Thursday, February 24, 2011

Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

This past weekend we participated in the 14th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Bird watching is an inexpensive, fun, educational hobby. Most of the pictures this week are from the Backyard Bird Count and feature birds that we don't get to see every day or, in the case of the White-winged Crossbeak, from year to year.


The Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata - is a year around visitor.

One of the 18 different species of birds that we identified during the GBBC this year was this Brown Creeper.


Brown Creeper - Certhia americana - can be found in Cambria County in both winter and summer, depending upon the conditions.


Can you find the Creeper in this shot?
Talk about camouflage!



One of the many Mourning Doves - Zenaida macroura -that visit the feeders.


It's fun to watch a bird of this size try to land on such a short platform like the one on this sunflower feeder.



Male Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens - are at the feeders year round.


Female Downy Woodpecker

It's been two years since this next bird was last reported in the area. According to the area coordinator for the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology, this first time visitor to the feeders at our house is the only White-Winged Crossbill reported in this part of Northern Cambria County this year.


White-Winged Crossbill - Loxia-leucoptera - is usually found far north in Canada in the spruce, pine, and larch forests.


Getting artsey with the White-winged.


This is one of the first photographs I took of the bird when it first showed up at our feeders about a week ago.


A good shot of the crossbill which the bird uses to pull seeds from inside pine cones.


Sharing the sunflower feeder with a Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile-atricapillus - during the Great Backyard Bird Count held from Feb 18 to 21, 2011.


How lucky could we be that the Sharp-shinned Hawk - Accipiter striatus - would show up in time to be counted in the GBBC. Of course, the other birds were unlucky. He's sitting on the sassafras pole that holds several of the feeders.


He spent a few minutes checking out his prospects before flying off.


Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus


Male Red-bellied Woodpecker - I took this shot just seconds before the one below. Usually the male and female don't come to the feeders together but it might be getting close to mating season.


Female Red-bellied Woodpecker


Male Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis - sits in the blowing snow.


The Male Cardinal is checking out the birds eating on the ground underneath the feeders before he decides to take off.


European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris


It's seldom that we get to see the Starlings, but when they do come to the feeders, they are very entertaining. They like to challenge each other to the best position on the suet feeders.


Dancing with the Starlings.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wasn't able to participate in the GBBC this year. Thanks for sharing your terrific shots!

Clark Creery said...

I always look forward to Friday because I then check out Greg's photographs. I wish I was as talented, but having Greg's talent fulfills my day.