I'll throw in my two bits...
How long have you been keeping your list? Since May of 1992 (tho our house & most of the vegetation --excepting what thereafter became our feeder trees, a large Ponderosa Pine and a Blue Spruce-- burned down in the Waldo Canyon Fire in June of 2012, so it sort of became a different yard in the same location, recreated with the new house after a 14-month gap. Do I take liberties in counting it as the same yard and continuing with my same yard-list?? Whatever... I do so.) So going on 32 years.
What's your style of yard listing: casual, mainly feeder watching, moderate, dedicated, obsessed? Obsessed to my wife, family & most friends (and yes, I dedicatedly report to Project FeederWatch every weekend in the winters, and to eBird pretty much on a daily basis except when things slow down during the breeding season--and the feeders are stored away), but I'm retired and just love sitting by the window with my cup of coffee, binoculars handy (& going on window-to-window field-trips as called for), and as I move about the house (or yard) I've always got one eye on the lookout...
How many species? 131 now (5 new additions in 2023).
Rarest, or favorite species? I love 'em all, but especially every new yardbird, of course. 2023 brought a Bald Eagle soaring high overhead, a Loggerhead Shrike, a Common Yellowthroat, a Brewer Sparrow, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, as well as rare repeat yard sightings of both waxwing species, Northern Parula, Canyon Towhee, Mountain Bluebird, White-winged Dove, Swainson Thrush, & Orange-crowned Warbler. I loved having a Yellow-shafted Flicker in Oct. 2020, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Mar. 2016, and a Golden-crowned Sparrow in Feb.-Mar. of 2008...
Most memorable experience? Probably the immature Golden-crowned Sparrow, which hung around and got me connected with CFO & Cobirds (--my first posting and Rare Bird submission), & bringing us a number of human visitors. I think it may have been the first El Paso County record? or at least was a rare target for County listers...
Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc? 0.4 acre, suburban but lots of adjacent & nearby open space, w. Flying W Ranch, Rampart Range & Natl Forest just west; 6633' eleva. with diverse native & non-native plants. I keep a heated birdbath thru the winter, and the rest of the year have the birdbath and a "bubbling boulder" which is very popular with both migrants and resident species (including bobcats & raccoons).
Here's to the home patch, wherever it may be!
Marty Wolf,
NW Colo. Spgs.
On Mon, Mar 11, 2024 at 4:40 PM 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 HeinrichMy answers to the questions above:15 yearsDedicated to obsessive152 speciesWood Thrush, Yellow-throated Warbler, N Cardinal, Common Redpoll, Bohemian WaxwingWatching 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'
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