Well, the jist is to count the birds in your backyard over a 2 day period... once a week and enter the data on-line... or every second week and submit the data entry through the forms sent to you in the mail. Since the feeder watch has just started, I am not sure if people are still allowed to sign on for this season.
There is more to it though as they want to know a variety of information such as what kind of food you offer the birds, what your area is like for landscaping, vegetation, urban, rural, near any water (lake, stream, pond) and so on. Also, weather conditions need to be recorded... high temp for the watch, low temp for the watch, sunny, rainy, snowing, how long such, if snow or ice is on the ground, and so on.
Yeah, so you keep track of all the species of birds and how many of each, and only enter your highest number of each species.
I actually had been marking on my calendar almost daily who/what I saw in the yard for 2 years prior. So, this PFW came naturally. I have a journal where I enter all the rough information and then use it to my good copies for entry at a later date. It's funny to look back at the last couple winters and re-read my notes, even with my old calendars from 3 to 5 years ago, because they can take me right back to a certain day and memories come in much easier... like Coopers Hawk takes out Pigeon in Henry's backyard (my next door neighbour). Even looking back and seeing on a day "BIG SNOW STORM! 30cm" or a weekend with -30c to -40c windchills and I am back to it in my mind. Or, 3 Red Wings on December 18th in 2008 and Common Grackle who hung around that season until mid-January (I figure he was probably not strong or well enough to do the fly and hung around here until his time came).
It costs $35 per year to do the feeder watch. You get a quarterly newsletter from Bird Studies Canada, a door calendar and occasionally other bits of info. You also get a receipt for income tax purposes. So, even if one doesn't follow through on the PFW part, it is like a donation.
There are some great people at Bird Studies Canada. They are always quick to answer questions.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Rob'in'To »
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