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Valentine’s Day Weekend is for the BIRDS!
By Victoria S. Smith

The night before Valentine’s Day, my 8-year-old son will have filled the bird feeders to their very tops with black oil sunflower seed. Our birdbath will be filled with clean water. We’ll have swept the front porch and scattered fresh seed to entice those birds that like to feed from the ground to be ready for our Valentine’s Day weekend for the birds. Feb. 15 to 18 is this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count, an annual project organized by the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

During each of the four days Tycho and I will probably take a few minutes in the morning to look out the dining room window and watch the birds fly from the hedges to the feeder and hop on the porch to eat seed. The squirrels will be doing somersaults, too. Binoculars add to the fun. Tycho has his own pair that he is learning to use. Later, just before dusk we’ll take one last peek as the birds stock up on food for the night. It will be fun to see who shows up and to keep track each day of the largest number of species we see at one time.

While we won’t even have to leave our house to participate, your count doesn’t have to be limited to the backyard. Nor do you need to have a feeder in order to do the count yourself. Instead you can take a one mile hike in your neighborhood, do it at your school or use the count as part of your home schooling focus for the week.

A Glimpse of Past & Future

When you understand that a bird you are seeing may have bred in the Arctic last summer, and that others you don’t see will soon return from a winter in the tropics, there is the sense of great travel in your own backyard. The arctic and the tropics are part of many birds’ lives, and you are part of a larger world that extends from your own backyard to these more exotic places. All that will become clearer to our son too as he notices the differences in birds species through the seasons to come.

Tycho knows that because there’s not as much food out there in winter for birds to eat, they will come to our house for suet and seeds. Whether Tycho’s interest in birds wanes over the years, there are some things I hope he never forgets: the way some of the smallest birds can rest lightly on the brick siding while they wait in line for access to the feeder; the acrobatics of the squirrels; the way the mourning doves startle when we open the shades or when we come near the window; the beautiful red head of the red-bellied woodpecker. These are the small observances that bring us closer to the world outdoors on special winter weekends like this.

How To Participate

If you survey more than one area—your backyard, park or school grounds—keep separate records and complete a bird list for each. Watch your feeders for at least 15 minutes each day that you count, or take a short walk (less than a mile) in your neighborhood or park.

For each species that you spot, make note of the number of individuals you can actually see at one time. Don’t count the same bird over and over.

After each day that you observe birds, report your totals for each species at the Birdsource Web site ( www.birdsource.org  ). The survey form asks a few other questions too, such as the habitat in which the observation was made and the snow-depth in the area. Snow data is used to show how birds move in response to snow. For example, robins migrate to avoid it, while cardinals generally don’t.

Besides comparing past and current results, the GBBC Web site includes other interesting and useful information to make participation easy and enjoyable. The site has a vocabulary section, bird-watching and feeding tips, and a “tricky ID” section. You can see and even hear birds online! (For those without Web access at home, your local library can be of help in providing computer access.)

Binoculars & a field guide will further your observations

Remember, birds are drawn to open water which is often scarce in winter. If you don’t have a bird bath, a simple pie pan with water, placed on the ground will attract birds and keep them in view a little longer. Change your water daily and keep your cat indoors so it won’t scare away the birds!

Victoria Smith and her husband, Michael Jenkins, began birding in Ithaca, New York. On his first backyard count, Tycho made it on the front page of his local paper. He was so excited about showing the photographer all the things he liked to do—sweeping the porch, scattering seed on the ground and filling feeders all by himself, that the photographer only got one good shot of him, and that was the one with mom’s head cut off!