Sunday, May 25, 2008

Backyard birdfeeder carnival


Marianne, over at Learning2Love had as idea.This is what she posted a week or so ago. " I have an idea! What if we watch our feeders for a week with our kids, keep a list of the species of birds that visit, and then send me your list, including what state you are in and maybe a picture or two, by Memorial Day, May 26th. I will post the carnival on May 27th. The official bird watching week can be from May 18th - May 24th. Post in the comment section if you're interested, and send me your links by May 27th and we'll see how this goes! This will be so interesting!"


Well, we had a very successful week, and more importantly, the kids had a wonderful time. They were constantly on alert for another bird sighting.

The highlight of our week had to be when Mark yelled, "I see a bluebird, a real bluebird in the backyard." Well, we hear bluebirds and occasionally see them out in the back woods, but this is the first time in the yard. The proof we have though, is just this very blurry photo, but Mark really wanted me to include it.
We have a real long list, and alot of photos. I guess I will post our list of birds that visited our backyard over the last week first.

bluebird
nuthatch
downy woodpeckers
chipping sparrows
house sparrows
gold finch
house finch
cardinals
mourning doves
starlings
yellow-eyed grackles
cowbirds
blue jays
chick-a-dees
American crows
robins
red-winged blackbirds
tree swallows
red tail hawk
northern flicker

A very respecticle 20 species, and that was during a very chilly, rainy week.

Now for the photos.

chipping sparrow
Mr. and Mrs. Goldfinch
starling
A pretty pair of mourning doves
Mr. Cardinal

Mrs. Cardinal

chick-a-dee
yellow eyed grackle
tree swallow

red-winged blackbird
nuthatch
Mr, and Mrs. Downy Woodpecker
cowbird
A robin with a worm.

And almost as exciting as our bluebird, was this Northern Flicker. They usually hang out farther into the woods.
We have to thank Grandma and Grandpa H. for their love of the birds and giving us alot of their knowledge.
Now, if I could have sat in their yard for a week, the bird list would have probably been twice as long.

And last but not least, the bane of every bird lover, the squirrel thief.

6 comments:

Dana Leeds said...

What a list for the week! We are bird feeders/watchers, too. I think soon we will do our own "week watch" and see who visits our feeders.

Rhonda said...

Great photos! Thanks so much for sharing them.

Marianne said...

What a great list! Thanks for participating.

Anonymous said...

Wow - great list! We still haven't seen a Cardinal. Maybe today!

Jennifer said...

The squirrels get to our feeder too. Those pesky things. Great photos! We were too busy trying to identify to think about taking pictures.

stephanie said...

That picture of the tree swallow is lovely. After the carnival week was up, the barn swallows returned to check out the nest they made (were born in?) last year. They're such neat birds! Perhaps you need a cat like ours to keep the squirrels at bay...