Great Backyard Bird Count 2010

If you haven't heard already, this weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. It is a citizen scientist project that anyone can participate in. Simply watch the birds in your backyard for a few minutes, a few hours, or all weekend, and submit your list to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's web site at the link above. With luck, you might see birds like these:

American Tree Sparrow
Can you see the bicolored bill?

Song SparrowWhite-throated SparrowCompare the American Tree Sparrow (left)
with the White-throated Sparrow (right)

Eastern Towhee, male
See his red eye?

from left to right: White-throated Sparrow,
Carolina Wren, Eastern Towhee

Red-bellied Woodpecker, male
And you can even see his red belly!

Downy Woodpecker, male

male House Finch (left) eating safflower seeds
female Downy Woodpecker (right) on peanut feeder

All photos enlarge with a click.

There's still plenty of time - the Count runs through Monday, Feb. 15. Fill up your feeders and start counting birds!

the ultimate winter bird,
a male Northern Cardinal