Dawn Chorus: My Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an occasion that happens yearly over the President’s Day weekend in February. The major sponsors are the Cornell Lab, Audubon, Birds Canada, and Wild Birds Unlimited. In a nutshell, it’s a calling-all-birders factor the place birders everywhere in the world exit and rely as many chicken species as is humanly potential over the course of 4 days. It’s tremendous geeky, when you ask me.

So, why do I even take part on this occasion? You all know I don’t hold a operating “life list” besides in my empty head. Whenever it’s that point of the month and now we have the Backyard Bird Race, I shrug. But if you realize me effectively, you realize I’m a little bit aggressive. Not tremendous aggressive in an annoying means, however simply annoying sufficient to bother my spouse, which is the purpose. So, this GBBC provides me an outlet. Plus it’s an outside exercise, it includes nature, and it’s a bit sciencee (knowledge!).

To give my GBBC some limits and objectives, I chosen my county, Snohomish County, as my geographic boundary. The purpose was to rely extra chicken species than every other birder inside my county. Let me let you know, there are some critical birders right here in SnohoCo. You know those. They’re all the time posting their checklists on eBird. They’re all the time those to publish the uncommon chicken sightings, after which hold posting it as “continuing.” They’ve seen extra chicken species in your county than you’ll ever hope to see in your lifetime. You know the folks I’m speaking about, proper? Nothing provides me extra pleasure than to be the darkish horse that exhibits up out of nowhere on the highest counts. Who is that this man? It’s me, lol!

I formulated a unfastened plan of attack, topic to alter, primarily based on climate and private obligations. Loosely, the plan was and turned out to be:

Day 1 — Friday:  Edmonds – waterfront and the home patch

Day 2 — Saturday:  The Seattle RV Show, a private obligation to my spouse

Day 3 — Sunday:  Sprague’s Pond (Lynnwood), Ebey Waterfront Trail (Marysville), Norman Road (Silvana), and Leque Island (Stanwood)

Day 4 — Crescent Lake WMA (Monroe), Heirman Wildlife Preserve (Snohomish), Snohomish Wastewater Treatment Plant, and again to Edmonds to bat cleanup

Here had been the highest 10 hotspots for Snohomish County in the course of the four-day GBBC. I hit 4 of them as highlighted.

The prime hotspot, Tulalip Bay is access restricted alongside most of it’s shoreline to tribal members and residents. Boo. There is one critical birder who lives there alongside Tulalip Bay and is all the time reporting on eBird.

Here’s the way it went down:

Day 1 — Edmonds

I spent the entire day alongside the Edmonds shoreline that included an expedition on foot into the Edmonds Marsh alongside some newly created trails. I bookended the day, morning and night, with my home patch sightings. The climate was sunny with a slight chill within the air. The birding highlights had been the massive flocks of Brant resting on the offshore waters or flying to new eelgrass feeding grounds. An actual thrill was recognizing a Cooper’s Hawk on the Marsh. Conspicuously absent and never noticed had been House Finches and House Sparrows, two quite common birds on the waterfront that I can all the time rely on so as to add to my species quantity.  I do know precisely the place they hang around, too. A complete of 9 checklists for the day.

Let’s have a look at Day 1 in pictures.

Day 2 — Seattle RV Show

I can’t complain about today that I spent with my spouse, consuming good meals, and ending up walking 12 miles throughout Seattle. No RV, however enjoyable to have a look at and other people watch. We’ve nearly concluded that for the value of an RV, we will purchase numerous nights in a lodge.

Day 3 — Sprague’s Pond, Ebey Waterfront Trail, Norman Road, and Leque Island

This was surely my finest and most enjoyable day of the GBBC, visiting my favourite hotspots. First cease was Sprague’s Pond, which is about three miles from home. The setting is suburbia, however this pond all the time delivers as indicated by it’s tenth position within the GBBC hotspot checklist. My purpose was to identify a Hooded Merganser and a Pied-billed Grebe. And it delivered, thanks very a lot. Moving on.

Next up was the Ebey Waterfront Trail. The path is a paved path that follows Ebey Slough for a pair miles and likewise passes the Marysville sewage ponds. The habitats the path passes are diverse: riverine, riparian, tidal estuary, marsh, shrubs, bushes, plus the sewer ponds that had been jam-packed with Lesser Scaups and Ring-necked Ducks, plus a number of different geese. I picked up 27 species on this walk.  The spotlight was recognizing a Northern Shrike and a White-throated Sparrow (my new favourite sparrow, for now). There had been a number of Northern Harriers flying low. Some photograph highlights:

Next cease was a sluggish cruise alongside Norman Road by way of the Stilliguamish River Valley, home to dairy and beef farms, and a primary winter spot for swans. They had been right here, all Trumpeters so far as I may inform. There had been additionally a whole lot of American Wigeons out within the fields. There was a very good likelihood of recognizing a Eurasian Wigeon among the many crowd, and I did. As I used to be slowly cruising alongside and stopping to look, a farmer got here by in his truck and rolled down his window. So, we chatted for a protracted whereas. The human aspect is a part of the enjoyable and I get pleasure from a chance to work together with one other human, particularly one of many locals.

The final cease of Day 3 was Leque Island, the place I hoped to see some shorebirds, particularly Dunlin. But, no Dunlin. There had been a whole lot of Green-winged Teal out on the mudflats. But no Eurasian Teals amongst them. There had been folks to speak with. A young couple that jogged my memory a lot of my spouse and I earlier than youngsters. They had been pleasant to speak with, having simply moved to the realm from someplace again east. Farther alongside, I noticed a distant shorebird, attempting to resolve what it was, whether or not it was a Lesser or Greater Yellowlegs. An even younger couple, clearly birders, got here as much as me and we figured we had been each trying on the identical chicken attempting to establish it. We pulled out our telephones and scrolled although the Merlin ID widget. We concluded that it was a Lesser Yellowlegs. They had been down from Vancouver BC and simply as pleasant to speak with as the primary couple.

Here are the Day 3 checklists.

Day 4 — Crescent Lake Wildlife Management Area, Heirman Wildlife Preserve, Snohomish Wastewater Treatment Plant, and again to Edmonds

By Day 4, I didn’t have a Steller’s Jay on my rely. As luck would have it, a lone Jay confirmed up within the morning on the home feeder.  The day appeared like rain would present up later. The plan was to begin at Crescent Lake WMA out by Monroe and perhaps spot some owls and woodpeckers. When I pulled up, there was a small flock of swans out within the fields. I wanted a Tundra Swan for my rely. And there among the many Trumpeters was a handful of Tundra Swans with the unmistakable yellow cheek patch. As I wandered among the many tall bigleaf maples, I performed again some owl and woodpecker sounds on Merlin. No luck.

Next cease was Heirman Wildlife Preserve. There had been a number of geese there and different birds that I had already clocked. So, I headed over to the Snohomish Wastewater Treatment Plant. Same deal, identical geese and birds. My subsequent cease was to be Homeacres Road, fifth within the county species seen checklist for the GBBC. But the rain was coming down in earnest, so I made a decision to move for home.

The rain let up later within the day, so I made a decision to move again out to the Edmonds waterfront to see if I may add extra species, particularly a House Sparrow and a House Finch, my obvious nemesis birds for the GBBC. There is a hedgerow alongside the waterfront walkway the place House Sparrows reliably hang around. Sure sufficient, I discovered them. Next I wandered over to the shrubby space by the ferry dock the place House Finches hang around. There had been a number of there. So, I chalked up one other two species to my rely.

After chalking up my two nemesis birds, I headed over to the pier. Just perhaps I might spot some Black Turnstones and Surfbirds on the breakwater. Nope, not there. As I used to be scanning the breakwater, I couple got here by, tremendous critical birders by the look — scopes mounted on tripods, outerwear by Arcteryx. I used to be carrying my tattered Woolrich mountain parka from the Nineteen Seventies. It nonetheless smells like campfire. I didn’t have my digital camera with the massive ass 150-500 mm lens. I simply had my serviceable, I wouldn’t cry if I dropped them, Minolta binoculars. The gentleman requested me what there was to see. I instructed him of the opportunity of seeing Black Turnstones and Surfbirds on the breakwater. They rapidly moved on all the way in which out to the top of the pier the place they arrange their scopes. I wandered out that means and tried to select up a dialog. “So, where you all from?” Without even trying up from her scope, she says “New York.” Not very pleasant. As I walked away, I stated “You know, all these gulls out here are hybrids.” Time to move home, have a beer, and delight in my success because the darkish horse.

Here are the Day 4 checklists.

Conclusion

Overall I placed fourth in Snohomish County and 58th in Washington State for the variety of species counted over the 4 day span of the 2024 GBBC — 65 species in complete. I really feel fairly good about that, contemplating that I don’t consider myself as a critical birder. But I get higher annually, although, studying the subtleties of chicken identification. I had a blast doing this, particularly being the darkish horse among the many prime birders.

Here’s the highest ten for Snohomish County:

You can discover all the info right here: Great Backyard Bird Count — Final Results 2024

Closing

Have you participated in a Great Backyard Bird Count? What’s occurring in your birding world? Where have you ever been and what have you ever seen these days?