Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Well, it's been a while since my last update, but you'll have to forgive me , as its been far too cold to go birding outside for the most part.
Luckily , it did warm up over the long-weekend, givng myself and a couple of friends the chance to get out and see what species we could find for the Great Backyard Bird Count.
After 4 days of scouting around looking for bird species, Saskatoon's tally ended up 1 short of last years 33, so not too bad.

Highlights were :

Bald Eagle

Sharp-tailed Grouse

Pine Siskin

Purple Finch

Evening Grosbeak

Common Redpoll

European Starling

Northern Shrike

Cedar Waxwing

American Robin

American Tree Sparrow

Horned Lark

Here are 3 new photos I got over the weekend, 2 that show how some of these hardy birds survive the cold cold winter days, by eating frozen berries !

American Robin ( click to view full size )




Cedar Waxwing ( click to view full size )



Evening Grosbeak

9 comments:

Chris said...

Hi Nick,
Well to get a bald eagle in the backyard counting is quite amazing for me! I just cannot believe that ;-) You got a pretty good list, and the cedar waxing picture is my favorite there but you probably knew that already ;-)

Nick S said...

Thanks Chris, actually the name Great Backyard Bird Count is misleading ,as you can count anywhere, in any area :-)
So, the Eagle I saw on Friday was in fact perched along the river.

holdingmoments said...

Excellent shots Nick.
It does make you wonder how anything survives such cold doesn't it.

FAB said...

Very good list Nick. Just goes to show the tenacity of some species to survive such conditions. FAB.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Gorgeous shots.It is amazing how these birds manage to survive the cold winters.
Blessings,Ruth

Bluebird said...

Excellent Photos Nick. Our list does not get anywhere near yours in numbers but do have a Song Sparrow spending the winter here.Did you post any shots to the Bird count?

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Very nice selection of birds taking in nourishment as they can locate it this cold time of year. I just did a Robin series this week on Sumac, never knew they took in that before. Nice to see you back.

Unknown said...

Amazing variety of species in your bird count and those images are very nice...Thomas

Mike said...

Stunning as always, that last pic jump right off the screen. No Waxwings for us this year not sure whats happened. Mike