Welcome to the 2014 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the 6th 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 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
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Two new participants jumped in last tally: Dave in Northridge, who will be reporting in from the new College Campus category; and profewalt, who immediately jumped into the Suburban lead. Welcome! 31 people have sent in at least one report so far this year, our best year since the race started.
Please thank Milly Watt, for updating everyone's April sightings in the Yardbird Birdlist spreadsheet, and let me know via kosmail if you'd like to join the recording effort, or if you might like to play around with the info we've got so far.
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.
Sorry for the brevity of this month's tally. What's here is what I had before my computer died midweek. Computer is in the shop. I'm working from a borrowed and rather awkward device.
Here's where we stand:
URBAN ATTACHED
1. lineatus (44) ... San Francisco, CA ... 20
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COLLEGE CAMPUS
1. Dave in Northridge ... West San Fernando Valley, CA ... 7
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APARTMENT OR CONDO
1. Benny Toothpick (27)... Carrboro, NC ... 28 (new personal record!)
2. aaroninsandiego (21)... San Diego CA ... 16
3. Lenny Flank (new) ... St Pete, FL ... 7
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RURAL <5ACRES
1 (tie). PHScott ... (32, 38) ... west of Tallahassee ... 38 (new personal record!)
1 (tie). most awesome nana (48)... NE PA ... 38
1 (tie). Attack Gardener (new) ... Saratoga County NY ... 38
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RURAL >5ACRES
1. burnt out (73, 75)... middle MO ... 49
2. ninety wt (new) ... central MS ... 25
3. Joieau (new) ... W. North Carolina ... 19
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URBAN DETACHED
1. bwren (50, 41)... Seattle WA ... 31
2. greycat (new)... Portland, OR ... 30
3. billybush (35)... Omaha NE ... 14
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SUBURBAN
1. profewalt (new) ... South NJ ... 67
2. AZ Sphinxmoth (43)... Baja, AZ ... 61
3. lorell (36) ... Sugarland, TX ... 38
4. chantedor (46) ... Paradise, CA ... 36
5. DarkHawk98 (new)... Bella Vista AR ... 33
6. enhydra lutris (40, 47) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 31
7. 6412093 (20)... NW Oregon ... 23 (new personal record!)
8. barbwires (24) ... Alexandria VA ... 14
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WATERFRONT
1. political mutt (53, 65) ... Sandhills NC ... 81
2. Polly Syllabic (100, 102) ... Gooseville WI ... 70
3 (tie). Dr. Arcadia (78) ... thumb of MI ... 59
3 (tie). Mark Sumner (69) ... Hillsboro, MO ... 59
4 (tie). Milly Watt (67, 75) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 57
4 (tie). matching mole (78, 79) ... Tallahassee FL ... 57
5. nom de plume (new) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 46
6. OceanDiver (71) ... Lopez IS WA ... 40
7. wood gas (new) ... Prince of Wales IS AK ... 35
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I'd hoped to make some maps showing first sighting dates for race participants, but only got as far as getting everyone on a map. Here it is:
Hmm... The coasts are well represented, as well as the region east of the Mississipi, but there's a vast empty space running from the southern tip of Texas up through the flat and square states. Maybe we can noodge some birders from those regions to join in?
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!
I'll be away next month. Anyone game for getting the July tally up?
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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 morning, though probably not before 9AM PDT, and into the early afternoon.
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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