Welcome to the 2014 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the 7th 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. Please let us know if you'd like to participate but find yourself not fitting into an established category - we'll work out one for you!
The Categories:
~College Campus
~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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Please welcome weezilgirl to the race, who jumped in last time to take over the second place position in the RURAL >5ACRES category. Good start!
Please thank the official tally keepers, Milly Watt, Ocean Diver and Matching Mole, who have done an incredible job getting everyone's numbers logged in each month.
At the end of the last tally in early July the looked like this.
URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus (44) ... San Francisco, CA ... 20
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. Benny Toothpick (27)... Carrboro, NC ... 29 (+1)
2. aaroninsandiego (21)... San Diego CA ... 17 (+1)
3. Lenny Flank (new) ... St Pete, FL ... 12 (+5)
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RURAL <5ACRES
1. PHScott ... (32, 38) ... west of Tallahassee ... 47 (+9)
2 (tie). most awesome nana (48)... NE PA ... 43 (+5)
2 (tie). Attack Gardener (new) ... Saratoga County NY ... 43 (+5)
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73, 75)... middle MO ... 49 (no change)
2. weezlegirl (new) ... OK ... 33 (first report)
3. ninety wt (new) ... central MS ... 25 (no change)
4. Joieau (new) ... W. North Carolina ... 18 (-1???)
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URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50, 41)... Seattle WA ... 42 (+11)
2. greycat (new)... Portland, OR ... 30 (no change)
3. billybush (35)... Omaha NE ... 17 (+3)
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SUBURBAN
1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43)... Baja, AZ ... 69 (+8)
2. profewalt (new) ... South NJ ... 67 (no change)
3. chantedor (46) ... Paradise, CA ... 49 (+13)
4. lorell (36) ... Sugarland, TX ... 42 (+4)
5. enhydra lutris (40, 47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 35 (+4)
6. DarkHawk98 (new)... Bella Vista AR ... 33 (no change)
7. 6412093 (20)... NW Oregon ... 26 (+3)
8. barbwires (24) ... Alexandria VA ... 13 (-1 ???)
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WATERFRONT
1. political mutt (53, 65) ... Sandhills NC ... 84 (+3)
2. Polly Syllabic (100, 102) ... Gooseville WI ... 83 (+13)
3. Dr. Arcadia (78) ... thumb of MI ... 73 (+14)
4. Mark Sumner (69) ... Hillsboro, MO ... 70 (+11)
5. matching mole (78, 79) ... Tallahassee FL ... 67 (+10)
6. Milly Watt (67, 75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 64 (+7)
7. OceanDiver (71) ... Lopez IS WA ... 54 (+14)
8. nom de plume (new) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 53 (+7)
9. wood gas (new) ... Prince of Wales IS AK ... 39 (+4)
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Here's our updated participant map:
And here is some fun with the map. We all seem to find a moment of celebration when the first hummingbird arrives each spring. Yes! Spring is here! Six species of hummingbird have been reported on Yardbird Race tallies this year. Of those, three were noted by ten or more race participants: Anna's, Rufous, and Ruby-throated. I wondered how their arrival months might look like when plotted on the participant map.
So, here are three maps, one for each of the three hummingbirds most commonly seen this year and beginning with the earliest sightings of the year. There's a color code on the lower right side of each map.
Anna's Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbirds have pretty well established themselves over the past 50 years as year round west coast residents. Our sightings concur - the bulk of first sightings were reported in January this year, from southeast Arizona all the way up to northwestern Washington state.
Rufous Hummingbird.
Rufous Hummingbirds were first reported from southeast Arizona and southern California in February this year. By March they'd reached the upper left-hand-corner of the continental US, and in April at least one had made it to our most northern outpost way up in Alaska.
To compare our observations with a larger data set, check the Rufous Hummingbird Migration map at Journey North.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird.Ruby-throats seem to take a bit more time before hitting the road. Our first Ruby-throat sighting this year was in March, down on the eastern coast of Texas, and it took until June before they'd reached the backyards of our most northern participants.
Again, a larger data set for Ruby-throats can be found at Journey North.
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If you haven't done so, check out the new Backyard Bird Racers Group. Everyone who's reported at least one tally this year has been invited, and almost everyone has accepted. Check your Kosmail!
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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 7th tally of the 2014 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! You all know what to do. I'll be here most of the day, though probably not before 9AM 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.
Once again, here are the yard categories:
~College Campus NEW!
~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