If anyone wants to put their species into a shared Google Sheet using the CFO list of accepted species, feel free to go check off the ones you have seen in your yard here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OTEqQswiC_DjCkPZblkX36GS1cA0GdPVND8osM1Gkuo/edit?usp=sharing (Honor system please... only check birds that you have seen in your yard and don't uncheck other folks checks).
To join in on the conversation for my own yard: *How long have you been keeping your list?* Been keeping a yard list since 2000, but I have moved multiple times and thus have to change my yard list to another location. Current run is 15 years. *What's your style of yard listing: casual, mainly feeder watching, moderate, dedicated, obsessed?* Dedicated to obsessed *How many species?* 121 *Rarest species?* Upland Sandpiper calling flying over my house at 11pm Anhinga circling for multiple minutes with good binocular views White-faced Ibises flying over at 10pm Purple Finch (shared with many observers) Chestnut-sided Warbler took up residence for a bit of a summer Mountain Chickadees are nice this far away from the Foothills Clay-colored and Brewer's Sparrows during Spring snowstorms *Favorite species?* Swainson's Hawks that nest nearby and hunt snakes in our backyard Great Horned Owls hunting for those same snakes *Most memorable experience?* Definitely the Upland Sandpiper... totally unexpected and wasn't particularly "birding" at 11pm *Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc?* Suburban Longmont in the flyway between McIntosh Lake and Union Reservoir Hope others continue this thread. It is fascinating! Thanks Thomas for starting it. Thanks, Bryan Bryan Guarente Meteorologist/Instructional Designer UCAR/The COMET Program Boulder, CO On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 7:37 AM Susanna Donato <[email protected]> wrote: > What a fun thread! I am in the heart of urban Denver and have had feeders > up/been birding for only a couple of years. My yard total is just 39 > species. We have a National Wildlife Federation-certified yard (just for > fun) with some fruiting trees and lots of brush and piles of junk, but also > very diligent squirrels and two terrier-type dogs to frustrate matters. I > watch daily but distractedly. > > Most notable for me have been a close encounter with a Black-Chinned > Hummingbird that hovered within a few feet for a minute or two as I ate my > breakfast/birded one morning, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk in my cherry tree and on > the fence just outside my window and diving into the cotoneaster frequented > by a flock of house sparrows (verified by Dick Anderson, a far more veteran > birder), and the white-crowned sparrows that lived in our yard or nearby > last winter. > > Favorites include the Spotted Towhees that have lived in our yard the last > two years and raised two young that I watched grow up at close range, ten > feet outside my office window. Last summer we had Swainson's Hawks growing > up in the neighborhood, which was neat to see. A Bald Eagle supposedly > nests somewhere on the street behind mine, and a couple of months ago, I > heard it but did not see it -- I gave up obsessively looking for it for my > own sanity but still hold out hope. :) > > On Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 4:51:44 PM UTC-6 Sarah Behunek wrote: > >> Yes, very fun discussion and thanks for sharing! >> *Where and how long.* >> I have lived at 6030 feet west of Horsetooth Reservoir (south of >> Horsetooth Mt. Park) for 21 years. I started with one bird feeder about 10 >> years ago. >> That mushroomed to more feeders over the last few years. I started >> casually journal counting last year and now do a daily EBird count (Robins >> just showed up today!) >> As I am new to the count, I haven't broken down by species yet. My 40+ >> list includes many of the common and migratory birds found in Colorado and >> at my elevation with a reliable food source good water sources nearby. >> *Notable for me: *Separately, Cooper's and Sharp Shinned Hawk in >> the tree outside my window. I had a Bald Eagle chase a Raven (it had a >> snake in its beak) from my yard utility pole with Magpies flying along >> opportunistically. I had a Gullnado (most likely reservoir/landfill ring >> billed-gulls). And now, we have Wild Turkeys (sometimes 3, sometimes 16 >> routinely coming through our yard for feeder snacks this year and to ride >> on the "merry go round" that is my tray feeder. >> And sometimes we can year the SandHill Cranes flying over our area. >> Happy Birding. >> >> >> On Mon, Mar 11, 2024 at 10:40 AM Thomas Heinrich <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Every now and then one of us will share the excitement of adding a >>> rarity or new species to a yard list, report yard list totals, or comment >>> on local trends. And some of the lists, and variety of species, are really >>> impressive (e.g. David Suddjian's, Gary Lefko's). >>> >>> Yellow Grosbeak, Pyrrhuloxia, Streak-backed Oriole, Long-billed >>> Thrasher, Costa's Hummingbird, Laurence's Goldfinch, and even Anhinga come >>> to mind as rarities that have shown up in or been observed from >>> yards. (Perhaps the recent Brambling, too?) >>> >>> As a pretty obsessive yard lister (i.e. binocs always on, camera ready >>> when outdoors, much of the time indoors too), I often wonder about others' >>> experience with yard-listing. >>> >>> How long have you been keeping your list? >>> What's your style of yard listing: casual, mainly feeder watching, >>> moderate, dedicated, obsessed? >>> How many species? >>> Rarest, or favorite species? >>> Most memorable experience? >>> Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc? >>> >>> And the big question: if we tallied up all our yard lists, how close to >>> Colorado's 520 species could we get? >>> >>> It seems likely that certain families would be less well-represented; >>> shorebirds, waterfowl, and gulls, for example. But with neighborhoods >>> lining bodies of water such as Boyd Lake, Lake Loveland, Marston Reservoir, >>> Jackson Lake, and MacIntosh Lake (in Boulder), among many others, many of >>> those species theoretically could have been counted on a yard list. Maybe >>> some lucky person living on the shores of Boyd Lake has Long-tailed Jaeger, >>> Slaty-backed Gull, and Garganey on their yard list! >>> >>> Wishing all good health, good birding, and an exciting Spring migration! >>> >>> --Thomas Heinrich >>> >>> >>> *My answers to the questions above*: >>> 15 years >>> Dedicated to obsessive >>> 152 species >>> Wood Thrush, Yellow-throated Warbler, N Cardinal, Common Redpoll, >>> Bohemian Waxwing >>> Watching spring raptor migration from the roof-top, 35 Broad-winged >>> Hawks among 130 raptors of 10 species on one high-flow day (4/18/2020) >>> Interface between suburban and open space, base of foothills, el. 5600' >>> >>> -- >>> Thomas Heinrich >>> Boulder, CO >>> [email protected] >>> www.pbase.com/birdercellist >>> >>> -- >>> >> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Colorado Birds" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds >>> * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. >>> Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate. >>> * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Colorado Birds" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CADXhbwF%2B99O3KouyaZ1vSvAFq-FERryJitT%3DO5GVQ1QqZXvb0w%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CADXhbwF%2B99O3KouyaZ1vSvAFq-FERryJitT%3DO5GVQ1QqZXvb0w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate. > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/0d5f941b-51ad-4dfa-b134-18e1ecc03540n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/0d5f941b-51ad-4dfa-b134-18e1ecc03540n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate. * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAENnWHvokU-KYH%2B_fUZ0eHiTL6YEHF58kBpbzZr0iothHUitVA%40mail.gmail.com.
