Birding

So along with loving my garden, I love what flies into my garden as well.  I am a bit of a bird geek and love seeing what birds I can attract and what they do in my backyard.  Well my good friend told me about the Great Backyard Bird Count that is happening this weekend and I participated yesterday and today.  Today I watched for the birds in my backyard for a lot longer than I did yesterday and had a lot more species to report.  One species that I have never noticed in my backyard also came to visit and I am so excited.  I had 2 Tufted Titmice come steal some of my peanuts from one of my feeders!!  I honestly don't know if I've ever seen one in person before, nevermind in my backyard.  It was pretty exciting.

Along with the count, you can also submit some pictures of your birds that you observed this weekend and enter them into the photo contest.  I entered a picture of a downy woodpecker and one of an american goldfinch. 

While entering the numbers on the GBBC website, they had links to another website where, as a citizen scientist, can enter data on an ongoing basis for the birds observed wherever you happen to be...You can plot charts and graphs and maps and all sorts of cool stuff.  The website is called E-bird and is run through Cornell Lab of Ornithology, so of course, I am all signed up and have some sightings in already :)