Welcome to the 2015 Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race! This is the sixth tally for 2015, and is the official place to post your sightings, ask for help, and brag some if you wish. I'm filling in this month for our fearless leader, bwren, who has been off on some out-of-town adventures (which we hope include opportunities for birding). I also want to wish everyone a Happy Summer!
Here's what the race is all about:
The Daily Kos Backyard Science Yardbird Race is a birding competition where, over the course of one year, participants strive to identify the most bird species - by sight and/or by sound - from the confines of their yards. Everyone is welcome - new birders, experienced birders, and anyone in between. We're a very supportive group and will help as much as we can. If you're not sure about an ID, just do your best to give us a good written description. Images, even mediocre ones, can be a great help, too.There are a number of categories, so that people who live in urban centers don't have to compete against others who have a lot of open space or waterfront views.
The Categories:~Small Town (NEW) ~College Campus ~Urban apartment or condo ~Urban attached (townhouse, rowhouse) ~Urban detached ~Suburban ~Rural <5 acres ~Rural >5 acres ~Waterfront (trumps any of the above...) ~Classroom Project
The rest of the details and fine print can be found on the other side of the splat of orange bird poop way below.###
Welcome back to long-time participant burnt out who reported 75 species for the year so far in the RURAL >5ACRES category. Also, welcome to new participant Meteor Blades who joined in the Apartment category with 5 species.
Here's where we stood after the May 24th tally. As always, please let me know if I've missed something or if anything needs correcting.
SMALL TOWN 1. not4morewars (new) ... central IA ... 7
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APARTMENT OR CONDO 1. jforests (new) ... Berkeley CA ... 32 2. Benny Toothpick (25) ... Hamilton, NY... 29 3. aaroninsandiego (21, 20) ... San Diego CA ... 15 4. Meteor Blades (new) ... South of San Fransisco, CA ... 5
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RURAL <5ACRES 1. cany (new) ... Orange County CA ... 50 2. PHScott ... (32, 38, 48) ... west of Tallahassee ... 38 3. jerseyblue (new) ... Howell NJ ... 36 4. Attack Gardener (49) ... Saratoga County NY ... 34 5. birdfeeder (new) ... Shutesbury MA ... 23 6. most awesome nana (48, 57)... NE PA ... 12
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RURAL >5ACRES 1. burnt out (73, 75, 78) ... mid MO ... 75 2. ninety wt (25) ... central MS ... 24
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URBAN DETACHED 1. bwren (50, 41, 55) ... Seattle WA ... 38 2. gulfgal98 (new) ... NC ... 23 3. mission419 (new) ... Seattle WA ... 19 4. KenBee (new) ... SB CA ... 14 5. billybush (35, 19) ... Omaha NE ... 13 6. DemBeans (new) ... Kansas City MO ... 7
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SUBURBAN
1. AZ Sphinxmoth (43, 73)... Baja, AZ ... 62 2. LICenter (new) ... Suffolk County, LI ... 45 3. lorell (36, 47) ... Sugarland, TX ... 39 4. (tie). chantedor (46, 56) ... Paradise, CA ... 38 4 (tie). enhydra lutris (40, 47, 40) ... Castro Valley NOCA ... 38 5. profewalt (76) ... South NJ ... 25 6. gulfgal98 (new) ... Tallahassee, FL ... 16 final tally in this category for 2015 7. 6412093 (20, 30)... NW Oregon ... 11 8. barbwires (new) ...Alexandria VA ... 6
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WATERFRONT
1. Polly Syllabic (100, 102, 83) ... Gooseville WI ... 88 2. matching mole (78, 79, 76) ... Tallahassee FL ... 78 3. Dr. Arcadia (78, 87) ... thumb of MI ... 66 4. Milly Watt (67, 75, 72) ... Olympic Peninsula WA ... 56 5. OceanDiver (71, 72) ... Lopez IS WA ... 55 6. nom de plume (64) ... Upper Kitsap Peninsula WA ... 54 7. Mark Sumner (69, 80) ... Hillsboro MO ... 34 8. political mutt (53, 65, 91) ... Sandhills NC ... 22
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The 6th Official Tally of the 2015 Backyard Science Yardbird Race is now open! Newcomers and returnees are always welcome. Have fun!
Tally Updates I did the data entry for the tally last month so any errors are my fault. Thank you to OceanDiver who will be doing it for this month's tally!
Here's what you need to report:
Your location, as close as you are comfortable revealing. Your yard category. Number of species seen so far, including your other tallies if you have any. List of birds seen, dated if you wish. Any comments you have about your sightings. ###Some Fun Facts
Collectively, our group of Bird Racers has seen 249 different species so far this year.
The most commonly sighted birds are:
American Crow (29 sightings) American Robin (29) Mourning Dove (28) Dark-eyed Junco (23) House Finch (23)
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"Green Diary Rescue" is posted every Saturday and Wednesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Green Diary Rescue has been good to Backyard Science, so take a minute to recommend, comment, and then link to your other off-dKos groups.