The Results
A big thank you to everyone who took part in the Great Backyard Bird Count and our friendly count competition! It was a great opportunity to see what birds our members have visiting their yards, and even more encouraging to see you all taking part in this global citizen science effort. Eleven birders submitted lists for our competition this year, and next year we hope to see even more of you sharing your GBBC experiences with us! We had reports from your backyards, your neighborhood parks, along the Bay, and down in south county. Out of respect to the fact that many participants did submit from their homes we won’t be sharing eBird lists, but as a whole, the Great Backyard Bird Count saw more than 327,000 lists submitted and 6,416 species were spotted around the world! For a full report on this global effort check out eBird’s summary page here (sorry United States, we only came in 8th with 663 species out of all of the subregions participating).
Our urban category of this competition garnered fierce competition, with LC Boros and Connie Cunningham tying for first place with 18 species each coming to visit their yards during the four day count period. Emma Jane Shelton came in second with 17 species sighted in her yard, and Deborah Jamison and Steve Patt came in third with 16 species visiting their home.
In the open spaces, Carol Ann Graves came in first with 35 species recorded in her visit to Shoreline Lake, with Barry and Ginger Langdon-Lassagne coming in second with 28 species found at the Emily Renzel Marsh, and Laura Coatney came in third with 25 species found along the Stevens Creek Trail between McClellan Ranch and Blackberry Farm.
The Count
The Great Backyard Bird Count is here! This is it, the global bird count that you can do in your slippers! Or not. It’s your choice. But this is the bird count for anyone, whether you’ve only begun birding during the shelter-in-place, if your preferred hotspot is right out your front door, or even if you’ve got a habit of chasing down rarities.
So what is the Great Backyard Bird Count? Four days, February 12-15 where birders across the world make a concerted effort to get outside and count birds around their homes and communities, not just making trips to local hotspots or trying to fill out their year lists. This is the count that celebrates the ordinary and wants to learn more about the mundane. Every bird is worth counting, whether it’s the Black Phoebe you watch out your window while having a cup of coffee, or the American Crows that fly to their roost trees during your drive home.
To take part, all you have to do is bird for fifteen minutes (or more!) between February 12 and February 15, and then submit your list to eBird. Simple as that, and you’re part of a global citizen science project!
If you haven’t used eBird, you can take a look at this video series on using this free service here.
Listing birds new to you? SCVAS volunteer Julie Amato is talking the hows and whys of listing on this month’s feature of Backyard Birding.
And if you’re feeling the need to brush up on your backyard birds, we’ve got the blog for you here.
The Competition
If you haven’t caught on to it yet, we’re big fans of the Great Backyard Bird Count here at SCVAS. It’s probably the most approachable bird survey effort you can find, and connecting people with their local birds and citizen science opportunities is always a good time. So to encourage our members to take part we’re instituting a small competition this year.
SCVAS Members who send us eBird lists during this time (February 12-15) will be put in consideration for prizes based on how many species are on their lists. There is no limit to the number of lists you submit. If you do multiple counts at the same site, like in your backyard, we’ll tally your total species count across all of your eBird lists for that site. And feel free to count at more than one site! Each site that you count at will be considered a separate entry in the competition. We’ll be judging urban lists against urban lists, and doing the same with any lists from open spaces, so don’t worry about competing with your yard list against a list from Coyote Valley or Don Edwards. And if you’re looking for some inspiration for some birding outside your neighborhood, our self-guided field trips have some great suggestions.
Here’s how to participate:
Have an active SCVAS membership. If you aren’t sure if your membership is active, ask us, or if you want to become a member you can do so here!
Submit your lists to eBird and send us a link!
Bird within the count window, February 12-15.
Remember new locations mean new lists, don’t roll up a full day’s count into a single list if you visited multiple locations!
Birding the same spot all four days? If you have lists from the same spot over multiple days we’ll collate your lists for your total species count for that site.
And that’s it! Lists will be separated between urban and open space birding, because we’re very aware of the difference in habitat quality to be found, and prizes will be awarded to the birders with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, highest species counts for individual lists.
First place will win one of our awesome Birding is good for the Blues shirts.
Second place will win one of our Avocet baseball caps, because birding is sunny work.
Third place will win a selection of our SCVAS stickers, suitable for your bumper, laptop, water bottle, or yourself if you’re feeling particularly great that day.