Welcome to It's for the Birds!
You will find information, helpful hints, and tips for bird watching, counting and gardening.
Table of Contents
- How Our Family Started Birding
- Hawk Watch Video - Cape May Point, NJ
- Binoculars for Children
- Most Amazing Bird Sighting In Our Back Yard
- Unique Bird Sightings In Our Backyard
- Biggest Birding Accomplishment in Our Backyard
- NWF Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife
- The Great Backyard Bird Count and Our Family
- Great Bird Feeders
- 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Check Out Our Other Bird Lens
- Help Exotic Wildlife and Endangered Species!
- Guestbook
- Check Out Our Recently Updated Lenses!
How Our Family Started Birding
We always loved watching birds in our yard, and have always had a feeder and binoculars. We would identify birds we knew and wonder what some of the other types were. Sometimes we would even get the 'bird book' and investigate our visitors. Then one day it happened, we were hooked. On our 2003 trip to Cape May, New Jersey, we visited the Cape May Point State Park which coincidentally, occurred during a bird count . We took a walk on the nature trail, and while there, one of the participating counters took the time to teach us about bird counting and the different birding activities in Cape May. My daughter went to the gift store, bought her own child sized plastic working binoculars, and we have been birding as a family ever since. We have transformed our yard into a bird paradise. Multiple feeding areas some natural and some feeders. Every year we have been able to attract and identify a bird that we have never before seen in our yard. We also participate in the yearly Great Backyard Bird Count. We hope you enjoy our experiences and birding information. Hawk Watch Video - Cape May Point, NJ
Binoculars for Children
These compact, inexpensive binoculars are great for children.
Bushnell Powerview 8x21 Compact Folding Roof Prism Binocular (Black)
Amazon Price: $12.02 (as of 12/30/2009) 
List Price: $18.95
Tasco Essentials 8x21 Binocular (Black)
Amazon Price: $10.83 (as of 12/30/2009)
List Price: $13.95
Most Amazing Bird Sighting In Our Back Yard
A Pair of Young Bald Eagles
There are so many birds that we hope to someday attract and see in our backyard, but this was a sighting that we never even considered. Yet, there they were. One early morning in the 2007, there was a huge racket outside. We rushed for the binoculars and located the two large birds. We were convinced that they were some species of hawk that we had not seen before. We looked up hawks in one of our birding books. None of the birds were really a match, but we convinced ourselves it must be one of them. The birds stayed for about an hour or so that morning. They came back everyday for two weeks. During that time we attended a program at our local nature center, and the subject of the program was the resurgence of Eagles in the northeastern United States, featuring a nearby Eagle nest sighting. There were a pair of eagles that had nested in a nearby park. Sightings of two fledglings had been reported but they now did not know where they were. It finally occurred to us what our mystery birds were. The next morning they were back and sure enough, they were the young eagles. What a shock. Only two years later, and there now have been additional eagle sightings in our area. We are so happy and amazed that they chose to visit our backyard for those two weeks. 
Unique Bird Sightings In Our Backyard
- Bald Eagles in 2007
- Two young Bald Eagles visited our yard for a period of two weeks. This is our most amazing backyard sighting. For details see "Most Amazing Bird Sighting In Our Back Yard".
- Indigo Bunting in 2006
- This was a one time sighting. We continue to work on attracting additional Indigo Buntings.
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak in 2006
- This was a one time sighting. We continue to work on attracting additional Rose-breasted Grosebeak.
Indigo Bunting
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Biggest Birding Accomplishment in Our Backyard
We built a house that backs to ten wooded acres owned by the township as open-space, and connects to an 800 acre park. The 10 acres of open-space has a small creek that is a feeder for a major water source, supplying most of the wildlife in our area with water. Sounds like birding paradise. Although it bordered this wooded area and park, we could not get a single bird to fly over our yard. Our newly constructed house left much to be desired in the landscaping department. So we started gardening for wild life. Within the first year we had plated over ten trees and many more bushes and perennials. A few birds visited, but not enough for our liking. The following Spring we repeated with even more trees and other significant plantings. This is when it happened. Surprisingly, Eastern Bluebirds started visiting our yard on a daily basis. We started reading about attracting the Bluebirds and discovered that it was possible for them to winter over in our area. So now the challenge was on. We began concentrating on gardening for the all-seasons Bluebird. They still did not winter over. During this time we attended a class for native butterfly gardening. The introduced the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Certified Wildlife Habitat. We were so excited to get our yard certified. We purchased NWF's 'Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife'. This book had all the information we needed to get our certification. We soon realized that in addition to a variety of plantings, we also needed a water source for certification. Among several other ideas, the book described a great bog project that was perfect for an already wet area in our yard. So we created a bog and pond. Well, the Blue Birds loved it. They drank, ate and bathed at our bog and pond area everyday in the summer of 2005. It was during that winter that they stayed, and have wintered over ever since. This so far has been our biggest birding accomplishment. NWF Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife
This is the book we used to create our own backyard habitat.
National Wildlife Federation Attracting Birds, Butterflies & Backyard Wildlife
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 12/30/2009)
The Great Backyard Bird Count and Our Family
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event where bird watchers count birds to create a snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate and it's free. Check out the Great Backyard Bird Count site for additional information.We have found the Great Backyard Bird Count site very useful before, during, and after the count. For us, the setup is a very important part of the count. We like to try and increase the number and types of birds that visit every year. We accomplish this by having different feeding stations for different types of birds. Buying a variety of bird feeds and using them at different feeding locations will attract a wider range of birds. Since all of our feeding stations are not active throughout the year, we arrange them and add feed a few days in advance. This gives the birds some time to find the feed. Some of our setup is just as fun as the count.
Our setup includes a large feeder that contains a mix of different bird seeds. We then have a suet feeder, areas with feed for smaller birds, and areas for larger more aggressive birds. Our favorite feeding area is our recycled Christmas tree. We cut off the top half of our Christmas tree and decorate it with homemade bird treats. See below for our counting results.
Great Bird Feeders
Check out these great feeders at great prices.
Birdscapes® 540 Copper Top Pine Gazebo Feeder, 3 lb capacity
Amazon Price: $22.99 (as of 12/30/2009)
Perky Pet 50144 Deluxe Chalet Cedar Feeder, 5 lb capacity
Amazon Price: $19.85 (as of 12/30/2009)
Woodlink NAPLAT2 Audubon 3 In 1 Platform Feeder
Amazon Price: $29.99 (as of 12/30/2009)
Copper Top Bird Suet Cage Feeder
Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/30/2009)
2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
February 13-16, 2009
We will be recording our bird count results below. Our counting location is Pennsylvania Bird Conservation Region 29 - Piedmont. Check out the entire 2009 statistics on the Great Backyard Bird Count site. Table of Contents - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Biggest Birding Accomplishment in Our Backyard
- NWF Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife
- Day 1 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Day 2 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Day 3 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Day 4 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
- Check Out Our Other Bird Lens
- Check Out Our Recently Updated Lenses!
Day 1 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
Bird Count Results for Friday, February 13, 2009
Our count today was not as plentiful as we had hoped. It was overcast, windy and chilly, which kept the birds from visiting our feeders. However, we were very surprised to see the Eastern Bluebirds make an appearance in these weather conditions.
Weather: fair
Snow Depth: No snow was present
Number of Species: 14
Number of Birds: 31
Checklist:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Mourning Dove - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 3
Fox Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
Northern Cardinal - 2
House Finch - 2
Pine Siskin - 2
American Goldfinch - 1
Day 2 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
Bird Count Results for Friday, February 14, 2009
The weather was much better today. However, our number of species and birds is not as high as we would have expected. We believe that our numbers are down because we did not count as long due to Valentines day activities. Also, we are not reporting Chickadees. We report these birds every year as Black-capped Chickadees but yesterday they flagged our entry. We were asked if we were sure it was not a Carolina Chickadee or a Black-capped, Carolina Chickadee cross. After reading all of the information provided and watching them again today we are just not sure. So, we will no longer be reporting them. If you would like additional information about Chickadee identification refer to Project FerderWatch, Tricky Bird IDs.
Weather: good
Snow Depth: No snow was present
Number of Species: 13
Number of Birds: 61
Checklist:
Canada Goose - 30
Mourning Dove - 7
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 5
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
Northern Cardinal - 2
Pine Siskin - 3
American Goldfinch - 1
House Sparrow - 3
Day 3 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
Bird Count Results for Sunday, February 15, 2009
Wow, where are all the birds? No excuses for today. Our numbers have gone down so much that we are a little worried. We normally see Dark-eyed Juncos, Mourning Doves and Canadian Geese, just to name a few, in the double digits. We will be checking totals after the count to see if others are seeing the same decline. Just one more day to go.Weather: good
Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm)
Number of Species: 14
Number of Birds: 37
Checklist:
Canada Goose - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1
Mourning Dove - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 6
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 4
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
Northern Cardinal - 5
American Goldfinch - 3
House Sparrow - 4
Day 4 - 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count
Bird Count Results for Monday, February 16, 2009
We feel this was our most eventful day. While our number of birds is not the highest we were very happy to see a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Many types of hawks are a very common sight in our yard. However, we have not seen many this past year. We will continue to garden for our backyard birds, with hopes that they will continue to flourish in our area.
Weather: good
Number of Species: 15
Number of Birds: 43
Checklist:
Canada Goose - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 3
Song Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 5
Dark-eyed Junco - 5
Northern Cardinal - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 1
House Finch - 2
Pine Siskin - 2
House Sparrow - 2
Check Out Our Other Bird Lens
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Backyard Birding in Colorado
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Welcome to Backyard Birding in Colorado! Our backyard has changed location. We are now backyard birding from the Boulder, Colorado area. We are now birding at an elevation of about 8500 ft. Our birding activities will still include watching, counting...
Help Exotic Wildlife and Endangered Species!
The Wild Animal Sanctuary, formerly the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center, near Denver, CO and is a state and federally licensed zoological facility. They have been rescuing exotic wildlife and endangered species since 1980. The residents of our
Guestbook
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- puzzlemaker puzzlemaker Oct 29, 2009 @ 8:59 pm
- I'm a birdwatcher too. My 7th grade science teacher got me started and I've birded ever since. I did the GBBC in 2007. And guess what - I had 2 juvenile Bald Eagles in my backyard at our last house! Just like you! I only saw them once though. What a thrill. Undescribable. I saw the parents many times and we even got in our boat and followed them down the river one day.
Here at our new house in St. Augustine, Florida there are Bald Eagles that frequent the top of the huge cross near the inlet. So very neat. So glad to meet another birder.
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- praise praise Oct 12, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
- I'am a birder too, the best has been 2 generations of Eastern Screech owls in my backyard. Great lens, thanks, if you have a chance, visit my lens too.
Cheers,
Debra
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- Flynn_the_Cat Flynn_the_Cat Sep 27, 2009 @ 12:09 am
- A beautiful lens with astonishing photos - lensrolled on my Tui lens ^_^
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- ClassyGals ClassyGals Sep 21, 2009 @ 5:46 pm
- Beautiful birds! We have cardinals, blue jays, and turkey! Five stars for you.
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- JohannTheDog JohannTheDog Aug 29, 2009 @ 7:05 am
- Oh, I love birds! Great lens!
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