Shannon

I spent about 5 hours in my backyard today, trimming off dead branches, repotting some members of my patio garden into larger pots, yanking weeds near my fence (I live off a "greenbelt", aka "flood plain" ), and cleaning my bird bath, among other things. It was pleasant work and I enjoyed the frequent visits from my area white-winged dove, mourning dove, inca dove, house finch and house sparrow community -- they kept trying to alight on my feeders, only to be spooked by this strange human (me -- glowing red with a sunburn, after awhile!) working in the yard.

I've been an off-and-on participant of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project Feederwatch, their "citizen science" program to collect data from thousands of backyard birdwatchers across North America. Through the data Feederwatch Participants submit, the Lab's able to determine things like species distribution, declining populations, the spread of various diseases among some birds (such as house finches) and other interesting information.

Participants spend as little or as much time as they want observing their backyard birds, keeping track of which species are present. The Feederwatch membership packet includes helpful information on how to identify and count species, as usually has at least one nice color poster with common backyard bird species, to aid in identification. Participants submit their data either online or at the end of the Feederwatch data collection season, by mailing in a "ScanTron" type data booklet.

There's still time to join Project Feederwatch for this season -- data collection beings November 8, 2003. FeederWatch is supported by annual participation fees of $15 per person.

__________________
- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal

Shannon

Here's another idea -- The San Antonio Audubon Society gladly accepts bird reports from locations in and around San Antonio, Texas. You can submit your local bird reports online free of charge, knowing your data is helping area bird experts track population and distribution changes.

Not entirely up-to-date yet, but you can check previously posted bird reports to see how others are doing it.

... a good alternative or segueway for San Antonio area residents & visitors to practice before joining Cornell's Project Feederwatch program.

Where to go birding in & around San Antonio? Here are some ideas!

__________________
- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal

bujermd@yahoo

Hello! My wife and I will be moving to San Antonio later this Spring (late May), and we're curious about which bird species will be common to our backyard. Which should we be expecting?? Thanks much! D.J. & Audrey Doyle

MissionCamper

We frequently see interesting birds from our backyard here the valley.

A few weekends ago, we visited the World Birding Center at Bentsen-RGV SP. They took us on a tram through the park and made several stops along the way to catch a glimpse. We saw green-jays, cardinals, an oriole, an owl, roadrunners, and more.

Shannon

Here's a short list of the birds I have daily in my backyard in northeastern San Antonio:

• * Northern mockingbird
  * American goldfinch (regularly 30+)
  * Lesser goldfinch (much less often, and then only 1-2)
  * White-winged dove
  * Mourning dove
  * Inca dove
  * Black-capped chickadee
  * Northern cardinal
  * Tufted titmouse
  * Carolina wren (not daily, but we have a pair we see weekly)

We have also had a Cooper's hawk use our yard to hunt several times over the past 9 months or so, including one successful white-winged dove kill. He's a beautiful hawk, and perches on our fence near our oleander bushes for fairly long stretches of time while he waits for prey to return. He's too beautiful to want to flush, even if he does occasionally nab a dove or other bird.

__________________
- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal