Great Backyard Bird Count 2015

This has been a fun weekend. We had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's Day as a family. I also really enjoyed taking part in The Great Backyard Bird Count through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. I have wanted to do this for quite a few years, but usually remember a bit too late, this year I was on top of my bird watching, and had a camera, binoculars, and pen and paper ready to go. I have always been a fan of exploring nature, and bird watching tops my list. You can read about the backyard birds that frequent my backyard in many of my posts, such as The Backyard Birds from Autumn, I posted about this past November. Here are some of the birds that have visited during this weekend's bird count.

The first day I was bird watching there was quite a bit of fog, but with my camera fully zoomed, I was able to zoom in on some of the jays that were playing in the trees behind my yard, as well as a robin. There were plenty of my regular visitors, black capped chickadees, as well as the fully black headed little birds, similar to the black capped chickadee in size, which I thought were just another type of chickadee, but have since learned are junkos. We had a lone little finch which I could not capture a good photo of due to it being fast and very tiny. Our finch usually arrive in about a month, and then the yard will be full of them. :)

On Valentine's Day as I was waiting for everyone to be ready to leave on our outing, I looked out the window and was surprised by the cutest flock of teeny tiny birds, which I believe are bushtits. They are so teeny, and travel in such a large little group, I was quite happy to see them at the suet feeder. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos, they ate for a bit, then were on their way. I only see these little birds once or twice a year, so it was a real treat. My kids thought I was a bit nuts for my excitement over these cuties, but they are used to me getting giddy over different birds stopping by. :)

Of course I also counted up a good number of house sparrow, that live here year round, and occupy my bird houses, as well as nooks and crannies all over the neighborhood. I observe these birds the most, and I think they have such cute little characteristics.

I am lucky to live in a rural area with lots of birds, and have also made my yard inviting to birds by creating a backyard habitat friendly to birds. You can read about our Certified Backyard Habitat in this post. Watching the different birds that stop by my little yard makes me very happy. This year I hope to expand my bird watching by visiting some bird watching locations out and about, and seeing how many different birds I can spot.

If you are interested in taking part in The Great Backyard Bird Count there is still time, stop on by the website for more info through the link. Otherwise mark your calendar for next year, this was a really fun event to take part in!

 

Aside from the bird watching I had a nice Valentine's week. This sunrise one day last week seemed like the perfect pink Valentine's week sunrise there could be. The sky was stunning and vibrantly pink. 

We spent Valentine's Day at one of our favorite spots, Powell's Books! Last time we went to the Powell's location in downtown Portland, which is a really fun bookstore, but I wasn't really up for a trip into the city, so we decided to head out to the one in Beaverton, Oregon. This one is still quite a drive for us at nearly an hour away, but we took country roads most of the way and the scenery was beautiful. The Powell's in Beaverton isn't quite as big as the one in Portland, but is still huge. We all had fun exploring the books and found a few to bring home. Then after the bookstore we stopped in at Sonic Drive In, and had a yummy dinner. There are no Sonic Drive ins close to us, so we have only ever been once before, and it is still a fun and novel thing for us to do. The treats were tasty and it was a really enjoyable way to end the day. :)

So that is what we have been up to. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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