Backyard bird counts sucking!

[Rob'in'To]

This is my 6th or 7th year participating in Project Feeder Watch for Bird Studies Canada.

From November until New Years, counts were okay with 9 to 11 species during watches.  Then January rolls around and the birds have disappeared...  or just about anyways.  I was blaming the Sharp-shin Hawk but even his visits have been up to 10 days apart.  The snow over Christmas week brought some decent numbers in with 6 Cardinals steady but now I am lucky to see one or two a week.

Had a few Redpolls for a brief bit one morning and Sharpie came in and chased 'em all away...  just like the morning with the Evening Grosbeaks.

Just venting here.  

This weekend did pick up as 5 Chickadees came around, 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 4 Juncos and 1 White-breasted Nuthatch the doesn't visit my feeders but seems to go around and steal the little red ones' stashes in the trees.

My overly friendly Pigeon "Pierre" is becoming a regular visitor again without Sharpie or the occasional Coopers.  He sits outside the back door and coos or gets on the BBQ outside the kitchen window and looks in for me.  Flies right to my hand as soon as I put it out for him.

How's others doing with their backyard bird feeding lately?

[Howieh]

Yup, quiet is the word!! Except for about two dozen sparrows it's been really dead around here for weeks. A pair of cardinals and a few juncos show up about once a week but I haven't seen 'my' chickadees for several weeks (very unusual?) and the white throated sparrows that pass through in the fall stayed for only one day so I don't know what's going on. Even the squirrels are scarce. We're in for a bit of a mild spell so it will be interesting to see if some of the MIA's show up!

Btw Rob, how are the budgies doing?

[bronco]

It's my first year doing the Bird Feeder Study and the weekly count has been pretty steady with between 10 and 12 different species showing up - and generally in similar numbers week to week.
House Sparrows have increased to 25+ ..... Cedar Waxwings (13) only once ..... Only one Downy this week ..... House Finches are erratic is the lone Mourning Dove.

[Rob'in'To]

I hate to think this is going to be par for the winters with us.  Last winter was pretty lame too.  

I had one Sparrow show up on Sunday and I was almost excited...  ALMOST...  hahaha!  Happy to have another visitor but you know what I mean.  Eleven Mourning Doves sat on the wire out front and I was hoping they'd come in for a visit but it never happened.

Let's hope your MIA's show up!  

Bronco, you had Cedar Waxwings?  Were they eating anything from your place?  I see them in my 'hood all summer long, of course the feeders don't attract them, but I always hope they will dive into one of the three bird baths I usually have out.  Been trying to plant fruit shrubs for them as another lure of sorts.  I love Waxwings!

Budgies are doing fine.  Had a rough go with the older one, Misfit, back in October.  I thought we were going to lose her!  I blogged about it if you got time to skim it.  Poor girl.  But she is back to great health and we are doing everything we can to avoid this ever happening again.

http://robandtheanimals.blogspot.ca/201 ... -love.html

[Bird Brain]

Rob ... it's been really quiet during January and pretty much low numbers of the "usual".  Hopefully GBBC Feb. 15-18 will be better - 4 days of birding fun!  

[Tak]

Well the warm weather sure has brought everything out today. More than 16 robins in the crabapple tree; about 11 juncoes on the ground; a half dozen or more chickadees; and for the first time in a while, a large flock of house finches. (no, they are not redpolls!) Also  the resident pair of cardinals. No one exotic, just way more at any given time, and huge amounts of activity as they try to tank up before the next cold snap.

[Reuven_M]

I've had the most birds I've ever had at my feeder the past few days, an astounding total of 1 cardinal, 2 juncos and 8-10 chickadees! (The fact that all I have is one feeder usually dominated by squirrels and that the yard backs onto a shopping plaza might have something to do with the always low numbers!)

[winz]

This is my first year in the Feeder Watch project.  I've had 8 to 10 species regularly but 2 weekends ago really sucked, only 6 species, with low numbers. Had 10 species showed up this past weekend, with a flock of starlings, 12 house sparrows, 9 goldfinch, 4 house finch, 2 common redpoll, 2 red breasted nuthatch, 3 chickadee, couple cardinals, couple mourning doves and a dark eyed junco.  Haven't seen the couple downy woodpeckers in a while nor the cooper hawk.

[Rob'in'To]

A couple weekends ago I had a ZERO count for one of my days.  A first ever since starting this PFW.  

[Axeman]

It's always the usual suspects for me: chickadees, juncos, blue jays, cardinals, downy and hairy woodpeckers, white and red breasted nuthatches, and on occasion, some winters, an American tree sparrow.....during the warm stretch we had goldfinches...sometimes a solitary mourning dove....

Numbers are good.

Any unusual sightings this year?

[Rob'in'To]

We had 5 Evening Grosbeaks before Christmas.  And a couple weeks ago 3 Redpolls showed up.  But Sharp-shin broke up both parties.  Bugger!