The bird counts have not gone well. We've had little snow this winter, since the 25.5" we got in October. All of that melted, and we have had precious little snow since then. Last weekend, we had several inches of packed snow still left over the ground; the only open spots were where we had shoveled/plowed, and just over the septic tank. It got warm enough during the week,that even most of that has melted (we actually had mud in the pathways yesterday).
The Audubon birdcount of last weekend netted a whole 13 birds of 5 species. So far for the GBBC, I have 5 birds of 3 species. Okay, I will admit that I forgot about this weekend's bird count, so didn't watch Friday, and didn't start watching until late afternoon yesterday. But I'm guessing that really, that has almost no bearing on the count so far. The bird feeders are rarely visited. And it's not that I miss seeing lots of birds (I've never seen bunches at a time), but that I've missed the flurry of activiby at the feeders. In fact, even with the squirrels making forays onto the deck, I rarely have to fill the feeders (every 2-3 weeks). Even the Blue Jays don't come out for their bread crumbs and peanuts - they are left on the platform feeder for days.
Well, an easy winter on us, means an easier winter for the birds, deer and other wildlife, so I shouldn't complain. Iy just seems lonelier without the birds flitting around
We had 14 species Friday and 15 Saturday. Only noteworthy sightings were a belted kingfisher on Friday and a brown creeper Saturday.
Posted by: Cop Car | February 19, 2012 at 10:20 AM
BTW: Our summer and fall were so dry that our vegetation set on berries very sparsely - the few were long ago stripped. Thus, we are being extra vigilant about getting the food out for all of our wildlife - whether we get to see them or not. Noteworthy sighting today was a sharp-shinned hawk.
Posted by: Cop Car | February 19, 2012 at 05:48 PM