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Weather and Effort: November 26, 2008
When did you watch your feeders?
Day 1: morning afternoon
Day 2: morning afternoon
Estimated cumulative time: 1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature: 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low
11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high
Daylight precipitation: Rain 3 to 6 hours
Total depth of ice/snow cover: None
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
Mourning Dove 5
Anna’s Hummingbird 2
Western Scrub-Jay 1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
Oak Titmouse 1
California Towhee 2
White-crowned Sparrow 8
Golden-crowned Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 6
House Finch 4 (0 with eye disease)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee eating suet.
The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is a friendly bird that will fly up to grab a seed while I’m filling my feeders. This bird will even take seed from my hand.
The common chickadee of the Pacific Coast, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee is the smallest member of its family in America. It lacks a whistled song, but makes up for this deficiency by the complexity of its “chick-a-dee” calls.
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small, short-billed bird.
- Brownish black cap.
- Black bib.
- White cheeks.
- Back deep rufous-chestnut.
- Size: 10-12 cm (4-5 in)
- Wingspan: 19 cm (7 in)
- Weight: 7-12 g (0.25-0.42 ounces)
Sexes look alike.
Cool Facts
- The Chestnut-backed Chickadee uses lots of fur in making its nest, with fur or hair accounting for up to half of all the material in the hole. The hair from rabbits, coyote, and deer is most common, but hair from skunks, cats, horses, or cows will be used as well. The adults make a layer of fur about 1 cm (0.4 in) thick that they use to cover the eggs when they leave the nest.
- Hole-nesting birds tend to have higher nest success rates than open-cup nesters, but that doesn’t mean that they are immune to predation. Chestnut-backed Chickadee nests get attacked by a number of predators, including mice, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and even black bears.
- The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is not truly migratory, but it does make some seasonal movements. In late summer some birds move to higher elevations up mountains. They move back to lower elevations when winter starts. In some winters, some chickadees will make local movements out of areas with deep snow.
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
My first bird count for the 2008-2009 Project FeederWatch counting season!
| Weather and Effort: November 19, 2008 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None – - |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 3 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 |
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 1 |
| Steller’s Jay | 1 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 1 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 3 |
| Oak Titmouse | 2 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| California Towhee | 1 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 5 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 2 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 4 |
| House Finch | 8 (1 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 2 (0 with eye disease) |
Photo of Nuttall’s Woodpecker courtesy of Project FeederWatch
A Nuttall’s Woodpecker visited my count site Wednesday, November 19 although it did not eat from a feeder. I almost identified it as a Downy Woodpecker because they are the same size and have similar black and white plumage. However, the Nuttall’s Woodpecker has a mottled or spotted underside.
Nuttall’s is a small woodpecker confined primarily to the oak woodlands of California. Although Nuttall’s Woodpeckers are nearly confined to oak woodlands, they do not eat acorns.
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
We have a 25 year old privet tree in our backyard. Up until a few days ago it was over 30 feet tall. This tree provided shade over part of our yard and deck and shelter for our backyard birds. It is near my bird feeders and the birds fly back and forth from the feeders to the tree.
Every winter the Cedar Waxwings flock to the privet tree in our backyard to devour the blue-black berries on our tree. They usually stay for only one or two days, feast, and then they are gone until the next winter. A few American Robins compete with the waxwings for the berries. I welcome the waxwings and enjoy watching them, and I’m always in awe over their beautiful plumage.
These are photos of Cedar Waxwings visiting our backyard last winter. (These photos do not do them justice.)
This tree has tiny white flowers in the spring and has a beautiful canopy shape. The birds love the abundance of berries during the winter when food is scarce.
I feel a little sad about cutting back the branches on the tree because we may not see any Cedar Waxwings this winter when they find their favorite tree has no berries. They won’t bother to stop by our yard as they search for food. I don’t know if the same birds find they way back to our tree each year or whether or not they somehow remember the tree full of berries in our backyard. This is amazing bird behavior at its best!
The one unfavorable attribute of this tree is that the berries are plentiful and have a very high germination rate. Many of the seeds drop to the ground, germinate, and begin growing into tiny little trees. They are in my lawn, my flower beds, my planters, and my garden. The only way to keep them from taking over is to pull out the little seedlings, a very time consuming task. So this fall we got out our 10 foot ladder and started sawing away at the branches. We sawed a few branches each week so we could cut up the large limbs and dispose of them and completed the task last week. So all that remains is a trunk and several large limbs as you can see in the picture above. Leaves are already beginning to grow from the ends of the limbs so I know the tree is alive and well! Another reason for cutting back the tree over a several week period.
Here is a photo of how the berries looked on our tree. The ends of every branch were covered with berries.
I’m waiting to see if a few Cedar Waxwings wonder into our backyard this winter in seach of food. They won’t find the usual feast that they are used to finding. I’m not sure how many years until the tree begins to produce berries again. I will definitely miss seeing the flock of magnificent birds!
The next Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 13-16, 2009. The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are calling on everyone to “Count for Fun, Count for the Future!”
Participants did just that in record numbers for the 2008 count, submitting more than 85,000 checklists and identifying 635 species. Let’s break some more records this year!
GBBC news release posted on the web site. You’ll also find an updated version of the slide show for use in GBBC workshops and other events.
GBBC Ambassadors Needed
As always, we rely on volunteer ambassadors to help spread the word about the GBBC and engage more people in their communities. Your contribution could be as simple as hanging up a few flyers or as ambitious as pitching the event on local radio and TV stations. You can use the new
For more ideas on how to promote the GBBC, check out Get Involved on the GBBC website. You can fill out the online ambassador sign-up form and specify the kinds of activities you’d like to do.
JOIN THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
Count for Fun, Count for the Future
New York, NY and Ithaca, NY—Bird and nature fans throughout North America are invited to join tens of thousands of everyday bird watchers for the 12th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), February 13-16, 2009.
A joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, this free event is an opportunity for families, students, and people of all ages to discover the wonders of nature in backyards, schoolyards, and local parks, and, at the same time, make an important contribution to conservation. Participants count birds and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.
“The Great Backyard Bird Count benefits both birds and people. It’s a great example of citizen science: Anyone who can identify even a few species can contribute to the body of knowledge that is used to inform conservation efforts to protect birds and biodiversity,” said Audubon Education VP, Judy Braus. “Families, teachers, children and all those who take part in GBBC get a chance to improve their observation skills, enjoy nature, and have a great time counting for fun, counting for the future.”
Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts, by counting birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and reporting their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. Participants can also explore what birds others are finding in their backyards—whether in their own neighborhood or thousands of miles away. Additional online resources include tips to help identify birds, a photo gallery, and special materials for educators.
The data these “citizen scientists” collect helps researchers understand bird population trends, information that is critical for effective conservation. Their efforts enable everyone to see what would otherwise be impossible: a comprehensive picture of where birds are in late winter and how their numbers and distribution compare with previous years. In 2008, participants submitted more than 85,000 checklists.
“The GBBC has become a vital link in the arsenal of continent-wide bird-monitoring projects,” said Cornell Lab of Ornithology director, John Fitzpatrick. “With more than a decade of data now in hand, the GBBC has documented the fine-grained details of late-winter bird distributions better than any project in history, including some truly striking changes just over the past decade.”
Each year, in addition to entering their tallies, participants submit thousands of digital images for the GBBC photo contest. Many are featured in the popular online gallery. Participants in the 2009 count are also invited to upload their bird videos to YouTube; some will also be featured on the GBBC web site. Visit www.birdcount.org to learn more.
Businesses, schools, nature clubs, Scout troops, and other community organizations interested in the GBBC can contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473), or Audubon at citizenscience@audubon.org or (215) 355-9588, Ext 16.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by support from Wild Birds Unlimited
The 2008-09 season of Project FeederWatch began Saturday, November 8. You can sign up at any time. FeederWatchers keep track of their birds through the winter and report their tallies each week.
Watching birds benefits science, but it can also be a healthy part of your routine. Hundreds of studies have verified that time spent watching nature can reduce stress. Bird watching is an educational hobby for families. Children love learning about birds! So why not slow down and watch the birds? All you need is a birdfeeder with birdseed, an inexpensive pair of binoculars (under $20), and a bird field guide for your part of the US or Canada. Peterson and Sibley write great field guides.
Visit the PFW web site to learn more and to sign up. New participants receive a kit with a handbook, a bird-identification poster, calendar, and instruction booklet. There is a $15 fee ($12 for Lab members.) If you live in Canada, please visit our partner, Bird Studies Canada or call (888) 448-2473.
American Robin Eggs
Ian Fleming, consummate birder, best known as the author who penned the James Bond novels. Fleming borrowed the name James Bond from the author of Birds of the West Indies and named his Jamaican estate Goldeneye, after the duck and the code name for a World War II undercover mission.
Agatha Christie, whose Miss Marple character, like her, never ventured far without binoculars – Christie to watch birds, Marple to detect criminal behavior.
Abraham Lincoln, whose tenderness for bird life was exemplified one day when riding with two other attorneys through the countryside. He came upon a fallen robin’s nest with forlorn chicks. He promptly dismounted, cradled the nest in his hands, climbed the tree, and replaced the nest. To his colleagues he said, “Gentlemen, I could not have slept tonight, if I had left those helpless little robins to perish in the wet grass.”
Winnie the Pooh, in addition to befriending Owl and other bird friends of the 100-Aker Wood, mused about birds in his famous riddle, “Coddlestone, coddleston, coddleston pie, a fly can’t bird a bird can fly…..”
E. B. Whitekept a Peterson Field Guide handy at his Maine saltwater farm. He wrote several essays about birds, birding, and Peterson’s field guide for the New Yorker. He also expressed his fascination for birds in Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. In the field, around the house, in the barn, in the woods, in the swamp – everywhere love and songs and nests and eggs.”
George Plimpton, author, explorer, and birder extraordinaire. He and his sister, Sarah, developed lifelong interests in birds as teenagers birding in Florida; George even mounted a quest in search for the Imperial Woodpecker in Mexico.
From a letter from John Fitzpatrick
Louis Aqassiz Fuertes Director
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
