My GBBC

I ended up submitting 4 checklists to the Great Backyard Bird Count (and eBird) from the neighborhood, all on Saturday and Sunday. My girlfriend Moria and I birded Lake Creek Trail on Saturday morning for about 2.5 hours. We started at the Braes Valley parking lot and found 36 species. That evening we took a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood and submitted the birds we saw. Sunday morning I spent about 3 hours birding Lake Creek Trail starting at the Parmer Village end and found 48 species. And that afternoon I spent about a half hour birding in my actual back yard before the cold front blew in. Here are some highlights:

• On Saturday morning Moria and I found all 5 expected woodpecker species on that short stretch of Lake Creek Trail between Braes Valley and the footbridge. These were Downy, Ladder-backed, Red-bellied, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (a nice male) and Northern Flicker. Above is a picture I got of the male Downy Woodpecker we saw. Moria got a great shot of this same bird caught in mid air.
• On Sunday morning in the marsh by the Parmer bridge I tried to see or hear the Virginia Rail I found there a few weeks ago, but it never responded to the recording I played. I did hear a Marsh Wren, saw a Common Yellowthroat, and saw 3 Swamp Sparrows. Here is one of the Swamp Sparrows:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Also by the marsh I heard the first Cricket Frogs I've heard this year.
• A little upstream our 2 largest year-round resident birds were almost side-by-side -- a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret. I got this photo:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• By the last dam on the creek this Osprey flew right over me a couple times:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• In the pond above the next dam was a nice variety of wild ducks, including Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, and Gadwall.
• That afternoon in my backyard (just like the GBBC intended!) I was surprised to see 17 Ring-billed Gulls fly over, heading north. Then the north wind started blowing and I went inside!

If you had fun submitting your observations for the Great Backyard Bird Count, or you missed it but it sounds like fun, check out eBird. You can make a free account and submit your bird observations all year long. eBird keeps them organized for you so you can keep track of your life list, and the observations contribute to science, just like the GBBC observations.