Posts tagged ‘Bird Watching’
Blue Skies and Bird Cries
Twelve species in four days. Our Great Backyard Bird Count wrapped up last Monday with a glorious spring-like day filled with blue skies and sunshine. The temperature reached a peak of five degrees Celcius in our locale, and the birds seemed to love it as much as we did.
Incidentally, Monday was also Family Day, and my husband and I spent the day splitting and piling next year’s firewood with bird seed scattered all around us and my sketchpad at the ready. Our brush fire crackled and birds sang as if spring had already sprung.
Some cracked corn kept a trio of Canada Geese happy, while some winter apples attracted Pine Grosbeaks. On the river we saw ducks in the distance, their white markings sparkling in the sun, but we couldn’t verify if they were Common Goldeneye or Bufflehead. We did verify, however, that our resident red squirrels, whom we had kindly put out a pile of sunflower seeds for, were indeed the culprits guilty of emptying the bird feeders every night. Happily for them, they’re just too cute to receive our censure.
Seeing the Northern Shrike is always a highlight for us, as is catching a glimpse of Sharp-tailed Grouse. For inspiration, the Redpolls stole the show with their charming, rosy-red caps and chests and their delicate size – comparable to that of a Chickadee. Spending a day fluttering around us pretty much ensures them a leading role in a future painting!
For the Birds…
For those of us enamoured with birds, it’s that time of year again to get out our counting checklists and take part in the ‘citizen’s census of the birds’.
The 15th annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place this February 17 – 20. Simply mark down the species and numbers of each that you see in your own area on one or more days of the four-day event. Then report your findings at www.birdcount.org.
The cumulative effect of thousands of submissions is a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the location and number of birds across the continent. Bird watchers everywhere can help scientists compile a comprehensive picture of populations and distributions of bird species that they could not otherwise capture in so short a time.
As each year passes, large scale monitoring of bird populations gives us an idea of the overall health of our planet, since bird declines are indicative of very serious problems environmentally. In the long run, the bird count is not just for the birds. So mark the date, artists and bird enthusiasts alike, and aim to participate in this year’s count. Maybe there will be time to get in a quick sketch or two! And hopefully we can help to ensure that birds are there to enjoy, study and paint for years to come.
