Every February, the Great Backyard Bird Count is held to engage bird watchers in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent.  During this year’s count, held over the Presidents’ Day weekend, licensed bird bander Shelley Harms held a big banding day at her home.  “We captured 61 birds in the 4 hours the nets were up,” Harms reported.  The most interesting birds captured were three chickadees and two titmouse that were already wearing bands, having been banded at sessions in previous years.  Interesting, too, was the absence of purple finches, which have been feeder regulars in past years.  You can see the Great Backyard Bird Count results for this and past years at http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/results.

Photo by Katharine Becker.