The FeederWatch Live Bird Cam is back online!

 

 

The FeederWatch Live Bird Cam now boasts HD quality viewing and a new, interactive website. The cam is still hosted by Tammie and Ben Hache in Manitouwadge, Ontario. The Haches invite you to look in on their rotating ensemble of winter birds, including redpolls, grosbeaks, nuthatches, jays, and even the occasional Ruffed Grouse. Each week the cam host posts her Project FeederWatch counts for the week and you can see whether she’s spotted something you missed. The cam is offline during the night (generally 7:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M.)

Project FeederWatch Bird Count for March 28 and 29, 2012

Data entered for Count Site:  welcome wildlife

Weather and Effort: March 28 and 29, 2012
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1:    morning   afternoon Day 2:    morning  afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	1 to 4 hours
Daylight temperature:	11 to 20° C (51 to 68° 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	4
Anna’s Hummingbird	3
Steller’s Jay	1
Western Scrub-Jay	8
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	2
Oak Titmouse	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	1
Spotted Towhee	1
California Towhee	2
White-crowned Sparrow	4
Golden-crowned Sparrow	3
Dark-eyed Junco	3
House Finch	12    (0 with eye disease)

Observations
During the day the Anna’s Hummingbirds fly up and drive each other away from the sugar-water feeder and usually only one bird drinks at a time. The sugar-water feeder has six feeding ports. The hummingbirds’ behavior changes during the late afternoon. As the birds drink sugar-water, preparing for the resting night hours they seem less aggressive. Two, three, or four birds feed at the same time.

Project FeederWatch Bird Count for February 1 – 2, 2012

Data entered for Count Site:  welcome wildlife

Weather and Effort: February 1, 2012
When did you watch your feeders?	Day 1:    Day 2:    morning  afternoon
Estimated cumulative time:	Less than 1 hour
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	7
Anna’s Hummingbird	2
Steller’s Jay	1
Western Scrub-Jay	4
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	3
Oak Titmouse	1
California Towhee	2
White-crowned Sparrow	2
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	6
House Finch	13    (0 with eye disease)

FeederWatch Bird Count for January 18 – 19, 2012

Personal Count Summary

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Personal Count Summary for  2011-2012 : welcome wildlife

Species	Maximum number observed during count period	Average group size when seen	Average group size per count period
Alphabetic |Taxonomic	Jan
	18
Mourning Dove	9	9.0	9.0
Anna’s Hummingbird	1	1.0	1.0
Steller’s Jay	1	1.0	1.0
Western Scrub-Jay	4	4.0	4.0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	3	3.0	3.0
Oak Titmouse	1	1.0	1.0
White-breasted Nuthatch	1	1.0	1.0
Bewick’s Wren	1	1.0	1.0
California Towhee	1	1.0	1.0
White-crowned Sparrow	1	1.0	1.0
Golden-crowned Sparrow	3	3.0	3.0
Dark-eyed Junco	9	9.0	9.0
House Finch	20	20.0	20.0
American Goldfinch	3	3.0	3.0
Total species observed	14
Total individuals observed	58

Project FeederWatch Count Summary for Season 2010-2011

This is my Personal Count Summary for  2010-2011 (November 24 – April 7) for my backyard feeders: welcome wildlife

All columns of data are not visible.

Species	Maximum number observed during count period																				Average group size when seen	Average group size per count period
Alphabetic |Taxonomic	Nov	Dec					Jan				Feb				Mar					Apr
	24	1	8	15	22	29	5	12	19	26	2	9	16	23	2	9	16	23	30	6
Mourning Dove	12	8	7	5	3	6	4	5	6	4	5	2	6	5	3	6	3	6	4	6	5.3	5.3
Anna’s Hummingbird	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	3	2	2	3	2	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	1.7	1.5
Nuttall’s Woodpecker	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	0.1
Steller’s Jay	3	3	2	3	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2.2	2.2
Western Scrub-Jay	4	6	5	4	4	4	3	2	3	4	6	6	3	2	7	3	3	4	3	4	4.0	4.0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	3	2	2	3	2	2	1	3	3	3	2	4	4	3	1	2	3	4	2	1	2.5	2.5
Oak Titmouse	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1.6	1.6
White-breasted Nuthatch	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	0	2	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	2	1	1.2	1.0
Bewick’s Wren	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	1.2	0.3
Cedar Waxwing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	4.5	0.4
Spotted Towhee	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1.1	0.8
California Towhee	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	2	2	1.4	1.4
Fox Sparrow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1.0	0.1
White-crowned Sparrow	4	4	4	4	3	4	2	2	1	2	3	4	3	2	3	2	5	8	5	4	3.5	3.5
Golden-crowned Sparrow	7	10	6	6	7	4	4	4	2	3	6	5	7	6	7	6	4	10	3	3	5.5	5.5
Dark-eyed Junco	3	4	2	4	5	6	8	2	9	4	6	8	4	6	2	5	3	3	3	1	4.4	4.4
Red-winged Blackbird	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	0.1
House Finch	6	4	4	5	3	12	18	9	6	4	7	7	9	7	9	9	6	13	4	5	7.3	7.3
Lesser Goldfinch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2.0	0.2
American Goldfinch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.0	0.1
Total species observed	14	14	13	13	12	12	12	11	14	12	14	13	14	14	13	13	14	15	14	14
Total individuals observed	49	49	38	41	34	45	47	34	43	32	46	46	47	42	39	42	36	67	37	34

Featured Project FeederWatcher

Anna’s Hummingbirds visit our sugar water feeder year round here in northern California. However, we usually get only one or two hummers at a time.  The most I’ve observed at the feeder on a cold winter day was four birds.

Learn how Kim Vespa of Tehachapi, California, has created a haven for dozens of hummingbirds, all feeding at the same time, and see her video of the commotion.

Kim describes the video as capturing “a typical August morning” outside of her bedroom window, “the noise at the feeders works as the alarm clock.”

As many FeederWatchers have probably observed, hummingbirds tend to be territorial when it comes to their feeding grounds, but Kim captured an intriguing situation where feeding aggression was calmed by the crowd.

Northern Cardinal – Project FeederWatch

This beautiful photo of a Northern Cardinal was taken by Ellie Conover, Saratoga Springs, New York. We don’t have Cardinals in Northern California. The range of this colorful bird is Southern Quebec to the Gulf States, northeast US south through Florida, southwest United States, and Mexico to Belize. The Northern Cardinal is also found in the Hawaiian Islands. Habitat loss in southeastern California, at the edge of the cardinal’s range, may cause the disappearance of the cardinal population there. If you like birds and birdwatching you might enjoy becoming a member of Project FeederWatch. The gift of a Project FeederWatch membership for a bird loving friend or family member is rewarding and educational. Memberships are only $15.00. Give the Gift of FeederWatch Are you looking for a gift for a friend or family member who loves birds? If so, consider sending the gift of FeederWatch. Signing a friend up for Project FeederWatch makes a great gift. In addition to a winter of backyard bird education, the recipient will receive the full FeederWatch research kit including the FeederWatch calendar, the Common Feeder Birds poster, and the FeederWatcher’s Handbook. Your gift recipient will also receive a one-year subscription to BirdScope, the newsletter of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, or BirdWatch Canada, the newsletter of Bird Studies Canada. When you give the gift of FeederWatch, we will send the recipient a note along with the research kit indicating that the kit has been sent as a gift by you.

Hurry for delivery by Christmas It takes about three weeks for kits to arrive in the mail. In order for the gift recipient to receive the FeederWatch research kit by Christmas, you must order by Monday, November 29. To order in the US: Go to our online store and follow the instructions for giving a gift, or call during the day toll free at 1-866-989-2473. To order in Canada: Go to Bird Studies Canada’s online store and select the type of membership you would like. Be sure to click on “Yes I plan on participating in Project FeederWatch” and make a kit selection. Please indicate who the gift is for on the check out page and be sure to add a note in the comment section to personalize your gift. Or call toll free at 1-888-448-2473.

Cool Facts

• Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male.
• Many people are perplexed each spring by the sight of a cardinal attacking its reflection in a window, car mirror, or shiny bumper. Both males and females do this, and most often in spring and early summer when they are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping).
• The male cardinal fiercely defends its breeding territory from other males. When a male sees its reflection in glass surfaces, it frequently will spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder.
• A perennial favorite among people, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states.
• The oldest recorded Northern Cardinal was 15 years 9 months old.

Northern Cardinals eat mainly seeds and fruit, supplementing these with insects (and feeding nestlings mostly insects). Common fruits and seeds include dogwood, wild grape, buckwheat, grasses, sedges, mulberry, hackberry, blackberry, sumac, tulip-tree, and corn. Cardinals eat many kinds of birdseed, particularly black oil sunflower seed. They also eat beetles, crickets, katydids, leafhoppers, cicadas, flies, centipedes, spiders, butterflies, and moths.

 The first introduction of Northern Cardinal to Hawaii took place in 1929, when one of a pair escaped from a cage in Honolulu and its mate was subsequently liberated. This pair was supposedly observed later across the island in Waialua but we suspect other individuals were involved. Between 1929 and 1931 HBAF, the Hui Manu, and other groups released 300-350 additional cardinals from San Francisco on Kaua’i, O’ahu, and Hawai’i Island, from which they apparently spread naturally to colonize all other Southeastern Islands by the 1940-1960s. They are found throughout disturbed lowland forests and gardens, and (less commonly) in native forests up to 2300 m elevation, being most common in dry, open, lowland forests with grassy or shrubby understories.

Project FeederWatch Live Bird Cam

See live birds!

Project FeederWatch Bird Cam
Location:  Grand Junction,CO    FeederWatch Cam hosted by:  David F. Smith & Shanna Rendon
http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/feederwatch-cams/camera/view?cameraID=C100045

Cam Photo gallery
http://picasaweb.google.com/dfsmithgj/FeederWatchCamGallery#

Feed, identify, and count your backyard birds. Join Project FeederWatch.
https://store.birds.cornell.edu/category_s/42.htm

Project FeederWatch Button for Your Blog or Web Site

Introducing FeederWatch buttons for your web site!

Help advertise Project FeederWatch by placing a FeederWatch button on your web site or blog. Find two buttons to choose from (vertical and horizontal) and instructions for linking the buttons to our web site.

My Project FeederWatch 2008-2009 Count Season Summary

The following chart is my personal bird count summary for the 2008-2009 Project FeederWatch count season. It is a bit difficult to read because I had to condense the information and present it as a jpg image.