Thanks Pudge, I'll have to get out the binoculars and get the kids counting. Last year oldest DS had brought home a little sheet to record how many and what type of birds he saw on this weekend, and then I think it was the secretary at school that sent in all the data for them. Maybe he'll bring another one home today.

As of mid-day Monday the 16th: Statistics from 2009 Total Checklists Submitted: 40,226 Total Species Observed: 560 Total Individual Birds Counted: 4,562,363 Updated: February 16, 2009 11:55:10 AM EST Today is the last day of the count, but data will continue to pour in for a few weeks as people get around to processing their counts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Besides counting birds at my feeders, I've been out visiting the local salt marsh and other neighborhood bird haunts. I also went down to the Cape Cod Canal to see what was floating and feeding in the canal. There were several Red-breasted Mergansers swimming and diving in the water - a very jaunty looking bird with a huge cowlick on the back of the head. Also a few Common Eiders, the males looking almost like they were spread with marshmallow Fluff. Walking in the neighborhood I ran into the local flock of Helmeted Guineafowl feeding in someone's yard. I wrestled with the idea of trying to submit the count to GBBC, but decided it wouldn't be legitimate. The guineafowl range freely during the day, but I'm sure they're brought into a barn at night. Too many predators around. Claire

I just started Project FeederWatch this season. I count on Sunday-Mondays, and actually look forward to those days. Although I like to count on a fixed schedule, it can be more flexible if necessary. The maximum frequency for those who submit data online is 2 days/week. For those who submit data on a paper form, it's 2 days every 2 weeks. As for the minimum frequency, the instructions only say "Your data are valuable even if you were only able to count on a few occasions". You can count intermittently throughout the 2 day period, or sit there and watch constantly. You estimate the total cumulative time. This can be less than 1 hour total, or more than 8 hours. If you work full-time, you can count for a bit before and after work. Counting the birds has helped to pass a very cold, snowy and tedious winter. I really enjoy exploring the data that results from these counts too.

I just want to second what Claire posted here! I just posted info about the GBBC on the forum where I "normally" post, the Rocky Mountain Gardening forum, and I'll add it here since it has a couple links with additional info! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just want to let you all know that it's time for another Great Backyard Bird Count! It starts this Friday, Feb 15 and goes for four days, thru Monday, Feb 18. If you want to participate, all you need to do is keep track of what birds you see for at least 15 minutes on any one of those days--or for 10 hours a day on all of those days!--it's up to you--and then report what you've seen on the GBBC site to have them included in the worldwide bird count. You can count in your own backyard--which is what I do--or you can go to any location you want to to do your counting--it might be a nice day for a hike around your nearest reservoir or a walk at your local park! It helps the birds by showing which birds are where, how migration patterns change over time, and which species might be increasing--or declining. In this age of global warming it helps the people who help the birds to know what's going on! Below are links to the email I got about this year's count, and the FAQs page about the bird count. If you don't "normally" watch and identify birds, you can print out a list of the birds most likely to be seen in your area, and there's plenty of identification info to help you! I hope some of you will decide to participate this year, Skybird https://mailchi.mp/cornell/ngu4k6sy7x?e=cb6f4a5944 http://gbbc.birdcount.org/help-faqs/