Mixed Flock by Carol

Carol took this shot at Mashes Sands. How many species can you pick out?

Sylvia's St Marks pictures

Savannah Sparrow

Wilson's Snipe

Eastern Phoebe

Northern Mockingbird

Great Blue Heron dining on a swamp rat!

Eastern Towhee

Whooping Cranes

Sylvia sent this great picture of the Whooping Cranes arriving at St. Marks last month.

Purple Martins

I already have a full Purple Martin house! I counted over 30 martins last night. It is such a thrill to hear them sing as they are coming in for the evening. During this early part of the season, they seem to hang around the house until about noon, then leave to feed and possibly recruit other martins. They return just before dusk. Nest building will begin soon in preparation for egg laying. I pre-built their nests with pine straw, but they will add to that and rearrange to their liking, with a final topping of green leaves.

Here are some pictures of the season so far.

Thomas Wiatt

Ice birds

We turned on the water last night so our pipes wouldn’t freeze and it made for some nice photos. As I was taking the photos out the front window I heard the Carolina Wren singing and got these from the little window out my door. His singing was so cool!

Thank you,

Kimberly Chason

Backyard photos by Amalia

Orange-crowned Warbler

American Robin

Eastern Phoebe

Carolina Wren

Northern Mockingbird

Cedar Waxwings

I had a flock of cedar waxwings visiting my front garden for about a week..It's a good thing they are pretty because they are quite messy!

Pam Flynn

The Purple Martins are back!

We had two scouts on Saturday, one on Monday and several more today. They have been checking out our purple martin house and we hope they are thinking about settling in!


Warren & Rita May

Yellow-throated Warbler

Folks have sent a lot of great pictures to the blog but this has to rank as one of THE best. Thanks to Amalia for this stunning image of a truly beautiful bird. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Rusty Blackbirds

taken by Tara Stevenson in her Tallahassee yard.

Rusty Blackbirds are declining dramatically and Cornell are asking birders to help monitor them. For more info follow the link below

Rusty Blackbirds need our help

Dark-eyed Junco

Carol Miller took this picture of a male junco at Maclay Gardens SP. There have been at least 4 junco's there since early January.

Squirrel Cafe!!

I'm so impressed my husband managed to get a picture. My sister gave me this feeder for Christmas. We didn't have to wait too long for them to find their way to the squirrel cafe.

Robin Yeatman

Recent sightings from Amalia's yard

check out that Ruby Crown!


Red-headed Woodpecker

Orange-crowned Warbler

Myrtle Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Pileated Woodpecker

I read the blog today and I know what you mean about the birds eating a lot. Between all of the Finches, Sparrows, Titmice, Chickadees, Wrens, Robins and Cardinals, I go through a lot of feed but it’s worth it. I get home from a long day at work and there’s nothing like relaxing to all the songs from them and watching them go from feeder to feeder.

Sunday as I was sitting on my porch watching, I caught out of the corner of my eye to see this beautiful Woodpecker. I grab my camera and tried to get as close as I could to get a photo. Stepping on all the leave in my yard and making noise, I could only get about 20 feet from her and she’d fly away. But at least I got one. I also got one of a Robin chilling in a tree.

Kim Chason


Pileated Woodpecker

American Robin

APALACHEE AUDUBON TOUR OF YARDS 2009

FOR MORE INFORMATION THIS EXCITING EVENT CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK.

http://apalachee.org/Events_Calander/aa20090221.html

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED

GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT 2009

LETS GO FOR NUMBER 1 IN 2009 TALLAHASSEE!

2008 RESULTS

Localities Submitting the Most Checklists

Rank	City	Checklists
1	Charlotte, North Carolina	493
2	Mentor, Ohio	460
3	Tallahassee, Florida	437
4	Richmond, Virginia	359
5	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	326
6	Durham, North Carolina	294
7	Cincinnati, Ohio	282
8	Virginia Beach, Virginia	271
9	Knoxville, Tennessee	264
10	Birmingham, Alabama	258
Statistics updated 11-Feb-2008 14:11 ET

Localities Reporting the Most Species

Rank	City	Species
1	Corpus Christi, Texas	185
2	Savannah, Georgia	166
3	Rockport, Texas	165
4	Tallahassee, Florida	151
5	Lakeport, California	142
6	Jacksonville, Florida	139
7	Mission, Texas	137
8	Saint Petersburg, Florida	135
9	Weslaco, Texas	134
10	Wilmington, North Carolina	133
Statistics updated 11-Feb-2008 14:11 ET

Localities Reporting the Most Birds

Rank	City	Individuals
1	Yakima, Washington	299,102
2	Smithville, Missouri	243,160
3	Dugger, Indiana	217,020
4	Mannington Mills, New Jersey	150,403
5	Clewiston, Florida	143,748
6	Woodstown, New Jersey	130,981
7	Parsons, Kansas	102,709
8	Ashburn, Virginia	101,735
9	Tallahassee, Florida	76,113
10	Willard, Utah	50,956
Statistics updated 11-Feb-2008 14:11 ET

2009 GBBC News Release

September 23, 2008

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 (202) 861-2242, Ext 3050.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

The old saying goes...

The birds are eating us out of house and home! It's not quite that bad but it seems I'm going through more food this winter than in any previous in the 4+ years we have lived in our current home. I am putting out bark butter and grape jelly on a daily basis and I estimate I'm going through about 5lb of bird seed every week not including millet and nyjer. The orioles are providing us with great entertainment and the lone siskin is taking no nonsense from the very aggressive goldfinches who are competing for his perch on the nyjer feeder.

Andy


Pine Siskin

Chipping Sparrow

Carolina Wren at dawn

American Goldfinch

Gulls and Pipits by Carol

Carol captured this shot of 2 American Pipits at Lake Lafayette in Tallahassee. She went to St. George Island last week and got the following pictures of gulls.

Herring Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull