These are a few of the birds I observed this past weekend while taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. Counting the different species helps the scientists to learn where the birds are and what they are doing. You also report other info such as snow fall amounts and what type of area you are observing in.

The best thing I saw this year on the count were: Bluebirds! I live in a wooded area, so I don't normally have bluebirds at my feeders. I also live in Wisconsin, United States, and to have bluebirds around in February is not real common. We had heard reports of the birds being spotted all winter in the southern part of our state. So I was really surprised when 6 of them showed up in my yard. I also saw 2 robins the first day of the count near my workplace. The weekend was very cold, we had a blizzard the day before the count started and temps at night were in the minus double digits.

The backyard bird count is always held in February. To see how your area did, check in here:
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
(copy and paste link in a new browser window)