No snow here on the far east coast - that big Valentine's Day storm was sleet, frreezing rain and then just a deluge of rain with strong winds off the bay. I'm counting today and just waiting to see if more mourning doves sneak in as it gets dark. It's very windy and a few of my regulars have not appeared (tufted titmice and the robin). I'll probably count again one day this weekend to try to get all the species I know are out there. Maybe even the Cooper's Hawk. Claire

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.

I just got a reminder email about the GBBC: "Project FeederWatch Electronic Newsletter February 12, 2007 The tenth annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is coming up February 16-19. Help create a mid-winter snapshot of where the birds are by counting birds at any location for at least 15 minutes on one or more of the count days. Last year, participants recorded more than 7.5 million birds of 622 species across the United States and Canada and submitted 60,503 checklists, just a few hundred shy of an all-time record! Help put your birds and your community on the map. Enter your tallies on the Great Backyard Bird Count web site to share your results and to be automatically entered in a prize drawing for binoculars, bird books, bird feeders, and more. Visit http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc to see the results, view the photo gallery, or enter your counts. If your Project FeederWatch (PFW) count days fall during the GBBC, you must send your tallies to the GBBC web site in addition to PFW if you want to see your numbers to appear in the GBBC results for your locality and state. The rules for counting for the Great Backyard Bird Count are a little different than for FeederWatch. For the Great Backyard Bird Count you can report any birds you see, even those birds flying overhead that don't count for FeederWatch. You can also submit a separate checklist for each locale on every day that you count. Thanks for your help in letting us know where the birds are during the GBBC weekend! ********************************************************** " Claire

The Great Backyard Bird Count Feb 13-16, 2015 About Claire