Re: [cobirds] Yard list questions: How many of CO's 520 species have been seen (or heard) from a yard?

OK, I'll Bite!

I'm pretty dedicated/obsessed as well- been keeping my yard list as long as I've lived in SW Longmont (~22 years I think??)

Glad to have crossed the 100+ mark years ago but new species additions have been very slow for a while (now at 125.)  

Rarest species (at least while it is still as species...) is Hoary Redpoll- CO's first accepted record.  

Many other memorable sightings but a flock of ~2100 Bohemian Waxwings (counted photographically) is high on the list.  Had a Rough-legged Hawk sitting on my fence once in the 2014 irruption year which was a huge surprise in our suburban neighborhood.  A Dec. Ovenbird in my yard made it as CO's first CBC Count Week detection for that species but sadly expired just a day or two before the Longmont CBC date.

I'm maybe most pleased with the 6 hummingbird species I've detected in the yard (the 4 CO  "regulars" + Anna's & Ruby-throated.)  

-Bill Schmoker, Longmont

On Mon, Mar 11, 2024 at 10:40 AM Thomas Heinrich <teheinrich@gmail.com> 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, and variety of species, are really impressive (e.g. David Suddjian's, Gary Lefko's). 

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
TEHeinrich@gmail.com
www.pbase.com/birdercellist

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