Friday, February 14, 2014

GBBC 2014 Day 1

The Great Backyard Bird Count has begun. Unlike previous years, I have decided to submit more precise checklists. I am splitting up my walk into several different checklists. Today (and possibly all 4 days), my walk has been divided into 8 different checklists. I am also going along with eBird guidelines such as counting distance one way instead of both on out-and-back walks. Usually, I just use a GPS (or pedometer) to estimate the total distance without trying to figure out what should and should not count.


After the count is over, I will likely return to poor form. That means single checklists covering lots of ground and distances including doubled areas.

Because my walks will be covered by multiple checklists, I have created a patch. This allows me to keep track of all sightings from these walks without having to combine them on my own.

With wet weather, I left my camera at home. That means no pictures will ever be posted from this walk. It also means that I couldn't see birds as well as usual.

The walk itself was fairly typical. I started at the Central Meadow (along with an assistant). We walked around the Central Meadow, stopping at the Bridge to the Beach, then headed up the switchbacks and down the East Slope Trail. We headed up the Canyon Trail. We did make a couple adjustments to this segment. We started with the uphill path instead of the creek and went all the way to another entry point. We made up for the missed creek view by stopping on our return trip. Then we headed downstream into Steilacoom and continued to our usual turnaround. We headed back upstream and up the East Slope Trail. From there, completing the Grandview/Soundview loop was an obvious choice for us. After reaching the Central Meadow, we deviated a bit. We made a second trip to the Bridge to the Beach. This time, we headed North along part of the beach. With the tides coming in, we weren't comfortable going all the way. We didn't touch the south beach. We ended with a trip along the south side of the Central Meadow and went slightly off our planned trail to count some Canada Geese before returning to the parking area.

There weren't any species that really stood out as unusual. Some might hide from time to time like Brown Creepers. Others might be hard to find since they like trees and shrubs that provide obstructions. These would be the Black-capped Chickadees, Pacific Wrens, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. If I had to pick anything to be the least likely sighting, it would probably be the Varied Thrush. They're not exactly rare, but I really don't see them very often.

For a more thorough explanation of today's sightings, you can look through my checklists. Like I said before, I had 8 today from 1 walk. In order, they can be found at:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16940093

If you would like to participate, visit http://www.birdcount.org. This event takes place today through Monday (February 14-17).

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