Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Where Have All the Sparrows Gone?
I've been a busy citizen scientist this weekend, counting birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count. The Purple Finches are still here and I think they invited friends this weekend - I counted 10 at one time, but I know there were more. The most interesting birds I saw were 2 Red-Tailed Hawks soaring high overhead. This may or may not have been part of a mating ritual, but I like to think it was.
I spent some time walking in the woods this afternoon, hoping for better birds than I see at the feeders. Only turned up one Hermit Thrush, but while looking for birds, I found that the buds of the native azaleas have grown quite fat. Didn't have the camera with me, and it was too overcast for a good picture anyway. Last year this bloomed in April, so there should be plenty of opportunities for photography between now and then.
Speaking of buds, another citizen science project getting some publicity these days is Project BudBurst. (Note to organizers: the name sounds like an exploding beer can. I'm just sayin'.) I first learned of this about a month ago in a post by Xris, and Pam and Ki have also posted recently. This sounds like fun, and I have several of the target species growing in uncultivated areas of the property. I wish I had bothered to identify my maples last year; I assume they're red maples but I'm not certain they're red maples. They would certainly be one of the first to burst forth - I noticed the red buds today while looking for birds.
But getting back to birds and the title of this post, I didn't see a single sparrow all weekend. This strikes me as odd - I don't think I've ever submitted a GBBC checklist without a song sparrow or a white-throated sparrow or both. Strange.
My weekend bird lists are below:
Labels: birds, phenology, seasons
posted by Entangled at 7:13 PM ::: Permalink
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