Is anyone here participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02...

I might do that, ssg, because I'm participating in Cornell's Project Feeder Watch and can do counts for both at the same time.
They're great reasons to sit down and watch birds for awhile.

Mark spotted a bluebird on our feeder today! I have a very blurred picture of it from the back to prove it, not worth the bytes to post it lol. But it was a little treat for us.

If I knew how to identify birds, I'd do it too! I get quite a variety of species in my backyard but I can only identify maybe a handful.

Funny Sally we were sure that we saw a BB a couple of weeks ago during that big storm, pretty sure we saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, too.
Here are a few pics from yesterday

SSG, me too on the bird id. Can only identify a few, but one of these days I'll make an effort to learn

If you have an Android device, Audubon Birds is a very nice app which is quite inexpensive - I think less than $10. It allows you to ID birds based on appearance and location, and to then save them back to a specific list. I have lists for my backyard, the PNW coastline, eastern Washington, Florida, the SW desert, and other areas we've traveled to. One of my favorite features is once you enter the characteristics, it will bring up several possibilities. You can then choose the one closest to what you think you saw, and if that is incorrect, there is a button to click to show 'similar birds' -- this helps me immensely. It also has recorded songs for each bird.

Deb, I just looked up the Audubon Birds app and it's available on iPhones a well. It has great reviews!

I don't usually have trouble iding them, I just can't see the darn things well enough to tell their markings. Unless they have distinctive coloring or shape all I see are little brown birds. I see enough detail to id a chickadee, titmouse, blue jay, cardinal, and a house finch but that's about it. To tell if it has a crossbeak or grosbeak, nada.

nice pictures!

good suggestion, Deb

Bluebirds are indeed a treat! I haven't seen very many this winter compared with last, but I'm hoping to get a nesting pair again in the spring.

Ric, I had problems seeing the markings on birds in the upper part of my yard until finally, after years of giving what I thought were very big hints, I finally got a really nice pair of binoculars for Christmas. I can see everything up there now, right down to individual seeds in the feeder.

I have a good pair too. I just find it a pain to use them with my glasses. If I adjust them for not wearing my glasses everyone that picks them up thinks they're going blind.
I actually prefer to use the camera with the telephoto lens, but that's more trouble than it's usually worth unless I have it set-up before hand.

Our blue bird came back today and brought the missus

Hope you get new tenants.

PHEW!
I just read this whole thread! The problem when I find one id that it is 10 miles long.

SS--here is a link to back-yard birds. I looked this up because my daughter, Benita, is getting
quite intereted in bird feeding.

The first link is very good.

http://www.wildbirds.com/Ident...

http://www.birdwatchersdigest....

http://feederwatch.org/wp-cont...

Thanks for the links, Gita! Btw, you don't have to read every comment before posting yours. Unless you want to, of course!

You are welcome, SS. These links have very good pictures to ID birds.

I know---i don't have to read the whole Thread--but I wanted to. So many interesting stories....

This is MY problem.....not having followed it all along--and now 'finding it", I wanted to catch up.

Thanks to you for your advice--again.... Gita

Any fishermen/women in our group?

Avoid locally caught fish! https://www.washingtonpost.com...

"Specifically, these fish contain elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, a man-made chemical long banned in the United States that has been linked to cancer and other adverse health effects."

How are the fish high in these "long banned" chemicals?

PCBs last darn near forever. They were used in household items, like the ballast in old florescent lights. They were also used in oils to help cool them. Many are present in old style landfills and used oil put on parking areas and dirt roads to quell dust. PCBs trapped in soils slowly leach out into watersheds and continue to contaminate waterways. Fish bio-accumulate them in their fats as they grow. The only way I know of to destroy PCBs, is burn them at high temperature incinerators. Many sportsmen take care in filleting their fish to remove the fats as an extra precaution.