Monday, February 11, 2008

The Great American Birdcount


The following is provided by Helene Gardner, the President of the Clarksville Garden Club and State Bird Chairman:

The 10th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for February 15-18. Visit www.birdsource.org/gbbc and participate.

1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes during February 15-18, 2008. Count birds at as many places and on as many days as you like-just keep a separate list of counts for each day and/or location.
2. Count the greatest number of each species that you see together at any one time, and write it down.

3. Enter your results through the web page. That's it! The National Audubon Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology sponsor this project.

in the garden....counting birds.

22 comments:

  1. This has to be your shortest post ever, maybe you are in a hurry to go get the pups.

    Have a great Monday all.

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  2. yes, very short. i am leery to make up too many posts because of the changeover coming. additionally, my camera is acting up and i do have alot going on. some pictures i wanted to get, didn't happen and timing is off on others. i didn't realize how much i put into the pictures and typing up posts take time too. i am just getting low and i try to plan a certain post for wednesday since that is the one that comes in the newspaper, that holds me up.

    well, anyhow, i make up for short posts in my lengthy comments. i am leaving to get the pups in a few minutes. ttyl

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  3. I'll be back shortly, going to the bank, BIG APOINTMENT! Thank God!, can't wait to hear about the pups. Have fun.

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  4. How ironic you posting about birds today! I just saw the male bluebird checking out the bluebird house! Looks like we will have residents again this spring!

    The Saint and I got the Silverberry bushes in the ground yesterday as well as finally got the two dead fallen trees off the ground in the woods!

    Over the weekend it was 73-degrees and nice but really windy. I told the Saint I could never live at the beach as the wind really got on my nerves while trying to plant the bushes! Cooler today but still pretty sun in the sky!

    I will look in my files for a picture of the tree house or take a new one for you Tina...

    I hope the pups are with you at home now!

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  5. i picked up baby and bruiser this morning. baby is still a little subdued but gaining strength. she is eating and even growled at bruiser to stay away. i gave all three their own dish now. it is amazing cj is much bigger than baby and bruiser. if you will remember she was the smallest along with mia. the other two will catch up though.

    this morning i think no less than two of the pups got stuck in my rose bush. not a pretty site pups getting their ears stuck in thorns! ouch! baby and bruiser are resting well and cj is now playing with them instead of with mine so very much. that is a relief for bj, cece and link!

    have fun in the bank dawn with peaches.

    skeeter, glad you got the silverberries in the ground. we are expecting rain so you will probably get some too. it will help settle them in.

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  6. How ironic you posted about watching birds. Today my bird feeder was missing out of the backyard. I always watch the cardinals eat in the morning and today it was gone:( Hubby thinks something had to pull it down. It was up with metal wiring and didn't budge with all the winds. I don't know --so now we will have to buy a new one. I think one of the raccoons, squirrels or maybe a skunk might've pulled it down and dragged that bad boy away. Poor cardinals keep flying in to get a snack and no food:( Rural King here I come --the kids love the popcorn there too:)

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  7. Sorry to hear about your bird feeder Anonymous. I am guessing a raccoon as they can do some damage to feeders. We had to put metal (stovepipe type) baffles on all the feeders to keep the squirrels and raccoons out of them. We have been seeing an opossum under the feeder the past few nights. He goes up the tree to the compressed corncob and munches down. The coons usually steal it but they have not been around in a while. We are yet to see a skunk in our yard but that is one that I dont really care to see...

    We don’t have a Rural King down here..…

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  8. Ops forgot to mention the pups. I am so glad they are together again. Tina, you are truly a wonderful person to do all that you have for the little fur balls!

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  9. Hi Skeeter, I am thinking you are probably right about it being a raccoon. About a month ago I had to get a new trash can from the trash company we have --something tore up the lid and I mean tore it up --scratched all over it --ripped it to pieces in parts to get into the trash. So, it probably was another raccoon. It makes me mad to see the birds searching for a snack and none there. And, yes I LOVE Rural King --they have some of the coolest stuff. Everyone finds something they like when we go there --kids and daddy alike. I too am happy Tina has her little furballs back. I'm sure they are keeping her very, very busy. Hahaha! We have agreed it's like a bunch of little kids --they all go in different directions --always exploring. She is one strong and busy lady:) Kudos to TINA!!! :0)

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  10. Yup I bet it was raccoons as skunks can't climb but raccoons can and are very strong. I have fed both a lot and the skunks will not spray unless they are cornered.
    They will eat with cats and dogs (both skunks and raccoons) as long as no one bothers them. I have seen it with my own eyes (and that was back when I could see. Tina and Dawn also have seen it I think. Also baby skunks can't spray untill someone makes them. Like young girls that catch em and put em in a barrel. Huh girls? LOL

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  11. Glad the babies are home safe.
    I liked the blog as it makes me think of spring when the birds return. They are so pretty.

    Sorry about your bird feeder anonymous. My stepdaughter lost hers. She found out it was a bear that had took the first one. She did take pics . I had to laugh at her--she was so scared she couldn't get back into house{ she was on back porch} to tell her husband there was a bear in their back yard. She lives in ne Ga.

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  12. Hi Lola, I'm glad I don't have a bear nearby:) Whew!! I would've been terrified if I had bear that close --

    Hi Jean --so Tina had a pet skunk, lol :o) The things we do as kids are too funny.

    Hi Tina, hope your pups left you get some sleep last night.

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  13. hey all,
    did you look for your bird feeder anonymous? i'd be hunting it down. send the kiddos on a scavenger hunt and with dad, maybe they can bring back a 'prize' along with your bird feeder. it wasn't as bad noticiing it was gone as noticing your trampoline was gone was it? lol

    good morning skeeter, the pups woke up once but i didn't get up. they went back to sleep. they are cute. one is still a bit sick, but she is eating. right now it is raining so the babies are staying put on the front porch. thank heavens for covered porches. i should do a post on them sometimes. i know you have a nice one too.

    hey mom, oh yes, i remember the critters. raccoons as big as dogs! always eating the cat food. boy, if only we had known the danger of playing with them! we have raccoons down here too but not as big. the skunks are still the same. this time of the year is when they do their annual "Dodge the cars" in the roadways. February should be called "Dead Skunk Month". it is bad.

    good morning lola,
    i am glad you liked the post. you should get those boys over there and count the birds with them. i intend to this year. of course, i say this every single year and have yet to log in and post the info. i did actually count one year. sigh. gotta do it.

    where does your stepdaughter live to have bears visit her feeders? out west somewhere? that sounds cool but i would have been afraid too. do you all ever watch 'men in trees'? she had a bear after her like that. it was kind of funny on tv, probably not in real life.

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  14. Tina, we have lots of bears up here you didn't see them when you were young. Nikki and I left the music teachers house and low and behold! Big black bear man handleing her apple tree. He left but not in too much of a hurry, they are cute but can scare. Guess the black ones are worst than the grizzlys. The power lines have blueberries and I am careful of picking because of mom and cubs always being there all the time.
    I will send pic of the treehouse but I have to use Nikkis camera cause I can't find mine. Don't know that hers works all that well, it should.
    It went smooth yesterday, I have to wait 4-6 weeks before the trailer is released, no hurry more months of snow, than mud! Won't be able to get it out anyway, nice to have it gone.
    PS. Mom forgot to mention we caught the baby skunk during a hurricane! Whatever made us think of that as a good idea?!!!

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  15. I meant to mention bears last night and I forgot. My aunt had a fairly large wooden pole that was deep in the ground for her birdfeeder and it was not more that 10 feet from her picture window. Yup you guess it!! Bear not only at it, the stinker pulled it right out of the ground and walked of with it!!! And my aunt saw it happen AND GOT A PICTURE OF IT!!!! She gave me a copy of it so I will have to look for it but probably will never find it. So Anonymous if it is gone maybe it also was a bear. Are you in the woods?

    Dawn it was just not one skunk! I can't remember how many now but it was 3 or 4 I think, a whole litter anyway. You kids ganged up on me and was GOING TO KEEP THEM and stood guard over them and would not let me near them. We battled it out till I got a butcher knife and told you all that I would kill them. I was getting desperate! Little did you kids know I never could have done it. Then you let them go. They still were too young to spray but as the time passed they got a little out, then a little more and so on.

    Nana just missed hitting one on the airline one night going back home from a day of shopping in Bangor.

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  16. We hit a skunk on the road a while back. The Saint tried his best to avoid it but the little guy bit the dust. We could not drive the truck for over a week as the cute furry thing left us with a wonderful scent! Whoa, that was bad...

    We dont seem to have skunks in our part of GA like in TN. Every time we go home for a visit to TN, it seems like the minute we cross the state line, we start smelling skunks!

    They have spotted a bear near where we live (1/2 mile) on two different occasions. That is rare as we are not in the hill country of GA. I keep waiting to see one in our yard though. Seems everything else uses our yard as the Interstate in the woods! LOL…

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  17. Hi Tina, we actually did look for the feeder but I think that the farmers field is where it might've got dragged too. I won't go over there --and Jean we live near a farm but I really can't say there are bears in this area. I might be wrong --I hope they aren't around me:) I want some cute fuzzy bunnies just not in my garden patch this year, lol.

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  18. My stepdaughter lives in Blairsville, Ga. This thing had a habit of visiting every Tues. like a ritual. I told her they better be careful tromping through the woods. They also have a lot of deer. She had the feeder on a limb way up high & out from main tree. He was big enough he stood up & got the feeder.

    Skunks are not that bad here. Snakes you have to watch out for. Saw one in my back yard a couple yrs. back. Cats have kittens under my shed---several generation now. Bad as fleas get real bad.

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  19. Lola, get that cat spayed then you want have to worry about any more kittens! Also they make drops to put on a cats neck to rid them of fleas. We use that for our cats even though they are inside only because we may bring the fleas in on our pants leg plus we have neighbors dogs come inside to visit at times.

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  20. Skeeter, If the cat was mine I would. I don't know who owns it but you can't get near the kittens. They are wild. I done all I can think of to keep them out but they dig under anyway.

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  21. Oh boy Skeeter --the thought of that skunk smell makes me cringe. I hope the truck is fresh again:) And, you and that spring cleaning -yikes --it is freezing rain up in our neck of the woods. I had a meeting at the kids school called off because of the weather. The roads will be slick from all the rain:( I want your spring weather here:) Hey Tina --your pups are probably enjoying the porch --my kiddos would be out there if I didn't put my foot down --no outside time today:) I wish the weather would make up its mind. One day feels and looks like spring --the next I feel like winter --ahhh --the best of TN :) I am not complaining --trust me my homestate had a white out with about 68 cars piled up so this little bit of winter is okay --just okay:) Night night y'all

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