Great thread, I've enjoyed reading these. *How long have you been keeping your list?* Coming up on 4 years! *What's your style of yard listing:* casual, mainly feeder watching, moderate, dedicated, obsessed? I would say dedicated, but others might call it obsessed. *How many species? *78 *Rarest, or favorite species? *I've had lots of good birds pass through - Harris Sparrow, Black Headed Grosbeak, Green-tailed Towhee, Cassins Finch, Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, Brown Creeper, etc. Its hard to pick favorites, but the Bushtits are always a joy and relatively frequent, and I've grown fond of the Calliope Hummers that are reliable in the fall since I planted some hummingbird trumpets and agastache hyssop a few years ago. Oh and the Great Horned Owls that occasionally visit the yard! *Most memorable experience? *Probably the time I looked out my window the morning after a light snow and saw a gray-crowned rosy finch! It was also fun watching common nighthawks fly around late last fall. *Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc? *Erie, a stone's throw into Weld County; Suburban on the border of rural, several blue spruces and some Cottonwoods, regularly fill feeders.
Here's my yard barchart, which has been fun to see develop. Barchart: https://ebird.org/barchart?r=L11071980&personal=true I also enjoy having a patch list which includes other personal spots in and around my neighborhood. I have 95 species on those lists - best was spotting a group of Black-bellied Plovers in the field up the street, which I probably could have seen from my yard if I climbed on my roof. Patch barchart: https://ebird.org/barchart?r=L11071980,L11191295,L11547816,L11078897,L12074392,L11133195,L15956598,L11439744,L18673285&personal=true Good birding, Jeff Percell Erie, CO On Mon, Mar 11, 2024, 7:14 PM DAVID J WALTMAN <[email protected]> wrote: > I keep a neighborhood list rather than yard list. We’re at 6,000 feet in > the Boulder foothills half way between Boulder and Lyons. My neighborhood > includes the 1.7 miles from US 36 to our house. I always have feeders but > way fewer in the summer in recent years since the bears have been so > pesty. My list is 155 species. Notable birds: Northern Goshawk,Dusky > Grouse, Band-tailed Pigeon, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Northern Pygmy-Owl, > Northern Saw-whet Owl,Common Poorwill,Lewis’s Woodpecker, Williamson’s > Sapsucker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Cassin’s Kingbird, Pinyon Jay, Eastern > Towhee, Red Fox Sparrow, all three Rosy Finch, Pine Grosbeak, Common > Redpoll. > The most shocking find was the Cuckoo. I was walking and spotted it in > one of the few deciduous trees among the ponderosa pines. I tried to > photograph it with my phone but the camera focused on the leaves instead of > the bird. I’m surprised I only get four hummingbird species. I’ve seen > three others in Boulder County but not at my house. > We’ve been here 25 years and I’ve been birding the neighborhood every > day we’ve been home. Binoculars always handy. > David Waltman > Boulder > > On 03/11/2024 10:40 AM MDT 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, includeand variety of species, are really > impressive (e.g. David Suddjian's, Gary Lefko's). > I’m > 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/2013993922.911756.1710206048297%40connect.xfinity.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/2013993922.911756.1710206048297%40connect.xfinity.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/CAARWy%2Bhpgd4gkkRt%2Byf%3DYmx4yGgSTOn4HUL0ee1GHBVngKi6bQ%40mail.gmail.com.
