of East Coasters in this category, though they're ranged nicely south to north. PHScott jumped into the lead last tally with six new species, which puts him only 5 species behind last years record. most awesome nana is the first racer this year to join the Zero Club, with no new birds. Attack Gardener picked up two, but remains in third. These three racers share a number of the common east coast birds, including Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal.
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73, 75)... middle MO ... 41
2. ninety wt (new) ... central MS ... 25
Mississippi and Missouri hug the Mississippi River, west and east, north to south, and are the contenders in RURAL >5ACRES this season. burnt out, represents the north and west and is over half way to his total from last year, with 41 species. His new challenger represents the east and south, and unfortunately didn't check in last tally. We hope to hear from them this time. In January, they shared the following birds: Eastern Towhee, Carolina Wren, and American Goldfinch.
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URBAN DETACHED
1. greycat (new)... Portland, OR ... 28
2. bwren (50, 41)... Seattle WA ... 22
3. billybush (35)... Omaha NE ... 9
greycat has one again held the lead here, adding 8 new birds last tally. bwren has has a slow start, but is determined... Billybush remains in third, but may have been at a locational disadvantage so far, living in a state that's been snowbound most of winter. In any case, these three share early sightings of what have become the ubiquitous birds of America: House Sparrow and House Finch.
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SUBURBAN
1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43)... Baja, AZ ... 42
2 (tie). chantedor (46) ... Paradise, CA ... 30
2 (tie). enhydra lutris (40, 47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 30
2 (tie). lorell (36) ... Sugarland, TX ... 30
3. DarkHawk98 (new)... Bella Vista AR ... 26
4. 6412093 (20)... NW Oregon ... 18
5. barbwires (24) ... Alexandria VA ... 14
Not only has AZ Sphinxmoth blasted out in front with a whopping 14 new species, but she's now only one bird shy of her 2013 record. It might be that there's a new contender for Grand Bragging Rights? Ties are always fun, and this category has a three-way tie for second place among chantedor, enhydra lutris and lorell, all at 30 species. But watch out, DarkHawk98 is not that far behind, at 26 with 10 new birds for the month. It looks as if 6412093 may well be one of the first to break a personal record this year - only two more to go. And here's to barbwires - we wish her many spring migrants!
Missing common birds in Suburbia belong to lorell, who has yet to see a Robin, and to AZ Sphinxmoth, who hasn't seen the most ubiquitous of the Yardbird species, the American Crow.
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WATERFRONT
1(tie). matching mole (78, 79) ... Tallahassee FL ... 45
1(tie). political mutt (53, 65) ... Sandhills NC ... 45
2. Milly Watt (67, 75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 41
3. OceanDiver (71) ... Lopez IS WA ... 36
4. nom de plume (new) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 34
5. Mark Sumner (69) ... Hillsboro, MO ... 31
6. Polly Syllabic (100, 102) ... Gooseville WI ... 30
7. Dr. Arcadia (78) ... thumb of MI ... 26
8. wood gas (new) ... Prince of Wales IS AK ... 24
Here's another tie, this one for Waterfront First between matching mole and political mutt. Note that both of them reside in the southeast quadrant of the country. The next three places go to, Milly Watt with 41, OceanDiver with 36 and nom de plume with 34. Note that all three of them reside in the northwest quadrant of the country. The center of the country is represented by the next three places, Mark Sumner (31) in mid-country, and Polly Syllabic (30) and Dr. Arcadia (26) at what looks to be similar latitudes north of there. wood gas, at 24, isn't far behind, even as he claims the most northern location in the race. Location. Location. Location.
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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 4th tally of the 2014 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! You all know what to do. Today ended up being far busier than I'd anticipated, so carry on, and I'll be back in the late afternoon PDT.
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"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Green Diary Rescue has been good to Backyard Science, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-Kos groups.
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, 2014. 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, but wandering peafowl are fair game.
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