Counting the Birds

Every year, the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology coordinates the Great Backyard Bird Count.  This year, it went from Friday the 14th through Monday the 17th.  You can record birds as little or as much as you wish, and in your backyard or anywhere else.  I did backyard counts, as well as counts in five other areas.  Although these all involved some hiking, I really only kept track of the mileage for my hiking records on the last hike, which was Monday at Dutch Gap Conservation Area.  I hiked 6.2 miles there, and I probably hiked close to another six miles or so at the other four sites.

I saw and/or heard 51 separate species, including this beautiful pileated woodpecker.  You can scroll down past the species list to see some more photos.  Count data is entered in eBird.

The six areas, and the species counts are:

Around home - 18 species
Ginter Botanical Gardens - 11 species
Three Lakes Park - 14 species
Gaines Mills Battlefield - 15 species
Malvern Hill Battlefield (Crewes Channel) - 27 species
Dutch Gap Conservation Area - 41 species

Here is a list of the 51 species of birds I saw and/or heard during the four days of the count:

Double-crested cormorant
Great blue heron
Canada goose
Wood duck
Mallard
Ring-Necked duck
Northern shoveler
Gadwall
Hooded merganser
Green-winged teal
Turkey vulture
Black vulture
Cooper's hawk
Red-shouldered hawk
Bald eagle
American kestrel
Killdeer
Mourning dove
Barred owl
Belted kingfisher
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Northern flicker
Pileated woodpecker
Eastern phoebe
Blue jay
American crow
Fish crow
Tree swallow
Tufted titmouse
Carolina chickadee
Carolina wren
Golden-crowned kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Eastern bluebird
American robin
Hermit thrush
Northern mockingbird
European starling
Yellow-rumped warbler
Pine warbler
Northern cardinal
Eastern towhee
Field sparrow
White-throated sparrow
Song sparrow
Eastern meadowlark
Red-winged blackbird
Common grackle
Dark-eyed junco
American goldfinch

Here are some pictures of some of the birds I saw, and some of the natural features on my birding hikes, starting with this great blue heron at Three Lakes Park:

Nearby, was this group of double-crested cormorants.

At Gaines Mill, it looks like spring is in the air.

At Crewes Channel at the Malvern Hill Battlefield, while I didn't see any beaver, they were surely in evidence, and seemingly had been very busy.

The rest of these are from Dutch Gap...

Canada goose

The trees are well into bud all over, even though it's just mid-February.

Dutch Gap has a wide variety of habitats, including seasonally flooded swamps like this one.

The ducks on the left are gadwalls.  I am not sure about the one on the right.

Northern cardinal

Northern mockingbird

A pair of northern shovelers.  The drakes are so beautiful!

Ring-necked ducks - I love the yellow eye!

Birds are in terrible trouble in North America and all over the world, unfortunately.  Participating in citizen science projects such as the Great Backyard Bird Count can help scientists gain valuable information about bird populations and trends.