To the binoculars! The Great Backyard Bird Count is ON!

Starting tomorrow (Feb 14th) - count your backyard birds and send them into Cornell University's Ornithology Lab. See this thread for more info - including worksheets, identification tools, phone apps and more.

Some birds just WANT to get noticed and will go to ridiculous lengths, like this bluejay with a pompadour!



Don't be surprised if some birds try to bribe you to count them twice...

Man, I haven't seen anything. Super windy and rainy the last few days - everyone has gone into hiding or moved on to better pastures. I am hearing some birds - but nothing like its been the last month when everyone was hanging out stealing the cracked corn that the geese didn't get to.

LOL - just the opposite here! First of all it's like 85 degrees here.

On the first day of the count, I saw two gambel quail in the yard! This is very odd. While quail are prolific here, you hardly ever see them right downtown where I live. The last quail I saw down here was at least 10 years ago.

In addition, there have been plenty of the usual suspects:
--the ubiquitous sparrows
--inca dove
--morning dove
--thrashers
--cow birds
--humming birds
--mocking birds
--verdins
--and my resident flock of peach-faced love birds (originally people's pets who escaped and are now naturalized in downtown Phoenix - there are at least three flocks who visit my yard daily).

And the hens. They would be disappointed if they were not counted! - 4.