Hi Tweets:
Re: Yard bird codes. I had my first yard bird Turkey Vulture here in Des Moines on Sat, Oct 8. That was during the huge push of TV's throughout the area. It was a migrant heading south along a ridge here, soaring just a bit in the sunshine about 3pm, but moving through to the south fairly rapidly. If I had not looked up from yardwork, I would not have seen it in another minute or so.
Per Tim's abundance codes below, I guess it is a 4, although I do not think I will see one again. Thanks for the codes Tim!
Carol Schulz
Des Moines
carol.schulz50 at gmail


From: Tim Brennan
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 9:13 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Renton Backyard Birds


Hey Tweets,

People have been saying that the birds are 'moving' right now. I had a Hutton's Vireo come through the yard in the morning - only the second I've ever seen from my yard - so I figured it would be time to actually get a new feeder instead of pretending I was capable of fixing my old one. I filled 'er up and watched on and off during the day, and had quite a few birds for my yard. I was thinking about how some common birds were exciting for me in the back yard, so I started thinking about them in terms of abundance codes. I realized that none have been published for my yard (go figure) so I made them up as the day went along: Category 1 - in my yard any day; Category 2 - in my yard on an awful lot of days, but not every day; Category 3 - in my yard at least once a year, but not an awful lot; Category 4 - Unusual, not every year; Category 5 - not likely to see it again. Does anyone else do this??

Anyway, by category - :)

1's in the yard: Black-capped Chickadee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Steller's Jay, American Robin, House Finch, House Sparrow, American Crow, American Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, Golden-crowned Kinglet, European Starling, Spotted Towhee.

2's: Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush (!), Anna's Hummingbird

3's: Evening Grosbeak, Golden-crowned Sparrow (first fall sighting in the yard, I think), Red-breasted Sapsucker

4: Hutton's Vireo.

More than 20 species coming through the back yard is a good day! Would love to know if anyone else even briefly thought of abundance codes in their back yard. Any pretty common birds that are really exciting for your yard?

-Tim Brennan
Renton
www.39counties.blogspot.com